Project and Company Controller - Finance & Reporting

At Axient Systems, we are shaping the future of sovereign space capability. Based in Delft, at the heart of the Dutch aerospace ecosystem, we develop advanced satellite systems that support critical commercial and government missions. Our solutions enable secure communications, defence, security, and resilient infrastructure where performance and reliability are essential.

As a growing and ambitious organisation, we offer professionals the opportunity to contribute directly to innovative space projects that make a real impact on society, security, and technological progress.

We are looking for a controller who connects the numbers of our projects to the numbers of the company, and who tells project managers and management what those numbers mean before they become a problem.

The role

You report to the VP Finance & Reporting and work closely with the project managers. The role combines project control and company control: project budgets, costs, progress and forecasts on one side, the financial administration and company reporting on the other. You keep the numbers straight, you signal deviations and risks early, and you explain what they mean to the people who have to act on them.

This is a role in which you will grow. Finance at Axient Systems is being built, and you will be part of that. The design of processes and systems sits with the VP Finance & Reporting; you contribute to it from the work itself and take on more as you develop.

What you will own

• Project control: maintaining budgets, actuals, commitments and estimates to complete on behalf of the programme manager, who owns them; variance and risk analysis; flagging where a project is drifting and why.

• Forecasting and analysis: translating project developments into forecasts, and preparing the analyses on which management decisions about capacity, margin and cash flow are based.

• Financial administration and closing: correct and timely processing, and carrying out your part of the period closing, including reconciliation of project accounting with the general ledger.

• Reporting and cash flow: preparing project and company reporting on costs, results and liquidity; raising milestone invoices with the project managers; early warning on payment and cash risks.

• Internal control and compliance: applying the financial controls and authorisations in place, and supporting audits, annual accounts and tax processes.

The programme manager owns the project budget, the estimate at completion and the project decisions. The VP Finance & Reporting is responsible for Finance, sets the frameworks and the priorities, and owns the period closing as a whole. Within those frameworks you work independently, and you are relied upon for the accuracy of the numbers and the quality of the analysis behind them.

You have the following demonstrable competencies

• You see the link between a project’s progress, its cost and the company’s cash position, and you explain it in one sentence to someone who does not read balance sheets.

• You are precise about what the numbers say and honest about what they do not yet say.

• You work independently within clear frameworks, and you know when a question is yours to answer and when to raise it.

• You keep your footing when costs, plans or assumptions change, and you adjust forecasts and analyses without losing reliability.

• You work well with people outside Finance and make your analysis usable for them.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s or master’s level in finance and control, accountancy, business economics or comparable.

• Three to six years in project control or company control, including involvement in a period-closing process.

• Working knowledge of project control, accounting, reporting, budgeting and forecasting.

• Strong analytical skills, and hands-on experience with an ERP system, Excel and reporting tools.

• Professional command of Dutch and English, suited to financial reporting in an international project environment.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with milestone invoicing and cash flow monitoring in long-running technical projects.

• Familiarity with earned value management or comparable integrated cost and schedule control.

• Experience in a defence, aerospace or other government-contracting environment.

• Experience in a company reporting to a foreign parent.

• Additional training in controlling, accountancy or project finance.

• A control role in a company where Finance is being built for scale, and where your analysis reaches the people who decide.

• Competitive, market-aligned salary and benefits, and a clear path to broader responsibility as the organisation grows.

• On-site work in Delft, limited hybrid working possible.

PARTICULARITIES

This role requires Dutch security screening. You will need a VOG (Certificate of Conduct) to start, which is quick to obtain and lets you begin work on the project immediately.

Apply via this registration form on our website or use this link

In your application, include a short description of one requirements decomposition or architecture trade you owned, covering:

• The requirement or trade in question.

• The alternatives you evaluated.

• The criteria you used.

• The decision you made.

• What you got wrong.

Applications without this description will not be reviewed.