Senior Bookkeeper - Private Aviation

Pavago · Philippines · posted today ago

Listing supplied by Himalayas. 101 Careers did not originate this post and applications are handled by the employer.

About this role

Position Type: Full-Time | Remote
Working Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday–Friday

After-Hours Availability: Occasional evenings, weekends and holidays for time-sensitive aviation-related matters

About the Role

We are looking for a highly detail-oriented Senior Bookkeeper / Accounting Operations Specialist with direct experience in private aviation, aircraft charter, luxury travel or a closely related aviation environment.

You will take ownership of the company's financial records, ensuring the books are accurate, organized and ready to support a growing private aviation operation. This includes reconciling 10+ accounts, managing domestic and international vendor and operator payments, keeping booking and financial records aligned, tracking profitability by flight, and preparing clear management reports.

This is a hands-on role for someone who understands that aviation accounting requires more than traditional bookkeeping. Flight-related expenses can involve aircraft operators, catering, ground transportation, international payments, and other time-sensitive costs. You should be comfortable working across these moving parts while maintaining a high level of accuracy and confidentiality.

You will also have the opportunity to improve existing processes by building smarter spreadsheets, dashboards, templates, and automation that reduce manual work and prevent errors.

Key Responsibilities

Reconciliation & Financial Accuracy

Perform monthly and quarterly reconciliations across 10+ bank, credit card, HubSpot, and accounting accounts.
Use Xero to review, categorize, and reconcile business transactions.
Maintain consistent chart-of-accounts and expense-coding practices.
Identify duplicate payments, missing transactions, unusual charges, and other discrepancies.
Ensure supporting documentation is properly maintained and financial records remain complete and accurate.

Aviation Payments & Vendor Management

Track vendor and customer balances, payment status, invoices, and supporting documentation.
Manage payments to aircraft operators, vendors, and service providers worldwide.
Coordinate domestic and international payments, including foreign currency transactions.
Work with platforms such as Convera to create, track, and reconcile payment orders.
Monitor recurring vendors and fixed expenses for changes in spending.
Work with internal teams, vendors, and aircraft operators to resolve payment issues and discrepancies.
Handle time-sensitive financial issues that may affect active or upcoming flights.

Booking & Financial Operations

Keep booking and deal records aligned between HubSpot and Xero.
Update HubSpot deal stages as bookings move from quote to confirmed, invoiced, paid, and completed.
Maintain booking details including trip dates, routing, aircraft, operator, pricing, and payment status.
Match bookings to revenue and reconcile HubSpot deal and payment data against accounting records.
Ensure financial information accurately reflects changes to trips and bookings.

Trip Profitability & Financial Reporting

Track gross and net margins by trip or flight.
Monitor trip-related expenses including aircraft charter costs, catering, ground transportation, and other operational expenses.
Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual expense reports.
Maintain consolidated financial reporting for leadership.
Build fixed-cost and vendor variance reports to identify changes in spending.
Prepare management reports covering expenses, margins, vendor payments, and operational costs.
Provide leadership with clear financial data to support pricing, vendor, and spending decisions.

Systems & Process Improvement

Build and maintain Excel and Google Sheets templates, dashboards, and reporting tools.
Use advanced formulas such as XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, and SUMIFS.
Create pivot tables, data validation rules, conditional formatting, and reporting dashboards.
Clean and combine data exported from multiple systems.
Identify opportunities to automate repetitive accounting and reporting processes.
Improve workflows to reduce manual work, prevent errors, and make financial information easier to access.
Maintain organized accounting records, supporting documents, and shared folders.

Required Experience & Skills

3+ years of professional experience in bookkeeping, accounting operations, or financial analysis.
Direct professional experience in private aviation, aircraft charter, aviation operations, luxury travel, or a closely related industry.
Strong hands-on experience with Xero, including:

Bank feeds, bank rules, and reconciliations.
Expense coding and chart-of-accounts management.
Bills, invoices, payments, and supporting documentation.
Tracking categories for trip- or flight-level reporting.
Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Aged Payables, and Aged Receivables reporting.

Proven experience reconciling 10+ accounts on a monthly and quarterly basis.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.
Experience with international payments and foreign currency transactions.
Strong experience tracking expenses, payments, margins, and financial performance.
Experience working with CRM or booking systems and keeping operational and financial records aligned.
Fluent English with strong written and verbal communication skills.
Exceptional attention to detail and sound judgment when handling confidential financial information.
Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a remote environment.
Reliable high-speed internet and a dedicated, secure workspace.

Preferred Experience

Hands-on experience with Convera GlobalPay, including beneficiaries, payment orders, foreign currency payments, approval workflows, and payment confirmations.
Experience with HubSpot, including deal stages, booking information, contacts, companies, and data exports.
Experience supporting U.S.-based companies and working with USD accounting.
Experience building automated financial reports, dashboards, or workflows.
Xero Advisor Certification.
Degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.

Perfect Fit / Culture

You have genuine experience working within private aviation or aircraft charter operations and understand the financial complexity behind each flight.
You take full ownership of financial accuracy and do not wait to be told when something looks wrong.
You notice duplicate charges, missing documentation, unusual transactions, and discrepancies before they become larger problems.
You are highly organized and can keep multiple accounts, vendors, payments, and flight-related expenses moving simultaneously.
You communicate proactively with leadership, vendors, operators, and internal teams.
You look for ways to replace repetitive manual work with better systems, templates, dashboards, and automation.
You are comfortable working independently while maintaining a high standard of confidentiality and accountability.

Typical Day

You may begin the day reviewing bank and corporate card activity, checking reconciliations, and following up on outstanding vendor or operator payments. You could then update HubSpot booking records, match payment information against Xero, or investigate a discrepancy between a trip's expected and actual costs.

Throughout the day, you may work on trip-level profitability, prepare management reports, reconcile international payments, coordinate with vendors or aircraft operators, and update financial documentation.

You will also spend time improving spreadsheets, dashboards, and accounting workflows so the team can access accurate information faster and reduce manual work.

Because this is a private aviation operation, urgent payment or vendor issues can occasionally arise outside normal business hours. You must be comfortable providing responsive support when a time-sensitive financial issue could affect a client's flight.