Director of Finance (Insurance)

Overview

This remote-friendly role is located in the United States and reports to the CFO. The Director of Finance works alongside a Controller as an equal peer: the Controller runs day-to-day financial operations and the flow of funds, while this role owns what the numbers mean, how they are reported, and the controls around them. Until the team is larger, the two review each other’s work.

This is a build-focused position; you will do most of it yourself in year one and hire behind you as the work expands.

Responsibilities

• Financial reporting: Own all internal and external reporting, including the monthly package, KPI pack, board and investor materials, annual US GAAP statements with footnotes, and reporting requirements for lenders, reinsurers, and carrier partners under their agreements.
• Close process: Own the close calendar standards, task sign-off requirements, and consolidation process by managing consolidation, approving results, and reporting from it. (The Controller executes the close.)
• Process and controls: Document finance processes and build the control matrix. Own segregation of duties and authorization limits, and design manual reconciliations as the architecture allows.
• Technical accounting: Research US GAAP questions and write position memos. Own judgment areas including:
  • commission revenue (including contingent and variable consideration)
  • ceded reinsurance
  • premium receivable and payable presentation
  • gross versus net
  • collateral and restricted cash
    Maintain the accounting policy manual and advise on new programs and contracts before they are signed.
• Audit and tax: Manage external relationships, including the audit timetable and the PBC list, and the tax firm on filings, the provision, state registrations, and indirect obligations the business carries.
• FP&A: Own the operating model, annual budget, rolling forecast re-cut as actuals land, and monthly variance analysis. Lead cash forecasting and runway, including working-capital swings driven by settlement cycles and collateral.
• Treasury: Own banking structure, borrowing, and investment of surplus cash.
• Interim HR: Until the organization is large enough to staff HR, own the HR function, including the employee lifecycle, benefits and annual renewal, and the handbook and policy.
• Team building: Hire and develop the team as the work justifies it.

Required Qualifications

• CPA
• 8+ years in accounting and finance, including public accounting. Audit experience in an insurance practice is the strongest preparation.
• Insurance accounting experience (MGA, program, fronting, or carrier). Comfortable with ceded reinsurance, commission structures including contingent arrangements, premium receivable and payable, and collateral.
• Ownership of a full close (not participation in one).
• Demonstrated technical accounting research (able to point to standards applied, memos written, and positions defended to an auditor).
• Budgeting, forecasting, and driver-based modeling in Excel (at a level you can be tested on).
• Strong writing skills: explain numbers and accounting positions in plain English to people who are not accountants.

Preferred Qualifications

• Statutory accounting or insurance regulatory reporting
• Experience with an ERP or accounting-system implementation you helped select and run
• Experience working with outsourced accounting providers and holding them to a standard
• Experience building a first close calendar, first audit, or first finance hire

How You Work

• You document decisions and processes.
• You investigate differences until their root cause is found rather than applying quick fixes.
• You clearly communicate which figures are estimates versus not.
• You proactively raise issues to the CFO when something is wrong, including when you built it.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The organization is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Reasonable accommodation is available for applicants and employees with disabilities; applicants should inform the recruiter to arrange support.