Head of Accounting (Controller)

Overview

The organization is seeking an experienced, entrepreneurial finance leader to oversee and scale accounting and tax operations and strategy, with an opportunity to take on additional related areas such as procurement. This role will build and scale financial systems, processes, and policies to support the financial health and efficient scaling of the business.

The position oversees the monthly close process, annual audits, financial reporting, and control processes with the goal of ensuring high confidence in the quality of internal and external financial reports and processes for team members, the Board of Directors, third-party partners, regulators, and prospective investors.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and scale all aspects of accounting and tax operations and strategy
• Build and scale financial systems, processes, and policies to support business growth
• Oversee the monthly close process and related control processes
• Lead annual audit readiness and support external audits
• Ensure accurate and timely financial reporting across internal and external stakeholders
• Manage the accounting function, including:
  • General ledger (GL)
  • Accounts payable (AP)
  • Technical / revenue accounting
  • Financial reporting
  • Payroll
  • Equity
  • Tax
  • Treasury
• Oversee in-house accounting team and external consultants supporting the accounting function
• Partner cross-functionally with leaders across business units and functional teams including Strategic Finance, People, Engineering, Legal, and others
• Support the CFO and other executives on strategic initiatives, including:
  • M&A
  • Fundraising
  • Secondary transactions
  • Potentially a future IPO
• Report directly to the CFO

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience, including:
  • 3+ years at a top-tier audit firm
  • 8+ years in-house accounting at fast-growing startups
  • Increasing responsibility culminating in a controller or assistant controller role
• Built and retained an accounting team of meaningful scale and complexity, including managers and individual contributors
• Designed and managed full-cycle accounting close and operations, including tax, treasury, payroll, and equity administration
• Led accounting teams through multiple clean audits with Big Four firms
• Applied US GAAP to complex business transactions, including:
  • Documenting clear conclusions
  • Establishing practical business processes
  • Defending accounting positions with external auditors
• Scaled finance operations through major process or systems overhauls, including experience incorporating AI-powered workflows
• Oversaw global indirect tax compliance, including US sales tax and international VAT/GST

Preferred Qualifications (Bonus)

• Experience in a lead-level accounting role at a public tech company
• Experience with emerging AI-native finance tooling (e.g., Rillet)
• Experience with complex businesses (multiple products with different revenue models)
• Experience with business combination accounting and integrations
• An active CPA license

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation takes into account geographic location, experience, and skillset.

Salary ranges (United States):

• CA, WA, NY, NJ, CT states: $220,000 - $300,000 (USD)
• All other states in the US: $187,000 - $255,000 (USD)

Location

Distributed role. Hiring regardless of location, as long as you are willing to have significant hours overlap with one of the Americas time zones.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The employer is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. In accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered.

Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities or special needs.