Founding Finance & Accounting Lead

About the company

BackOps AI is transforming supply chain operations—some of the most complex, high-stakes workflows in business—by replacing manual processes with agentic AI. We’re rethinking infrastructure from the ground up to eliminate missed shipments, cascading exceptions, and hours of coordination that pull teams away from strategic work. With ~50 employees headquartered in San Francisco, we’re backed by leading investors including Theory Ventures, Gradient, Construct Capital, and 10VC. The problem is urgent, the timing is right, and we’re building the team that will define the future of this space.

About the role

As our Founding Finance & Accounting Lead, you’ll build the financial infrastructure that enables BackOps to scale from roughly 50 employees today to hundreds over the coming years. You’ll establish the financial systems, reporting, planning, and operating rhythms that help leadership make better decisions as we grow. This role blends hands-on accounting with strategic FP&A, allowing you to own financial fundamentals while partnering closely with the CEO and cross-functional leaders to improve visibility, forecasting, and decision-making. If you enjoy building from first principles, thrive in ambiguity, and want to shape how a company scales, we’d love to meet you.

Responsibilities

• Build a world-class financial foundation:
  • Lead the monthly, quarterly, and annual close while ensuring timely, accurate, GAAP-compliant financial reporting.
  • Oversee day-to-day accounting operations, including AP, AR, customer billing, collections, cash management, vendor payments, and expense management.
  • Partner with our external accounting firm on tax, audit, financial statements, and technical accounting matters.
  • Design scalable accounting policies, internal controls, and finance processes that grow alongside the business.
  • Manage banking relationships, working capital, and company spend while continuously improving finance systems through automation and thoughtful process design.
• Help leadership make better decisions:
  • Build and maintain budgets, forecasts, long-range financial models, and scenario analyses that support strategic planning.
  • Deliver reporting, dashboards, and business insights that improve visibility into company performance.
  • Partner with leaders across the company on budgeting, resource allocation, and operating expenses.
  • Support board reporting, fundraising, and investor diligence as the company grows.
• Partner across the business:
  • Work closely with Sales leadership on bookings, ARR, and revenue forecasting.
  • Support sales incentive planning and commission validation.
  • Analyze pricing, customer trends, and unit economics to inform strategic decisions.
  • Serve as a trusted financial partner across the business, helping teams make smarter, data-informed decisions.

What success looks like

Within your first year, you’ll have:

• Built a predictable, trusted monthly close process.
• Established scalable finance processes that support our next stage of growth.
• Improved forecasting accuracy across revenue and operating expenses.
• Delivered financial reporting and business insights that leadership relies on.
• Built the financial foundation that enables BackOps to scale confidently.

Requirements

• Approximately 6–10 years of progressive experience across accounting, finance, FP&A, or strategic finance, ideally within venture-backed technology companies.
• Strong foundation in accounting and financial operations, with experience owning or materially contributing to the monthly close.
• Experience building budgets, forecasts, and financial models that inform business decisions.
• Understanding of AI business models, recurring revenue, and growth-stage company metrics.
• Comfortable diving into operational details and partnering with executives on strategic planning.
• Enjoys building processes from scratch rather than inheriting mature infrastructure.
• Communicates clearly, thinks analytically, and builds strong cross-functional relationships.
• Bias toward ownership, continuous improvement, and finding better ways to work.

Nice to have

• CPA and/or foundation in public accounting.
• Experience as an early finance hire at a high-growth startup.
• Experience supporting fundraising, board reporting, or investor diligence.
• Familiarity with modern finance systems such as NetSuite, QuickBooks, Campfire, Rillet, Ramp, Stripe, Carta, or similar platforms.
• Experience leveraging automation and AI to improve finance operations.

Benefits

• Build the finance and accounting function from the ground up at a rapidly scaling AI company.
• Partner directly with company leadership and shape how we plan, invest, and grow.
• Competitive salary, meaningful equity, and comprehensive benefits.