Head of Finance & Operations

Avante is an AI-native benefits intelligence platform transforming benefits complexity into clarity. For employees, our agent Carly provides personalized, always-on benefits guidance. For benefits leaders, our agent Ava monitors entire programs, surfaces actionable insights, and delivers strategic intelligence on costs, utilization, and outcomes. We serve enterprise customers like Samsung, Zscaler, and News Corp, and operate on a 4-day in-office workweek (one day remote) from Seattle and New York.

About the role

Avante is hiring its first in-house Head of Finance & Operations, the senior-most finance role reporting directly to the CEO with a seat on the leadership team. This leader will act as a business partner first, driving cross-functional strategy and operational rigor. You will own finance, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), capital strategy, board support, people operations, legal and contracts, and business operations—with a focus on shaping big bets and building scalable systems.

Responsibilities

• Finance, Planning, and Capital
  • Own the financial model, forecasting, and planning; build FP&A, accounting, and financial systems.
  • Provide real-time visibility into business performance (ARR, NRR, churn, gross margin, cash flow, LTV/CAC).
  • Steward capital, lead board and investor relations, and represent finance in board meetings.
  • Implement systems and controls to support growth without slowing operations.
• Strategy and Leadership
  • Partner with the CEO and Chief of Staff to drive transformative bets in capital deployment, resourcing, and product pricing.
  • Translate leadership priorities into financial and operating plans, budgets, and targets; hold the business accountable.
• Operations, Legal, and People
  • Oversee people operations, HR, legal and contracts (including outside counsel), administration, and business operations.
  • (Go-to-market and revenue operations sit with the CRO.)
• Team and Ways of Working
  • Leverage AI to model, analyze, draft, and optimize workflows—redefining what’s possible in this role.
  • Build and lead the finance and operations team, deciding what to insource vs. outsource (fractional or full-time).
  • Sequence hires and develop the team to run day-to-day operations.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience across FP&A, FinOps, revenue/business operations, investing/diligence, or high-growth B2B software.
• Direct experience taking a company from Series Seed through growth rounds and deploying meaningful capital.
• Proven track record influencing decisions beyond finance as a strategic business partner.
• Bias toward building and solving, not just governing or controlling.
• Experience with fundraising, investor relations, and board communications.
• High ownership, action-oriented mindset, and comfort with ambiguity.
• Based in or willing to relocate to New York or Seattle; on-site four days a week.
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field; MBA or CPA preferred.

Nice to Have

• Experience managing finance-adjacent functions (people operations, business operations, legal).
• Transitioned a finance/operations function from fractional/outsourced to fully in-house.
• Led a company from Series A into growth stage.
• Familiarity with HR, benefits, healthcare, or HR-tech markets.

Our Values

• Beat Yesterday

  Act on 70% of information, refine iteratively. Own your output—AI accelerates work, but accountability is yours.

• Embrace Type 2 Fun

  Find meaning in hard work. Assume good intent, address issues directly, and build unscalable processes that become scalable advantages.

• Stay Hungry, Stay Curious

  Master AI for your function. Learn the product, domain, and business deeply enough to ask sharp questions and share insights.

• Act Like an Owner

  Surface problems early, close loops, and communicate transparently—no unanswered questions.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and meaningful early-stage equity with a path to CFO.
• Full benefits: medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).