Controller - Accounting AI Firm
Non-disclosed New York, United StatesController - Accounting AI Firm
Controller
The Firm:
The firm builds AI agents that learn accounting the same way accountants do — by being agentic and doing the work. Rather than rebuilding accounting software, the firm's agents operate within the existing accounting software ecosystem, completing complex tasks from start to finish for some of the largest accounting firms in the world, among others.
Summary:
The firm is currently looking to hire a Controller with 6–12 years of progressive accounting experience who has significantly built out an accounting function at a high-growth company. The ideal candidate should be comfortable owning the full close process, leading audit readiness and working as an Individual Contributor — while also bringing a systems mindset and genuine curiosity about using AI to automate and improve accounting workflows. Public accounting (audit) experience and a CPA are required.
Responsibilities:
• Own the integrity of the firm's accounting operations, including the monthly close process, reconciliations, accruals, revenue recognition, and financial reporting
• Build and lead audit readiness from the ground up — designing the roadmap, organizing documentation, establishing controls, and preparing the company for its first external audit
• Design and implement scalable financial systems across accounts payable, procurement, expense management, purchasing approvals, vendor commitments, and spend reporting
• Apply an AI-forward mindset to redesign accounting workflows — determining where AI can own work, where human review matters, and how systems remain explainable and auditable at scale
• Serve as the internal owner of the firm's product for the finance function, interfacing directly with Product and Engineering teams to provide practitioner feedback and help shape the product roadmap
• Partner with an outsourced accounting team to manage day-to-day operations while focusing time on building systems, automating processes, and driving toward a zero-day close
• Deliver clear spend visibility by vendor, team, category, product, customer, and cost driver — giving leadership accurate, timely financial information they can trust
Why candidates should join:
• Be the Controller at a company automating accounting itself: This isn't a standard Controller seat. The firm builds AI agents for accountants — and the Controller will be applying that technology to real finance workflows internally. The Controller will redesign the close process, automate reconciliations, and push toward a zero-day close. There are maybe five companies on earth that can offer this to a Controller.
• Shape the function from the ground up: The Controller will run the accounting function, lead the company through its first audit, and build the systems and processes that scale with a company that just raised $100M at a $1B+ valuation. The Controller will have an outsourced accounting team to support execution and the latitude to hire as the company grows.
• Work alongside 30+ accountants: The firm has product teams where accountants and machine learning engineers work side by side to evaluate AI agent quality. The Controller will collaborate with those teams, give direct product feedback, and even interface with customers.
• Steep trajectory at a rocketship company: The firm went from seed to $1B+ valuation in under three years. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Accel, Google Ventures, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Adam D'Angelo. OpenAI's Applied AI Lead has publicly praised the firm for pushing the limits of what their models can do. This is a front-row seat to one of the most important AI applications in the economy.
Requirements:
• 6 - 12 years of Controller / Audit experience
• Experience owning accounting operations in-house at a high-growth scaling company
• Experience building accounting processes and spend systems from scratch (accounts payable, procurement, expense management, purchasing approvals, vendor commitments, spend reporting)
• Experience starting up an accounting function or transitioning an organization from founder-led or manual processes to a scalable well-controlled function
• Technical accounting experience (financial reporting, revenue recognition, accruals, capitalization, equity)
• Experience with workflow or process automation
• Experience with financial modeling, forecasting, and investment analysis
• Active CPA license
• Experience managing and executing an external financial audit from beginning to end one or more times
• Willingness to perform hands-on accounting operations as an individual contributor (monthly close, audits)