Accounting Lead

Merge Labs•San Francisco, CA

2d•$120,000 - $165,000•Remote

About The Position

Merge Labs is seeking an Accounting Lead to be the accountable owner of accounting operations. This is a hands-on builder role responsible for the monthly close, financial statements, general ledger, AP/expenses, procurement, technical accounting, controls, finance systems, audit readiness, and accounting inputs for budgeting and forecasting. The role involves transitioning from an outsourced accounting model to building internal standards and controls as the company scales. The Accounting Lead will report to an operations and strategy leader, requiring strong judgment and communication skills to act as a technical authority, educate the organization, and translate financial data into actionable insights. The ideal candidate enjoys building scalable finance operations to accelerate research.

Requirements

Deep command of GAAP, close, financial reporting, controls, and auditability.
Experience owning accounting processes end-to-end.
Experience inheriting imperfect systems and making them simpler, faster, more reliable, and easier to audit.
Experience in a fast-growing startup or similarly dynamic environment where processes were not already built.
Ability to distinguish accounting requirements, risk-management choices, and conventions, and explain tradeoffs clearly to non-experts.
Use of AI tools as part of everyday workflow to increase leverage, speed, and rigor.
Clear, high-bandwidth communication skills with scientists, engineers, operators, executives, auditors, and vendors.
Ability to translate numbers into a compelling story.
Comfortable being hands-on today while designing for future team and scale.
Operated at a meaningful accounting scope, likely at Head of Accounting, Accounting Lead, Assistant Controller, Controller, or comparable level.
Alignment with Merge's mission to enable ambitious scientific research.

Nice To Haves

CPA
Big Four/public-accounting experience
Experience in Biotech, life sciences, deep tech, robotics, hardware, AI research, advanced manufacturing, or another R&D- and CapEx-intensive environment.
Building or scaling an accounting function as an early finance hire.
Equity/stock-based compensation accounting and financing-round audit support.
Managing outsourced accounting/tax/payroll partners while retaining clear internal accountability.
Finance-system implementation, automation, data analysis, SQL, or other technical tooling.
Fluency with modern AI tools and experience building automations, agents, and tools for finance workflows.

Responsibilities

Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close, including the general ledger, chart of accounts, reconciliations, accruals, coding standards, and financial statements.
Own procurement, AP, and expenses end-to-end, building a fast, service-oriented process that preserves appropriate controls without blocking scientists from critical vendors, equipment, materials, or services.
Own accounting for significant CapEx and fixed assets across laboratory, hardware, equipment, and facilities spend.
Establish and maintain technical accounting policies for an R&D-intensive company, including R&D spend, leases, prepaids/accruals, equity and stock-based compensation, and other material areas as they emerge.
Build and maintain a pragmatic control environment that supports accurate, auditable financials without unnecessary bureaucracy.
Lead audit preparation and the external auditor relationship, making financing diligence and audit support repeatable and well-organized.
Own finance systems and integrations across Rillet, Ramp, Procurify, Rippling, Carta, and external-provider workflows, improving and automating them as the company scales.
Own the internal budgeting-input process and ensure clean actuals-to-plan mapping, partnering with the external FP&A team on forecasting and modeling.
Produce clear financial reporting for leadership, the board, and investors, including burn, major variances, CapEx, and other decision-relevant insights.
Direct and review outsourced finance partners, establish clear SLAs and quality standards, and determine what to insource as the company grows.