Accounting Lead

Virtue AI • San Francisco, CA

1d

About The Position

As the Accounting Lead at Virtue AI, you won't just be managing books—you will be the primary architect of our financial foundation and the engine behind our fiscal scaling. You are joining at a pivotal moment as we scale our team to meet the demand for AI security, governance, and adversarial safety. As our first dedicated in-house accounting hire, you will have a blank canvas to build the accounting function from the ground up. You will partner directly with our founders and leadership team to establish world-class financial operations across every department, from R&D to GTM.

Requirements

• 8+ years of accounting experience, with a significant portion spent in-house at a high-growth startup (Series A through C).
• Proven experience navigating IPO readiness, S-1 preparation, or operating within a public-company accounting environment.
• You have a proven track record of building financial processes and scaling functions from the ground up.
• You are equally comfortable managing a complex payroll run as you are architecting a multi-year order-to-cash strategy for enterprise SaaS deals.
• You are comfortable being a "department of one" and managing multiple high-priority financial roles simultaneously.
• You understand the financial nuances of AI/ML software and can credibly "pitch" our fiscal strategy to internal and external stakeholders (nice to have).
• You are a "closer" of the books. You know how to navigate complex reconciliations and equity explanations in a highly competitive market.

Nice To Haves

• An existing understanding of the financial landscapes within the AI safety, cybersecurity, or enterprise SaaS ecosystems.
• Experience transitioning from QuickBooks/Pilot into a broader ERP tech stack (e.g., NetSuite) integrated into a modern software environment.
• A background that includes both rigorous public accounting (Big 4) and strategic in-house financial management.

Responsibilities

• Establish our internal accounting "operating system" by transitioning functions from QuickBooks and our outside consultants (Pilot) to an in-house model.
• Own the end-to-end setup and management of our initial accounting, order-to-cash (O2C), and payroll functions. This person will help with collections and accounts receivables to ensure that our cash balance is healthy.
• Lead the preparation for future public markets, including implementing GAAP-compliant processes, robust internal controls, and audit readiness.
• Act as a financial consultant to the leadership team, providing real-time market data on spend, headcount planning, and fiscal trends in the AI sector.
• Define monthly close loops, create financial rubrics, and train team leads on how to manage their budgets effectively.
• Partner closely with our outside consultants to bring as much work in-house as possible while maintaining high standards of integrity.
• Use financial data to track the health of our operations and communicate progress and bottlenecks to the executive team.

Benefits

• Unmatched Impact: You will personally build the systems that define the financial future of AI security.
• Direct Influence: Your fingerprints will be on every financial process and team we build.
• Foundational Role: As our first accounting hire, you will have an outsized influence on the company’s trajectory and culture, with the opportunity to build and lead a team as we continue to scale.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed