Controller

Vast.ai•Los Angeles, CA

22d•Onsite

About The Position

Vast.ai is seeking a Controller to lead accounting and finance operations. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for building a scalable, automation-first function. The Controller will partner with various internal and external advisors to establish clean policies, strong controls, and reliable systems. As the company grows, there will be an opportunity to hire and lead a team. The role is based on-site in Westwood, Los Angeles.

Requirements

Active CPA in good standing with strong technical accounting judgment and practical GAAP experience.
8+ years in accounting and finance, including 2+ years at Controller, Assistant Controller, or equivalent senior accounting leadership level in a high-growth company.
Hands-on experience owning or materially leading the monthly close, account reconciliations, financial statement preparation, and accounting operations in a private company environment.
Direct experience with a marketplace, platform, SaaS, usage-based, fintech, payments, infrastructure, or other multi-party transactional business.
Working knowledge of ASC 606, gross-versus-net principal-agent analysis, deferred revenue, customer credits, refunds, payouts, and unit-economics reporting.
Practical experience with multi-state US indirect-tax compliance and the judgment to manage outside specialists effectively.
Comfort implementing or operating ERP, billing, payment, payout, payroll, tax, and reporting systems, and reconciling operational data to the general ledger.
Demonstrated ability to use systems, AI tools, workflows, and controls to reduce manual work without sacrificing accuracy, auditability, or judgment.
A hands-on operator who can move from blank page to operating reality, communicate clearly with non-finance teams, and build structure without slowing the company down.

Nice To Haves

Public-accounting experience at a Big 4, national, or top regional firm, paired with in-house operating experience.
10–12 years of total accounting and finance experience, including time as the first or most senior in-house accounting leader at a high-growth company.
Hands-on experience leading or co-leading a cash-to-accrual conversion and first-audit readiness process.
Marketplace-facilitator analysis, international VAT and GST exposure, host/provider withholding, and 1099 and 1042-S information reporting experience.
Experience implementing or upgrading an ERP, plus tools such as Stripe, Adyen, Avalara, Vertex, TaxJar, Tipalti, Bill.com, Ramp, Brex, Rippling, Carta, or similar systems.
Demonstrated use of AI and automation tooling in finance operations, especially AP automation, close management, reconciliations, exception review, or payout workflows.
Equity and stock-based-compensation accounting experience, including ASC 718 and 409A coordination.
Comfort working with SQL, data warehouses, BI tools, or product analytics teams to reconcile operational events to financial reporting.

Responsibilities

Lead GAAP conversion and audit readiness, including the transition from cash to accrual accounting and establishing GAAP-compliant financial statements.
Own the monthly close and core finance operations, including accounts receivable and collections, accounts payable and vendor management, payroll, reconciliations, approval workflows, and close documentation.
Build marketplace revenue accounting, including ASC 606 analysis, gross-versus-net principal-agent conclusions, customer credits, refunds, chargebacks, deferred revenue, host/provider payouts, payment processor reconciliations, and unit-economics reporting.
Design payout and cash controls for customer funds, host payouts, credits, disputes, fraud adjustments, bank activity, and reconciliations.
Lead tax and compliance operations, managing outside tax specialists and internal stakeholders.
Select, implement, or improve the finance stack across ERP, billing-to-cash, AP automation, payout tooling, tax engines, payroll, equity administration, and reporting.
Run monthly financial reporting, cash visibility, actuals analysis, and operating metrics.
Partner with the COO and fractional CFO on financial planning inputs, including quarterly forecasts, annual budgets, board and investor reporting, and equity and stock-based-compensation accounting.
Partner cross-functionally with engineering, product, data, legal, and operations to translate business logic into accounting policies, financial controls, and scalable reporting.
Define the roadmap for hiring versus automation across accounting operations, revenue accounting, tax, systems, and FP&A support, and recruit and lead the team as the company scales.