Director of Capital & Emerging Technology Accounting

Zelis • Atlanta, GA

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Capital & Emerging Technology Accounting is a high-impact role within the Chief Accounting Officer's organization that sits at the intersection of accounting policy and the way we build software and AI. This position carries dual accountability: owning the operational labor capitalization close process, and serving as the organization's subject matter expert on technical accounting for internal-use software, cloud computing arrangements, and the rapidly evolving area of AI development cost accounting. The Director works directly with Engineering, the CIO organization, and BU CTOs to ensure development hours are accurately captured, classified, and translated into compliant capital balances.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field; CPA required
• 7+ years of progressive accounting experience, with at least 3 years in a technical accounting or accounting policy role
• Demonstrated expertise in ASC 350-40 (Internal-Use Software) and working knowledge of ASU 2018-15 (Cloud Computing Arrangements)
• Experience owning or materially contributing to a software capitalization process in a technology-intensive organization
• Strong cross-functional communication skills with the ability to translate accounting requirements into operational guidance for engineering and technology audiences
• Experience preparing and presenting technical accounting memos, policy documents, and audit-support packages

Nice To Haves

• Public accounting background (Big 4 or national firm) with technology-sector client experience
• Experience with Jira, Tempo, or similar project / time-tracking platforms in a capitalization context
• Familiarity with Snowflake, Sigma, or Power BI in a financial reporting or close-process context
• Familiarity with Workday Financials and HCM
• Working knowledge of ASU 2025-06 and its anticipated impact on internal-use software accounting
• Familiarity with AI/ML development lifecycle concepts sufficient to engage credibly with ML engineering teams on cost classification questions
• Prior experience in a company with both in-house (CIO) and product/BU (CTO) engineering organizations

Responsibilities

• Serve as the organization's primary technical accounting resource for ASC 350-40 (Internal-Use Software) and ASU 2018-15 (Cloud Computing Arrangements) — advising on phase determination, capitalizable cost categories, useful life assessments, and impairment indicators
• Develop and maintain a formal AI development cost accounting policy covering the full model lifecycle, from data acquisition and model training through fine-tuning, deployment, and inference — applying ASC 350-40 by analogy, ASU 2018-15, and ASC 730 as appropriate
• Advise on heightened-judgment AI cost categories: training compute costs, training data costs, foundation model fine-tuning, inference infrastructure, and prompt engineering pipeline development
• Monitor FASB standard-setting activity on AI accounting and lead the organization's readiness for ASU 2025-06, including impact assessment, process and system updates, and briefings for the CFO and Audit Committee
• Maintain an FAQ and capitalization decision framework; respond to questions from engineering managers, BU Finance partners, and the CIO organization on project eligibility and phase classification
• Own the end-to-end monthly labor capitalization close: convene BU Finance and engineering managers for pre-close validation, prepare the journal entry package with supporting phase-classification schedules, reconcile the capitalized software balance to the fixed asset sub-ledger, and deliver the close package to the Controller
• Pull and validate the labor capitalization report from Power BI / Sigma, reconciling Tempo-approved hours by project, phase, and cost center
• Serve as the primary Finance contact for external auditors on the capitalized software workpaper package; prepare technical accounting memos and respond to auditor queries on phase classification
• Define, publish, and maintain the hours tracking standard, including capitalizable vs. expense labor criteria under ASC 350-40 and logging frequency requirements
• Coordinate with IT Finance and Enterprise Architecture to ensure Jira project codes and Tempo configuration reflect capitalization policy before projects are created or modified; maintain AI-specific project code classifications
• Issue a monthly compliance scorecard to BU CTOs and the CIO covering Tempo completion rates, approval timeliness, and project code error rates; escalate non-compliance patterns and recommend corrective actions

Benefits

• Zelis maintains a transparent, fee-free recruitment process. All genuine offers originate from our Talent Acquisition team using the “@zelis.com” domain. We do not use WhatsApp or personal emails for recruitment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director