Finance Operations & AI Automation Lead

Crystal Practice Management•Austin, TX

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Crystal’s finance function is seeking someone who combines strong accounting fundamentals with a genuine curiosity about how AI and automation can make financial operations faster, more accurate, and less manual. Reporting directly to the VP of Finance, this position is ideal for someone who wants to grow beyond traditional accounting into finance operations, systems, automation, and long-term finance leadership. This is not a narrowly scoped accounting role —it’s an opportunity to help build and improve how the finance function operates. You’ll work across the month-end close, billing, collections, and financial reporting. You’ll also own audit and tax compliance functions while taking on special projects that span departments: connecting systems that don’t talk to each other, building automated workflows where manual ones exist today, and exploring how AI tools can reduce repetitive work across the finance team. Crystal runs on applications like QuickBooks, Ramp, and Salesforce, and there’s meaningful opportunity to improve how data flows between them. We’re not expecting you to walk in the door already building AI agents. We are expecting strong accounting skills, curiosity about technology, and the kind of mindset where you look at a manual process and immediately think about how to improve it. You’ll develop the systems and automation side of the role on the job, with support from a finance leader who believes this is where the profession is heading.

Requirements

3-5 years of experience in audit, accounting, financial operations, or a finance-adjacent role.
Solid understanding of the month-end close process, reconciliations, journal entries, and GAAP fundamentals.
Genuine curiosity about AI and automation tools.
Comfort learning new technical skills on the job (e.g., connecting systems through APIs, using AI coding tools, building workflows in AI tooling).
Strong attention to detail and a track record of clean, reliable work product.
Accounting brain, engineering/systems instinct.
A builder mindset with experience in an environment with strong technical rigor.
Curious and self-directed learner.
Detail-oriented with a systems lens.
High agency: comfortable with ambiguity and prefers action over perfection.
Dependable under pressure, stays calm, delivers clean work, and keeps commitments.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with QuickBooks, Ramp, and/or Salesforce.
Familiarity with how QuickBooks, Ramp, and/or Salesforce work and where they fall short.
Team lead or coordination experience (even informal leadership).
SaaS or healthcare technology experience.

Responsibilities

Work across the month-end close, billing, collections, and financial reporting.
Own audit and tax compliance functions.
Take on special projects that span departments: connecting systems, building automated workflows, and exploring how AI tools can reduce repetitive work.
Improve how data flows between systems like QuickBooks, Ramp, and Salesforce.
Develop systems and automation skills on the job.
Own the month-end close process.
Map data flow between systems and identify manual handoffs to automate.
Experiment with AI tools to automate recurring finance tasks.
Manage the annual financial statement audit.
Prepare monthly and quarterly sales tax returns.
Liaise with the external tax team to ensure timely filing of taxes.