Controller

laurel; New York, California (NY, MO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401K

Off-sites

Job summary

Laurel AI is seeking its first Controller to report to the CFO, shaping the finance function as the company scales from a time intelligence platform to a broader enterprise workflow business.

You will own all accounting ops, design scalable policies, manage audits, and lead the development of the accounting team, partnering with leadership on fundraising readiness and public company readiness. This is a foundational role in New York, guiding systems and controls to scale with our growth.

Qualifications

• Experience architecting the accounting function from the ground up.
• Strong knowledge of audits and external partner management.
• Track record implementing scalable finance processes with AI/automation.
• Leadership experience in a high-growth environment.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all accounting operations and month-end close.
• Design scalable policies, controls, and reporting infrastructure.
• Manage audits and external accounting relationships.
• Drive process automation and AI-enabled efficiencies.
• Build and develop the future accounting team.
• Partner with CFO on fundraising readiness and scale plan.

Skills

Accounting leadership

GAAP & close processes

Audits & external partnerships

Process automation

AI in finance

Team building

Job description

Laurel is on a mission to return time. As the leading AI Time platform for professional services firms, we’re transforming how organizations capture, analyze, and optimize their most valuable resource: time. Our proprietary machine learning technology automates work time capture and connects time data to business outcomes, enabling firms to increase profitability, improve client delivery, and make data-driven strategic decisions. We serve many of the world's largest accounting and law firms, including EY, Aprio, Crowell & Moring, and Frost Brown Todd, and process over 1 billion work activities annually that have never been collected and aggregated before Laurel’s AI Time platform.

Our team comprises top talent in AI, product development, and engineering—innovative, humble, and forward-thinking professionals committed to redefining productivity in the knowledge economy. We're building solutions that empower workers to deliver twice the value in half the time, giving people more time to be creative and impactful. If you're passionate about transforming how people work and building a lasting company that explores the essence of time itself, we'd love to meet you.

Laurel AI is hiring its first Controller, a foundational role reporting directly to the CFO at a pivotal moment in the company's growth.

We've built significant market traction, delivered exceptional growth, and are now expanding into a substantially larger opportunity as we evolve from a category-leading time intelligence platform into a broader enterprise workflow intelligence business. This is the moment that defines the next chapter, and the Controller will help build the financial infrastructure that gets us there.

This is not a role where you inherit someone else's playbook. You'll architect the accounting function from the ground up, designing scalable processes and controls, implementing best-in-class systems, and helping define what an AI-native finance organization can actually look like at scale.

What you'll own:

• All accounting operations and close processes
• Scalable accounting policies, controls, and reporting infrastructure
• Audits and external accounting partner relationships
• Process automation and AI-enabled efficiencies across the finance function
• Building and developing the future accounting team
• Strategic partnership with the CFO and executive leadership on fundraising readiness, operational scaling, and long-term public company preparation

Who you are:

You're a builder, not a maintainer. You're energized by ambiguity, thrive on creating structure where little exists, and want real influence over how a high-growth company operates. You're excited, not intimidated by the opportunity to rethink traditional finance processes using AI and automation. And you want to do it at a company that has the potential to be a category-defining leader in its space.

Why join Laurel:

• To date, we've secured significant funding from renowned venture capitalists (Google Ventures, IVP, Anthos, Upfront Ventures), as well as notable individuals like Marc Benioff, Gokul Rajaram, Kevin Weil, and Alexis Ohanian
• A smart, fun, collaborative, and inclusive team
• Great employee benefits, including equity and 401K
• Bi-annual, in-person company off-sites, in unique locations, to grow and share time with the team
• An opportunity to perform at your best while growing, making a meaningful impact on the company's trajectory, and embodying our core values: understanding your "why," dancing in the rain, being your whole self, and sanctifying time

We encourage diverse perspectives and rigorous thinkers who aren't afraid to challenge the status quo. Laurel is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. We are not able to support visa sponsorship or relocation assistance.