Corporate Accountant

Benchling; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 105,000 - 142,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Benchling is building an AI-powered biotech platform and is seeking a Senior Accountant to own portions of the close process and drive improvements across the Accounting team. You will focus on personnel costs, including commission, bonuses, employee benefits, and stock-based compensation, while collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure GAAP compliance and accurate reporting.

Benchling offers a hybrid schedule with on-site collaboration three days a week, supporting a culture of growth

Qualifications

• BS/BA in Accounting or equivalent with solid GAAP understanding.
• Minimum 3+ years of experience in public accounting or accounting role.
• Experience with SaaS is strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in NetSuite is strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in MS Office with advanced Excel (VLOOKUP, IF, pivot tables).
• Detail-oriented with strong time management and organizational skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Team player who prioritizes needs of the team.
• AI fluency preferred – comfortable using AI tools to improve productivity and analysis.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and post job-specific journal entries and support calculations.
• Prepare GL account and financial statement flux analyses with drivers for commissions, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and benefits.
• Prepare rollforward and reconciliations for balance sheet and expense accounts.
• Assist in preparation of financial statements including footnote disclosures.
• Design and improve the closing task list, close calendar, and team performance.
• Collaborate on policies, procedures, and internal controls; ensure SOX compliance.
• Participate in audits and ad hoc finance/ accounting projects.

Skills

GAAP knowledge

SaaS experience

Excel (advanced)

Time management

Communication skills

Team player

AI fluency

MS Office

Education

BS/BA in Accounting or equivalent

Tools

NetSuite

Microsoft Excel

Gemini

Claude

Job description

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era. When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we haven’t built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

Role Overview

The Senior Accountant will play a key part in our day-to-day accounting operations, month-end close process, and share in leading towards continuous improvement across our Accounting team. We are looking for an individual with an accounting background, good understanding of GAAP and general ledger structure, and a passion to learn. We expect this individual to focus on certain processes mainly related to personnel costs (e.g., commission & bonus, employee benefits, stock based compensation ) but have flexibility to work across various areas of Accounting.

Responsibilities

• Financial Close and Reporting Processes
  • Prepare and post job-specific journal entries, taking responsibility for underlying calculations and support of varying complexity
  • Prepare GL Account and Financial Statement flux analyses, understanding and communicating activity and drivers for areas such as commission & bonus, stockbased compensation, & employee benefits
  • Prepare rollforward and reconciliation schedules for balance sheet and expense accounts, such as payroll liability, accrued & prepaid bonus, 401K liability, common stock
  • Assist in the preparation of financial statements, including footnote disclosures, for areas of involvement
  • Participate in the design, execution and continuous improvement of the overall closing task list, close calendar and team’s close performance
• Systems, Policies and Processes
  • Assist in the development and maintenance of policies and procedures for Close and Technical Accounting areas of involvement
  • Collaborate on new and changing needs, questions and challenges in our systems and processes as they come up, conducting information-gathering, idea generation and solution implementation
  • Participate in the development of best practices, policies, and internal controls that optimize team performance and enable compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.
• Other Accounting Team Responsibilities
  • Participate in and contribute to financial audits, including preparation of various audit schedules, collation of documents, responding to inquiries and meeting with auditors
  • Lead or assist with other special Finance/Accounting ad hoc projects, as needed
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with various teams throughout the organization including Strategic Finance, Payroll, Accounting, HR, Legal and external auditors
  • Ensure that all activities related to this job position are accomplished in an ethical, prudent and secure manner

Qualifications

• BS/BA in Accounting or equivalent with a solid understanding of GAAP.
• Minimum 3+ years of experience in public accounting and/or working directly in an accounting role
• Experience with SaaS is strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in NetSuite is strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite with intermediate skills in Excel including VLOOKUP, if functions, pivot tables, etc. desired
• Detail-oriented with excellent time management, prioritization, and organizational skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Able to explain accounting topics in an understandable and logical manner
• Team player, able to prioritize needs of others and of the team in front of their own
• AI fluency preferred — comfort using AI tools (e.g., Gemini, Claude) to improve productivity, draft communications, analyze data, and streamline accounting workflows

How We Work

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Compensation Range: $105,315 - $142,485