Director of Finance

Modern Life; New York (NY); On-site; USD 200,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Modern Life in New York City seeks a Director of Finance to own our finance function end-to-end, from the financial model and budget to commissions and the revenue engine of our brokerage business. Reporting to the CEO, you’ll be the company’s finance leader, partnering with operations, outsourced accounting, and leadership to scale confidently.

You’ll build a robust forecast, drive fundraising materials, manage month-end close, and deliver board reporting, unit economics, and headcount

Qualifications

• 7+ years in strategic finance (FP&A) in high-growth startups
• Experience in budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling
• Strong analytical abilities with attention to detail and strategic focus
• Experience managing outsourced accounting and working with external stakeholders
• Excellent communication and leadership across departments
• Bonus: experience with insurance, brokerage, or commission-based models
• Bachelor's in Finance/Accounting/Economics; MBA or CPA preferred

Responsibilities

• Own the company financial model and link drivers to goals
• Lead budgeting and forecasting cycles with all teams
• Support fundraising and strategic finance materials
• Manage outsourced accounting partner and month-end close
• Deliver management and board reporting on performance and runway
• Own commissions and carrier/advisor payout structures
• Apply AI tools to automate reporting and workflows

Skills

Strategic finance

Financial modeling

Budgeting

Forecasting

Analytical skills

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's in Finance

MBA or CPA preferred

Job description

Join our team and accelerate your career.

Life insurance is a complex and consequential purchase that impacts hundreds of millions of Americans — and it's about to experience a massive AI transformation, impacting over 500,000 professionals today. We're building the AI-powered software, agents, and workflows that change how life insurance gets bought and sold, making it faster, smarter, and easier for advisors and their clients.

We are a high-growth Series A company that has raised $35M from top-tier investors, including Thrive Capital (major investors in OpenAI, SpaceX, Stripe, Instagram, Spotify, and Slack), New York Life, and Northwestern Mutual.

We're hiring a Director of Finance to own our finance function end-to-end — from the company financial model and budget through commissions, the revenue engine of our brokerage business. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll be the company's finance leader: part strategic partner, part hands‑on operator. You'll take over a function built by a founding operating team member and partner closely with our Head of Business Operations, our outsourced accounting firm, and leadership to keep the business financially sharp as we scale.

What You'll Do

• Own the company financial model. Maintain and expand the model that links key business drivers to company goals, and keep leadership and the board honest about where we're headed
• Drive budgeting and forecasting. Run the annual budget and ongoing reforecasting cycles, working with every team to tie resource allocation to strategic goals
• Support fundraising and strategic finance. Prepare materials and analysis for fundraising, investor updates, and strategic partnerships
• Manage financial operations. Own the relationship with our outsourced accounting partner, oversee month‑end close, AP/AR (Ramp), and ensure timely, accurate financial reporting to internal and external stakeholders
• Deliver management and board reporting. Build the reporting cadence that gives leadership and the board clear insight into business performance, unit economics, and runway
• Partner on headcount and unit economics. Work with the CEO and Head of People on headcount planning, comp modeling, staffing ratios, and the unit economics that drive org design decisions
• Own commissions. Oversee the commission engine at the heart of our brokerage economics: carrier commission structures and margins, advisor payout tiers, weekly commission processing, and the reporting that keeps advisors and carriers whole
• Work AI‑natively. Use AI tooling to automate reporting, analysis, and finance workflows so a lean function punches above its weight

Who You Are

• 7+ years of strategic finance (FP&A) experience ideally in high‑growth startup finance
• You've owned budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling with a track record of driving financial performance against targets
• Exceptional analytical skills — able to drill into the weeds (commission‑level detail) while maintaining a strategic lens
• Comfortable being the sole finance owner: managing an outsourced accounting firm rather than a big internal team, and doing the work yourself when needed
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, working collaboratively across departments and with external stakeholders (carriers, accountants, investors)
• Bonus: experience with insurance, brokerage, or commission‑based revenue models, foundation in management consulting or investment banking
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field; MBA or CPA preferred

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is $200,000-$240,000. Actual compensation within this range will depend on the candidate's experience, skills, and qualifications.