Senior Accountant

Swarm Aero Inc.; Oxnard (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health coverage

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401k

PTO

Sick leave

Wellness stipend

Catered lunch

Parental leave

Impactful mission

Job summary

Swarm Aero is seeking a senior accountant to own the month-end close, maintain a clean ledger, and determine the right treatment for new transactions as we scale in a fast-moving aerospace environment.

You will partner with finance leadership and operations to build cost structures, controls, and processes for government contracts, ensuring audit readiness and scalable accounting for future growth.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of accounting experience with close ownership, reconciliations, and GL.
• Strong command of GAAP and applying judgment when the answer isn’t obvious.
• Experience in environments with audits, compliance reviews, or complex cost accounting.
• Comfort working with physical costs: inventory, POs, vendors, and production.

Responsibilities

• Own the month-end close: journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and supporting schedules.
• Maintain an accurate, auditable general ledger.
• Account for inventory from prototypes to production: raw materials, WIP, finished goods, COGS.
• Develop and maintain cost structures for government contracts, including indirect cost pools and rate tracking.
• Support contract billing and revenue recognition across contract types.
• Prepare for and support external audits and government reviews.
• Research and document accounting treatments for new or unusual transactions.
• Run AP, expense reporting, and card program controls.
• Document processes and strengthen internal controls as the company scales.
• Assist in evaluating and implementing new systems as needed.

Skills

Close ownership

GAAP

Audits experience

Inventory accounting

Excel proficiency

NetSuite

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting

Tools

NetSuite

Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

The Role

Accounting at a company like ours is not a steady-state job. We buy parts, build aircraft, and sign contracts with the government, often all in the same month. Every one of those activities has to be recorded correctly, supportable under audit, and structured so it still holds up when we're ten times bigger.

We're looking for an accountant who wants to own that. You'll run the close, keep the ledger clean, and be the person who figures out the right treatment when something new shows up, which will happen often. You'll help set up the cost structures, controls, and processes the company will run on for years.

This is a senior role, and we care more about how you think than how long you've been doing it. If you've built real depth early and you're ready for more ownership than your current seat allows, we want to hear from you.

You'll work closely with finance leadership and partner with operations, supply chain, and our program teams.

What You'll Do

• Own the month-end close: journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and the schedules that support them
• Keep the general ledger accurate, timely, and something an auditor could walk through without surprises
• Account for inventory as we move from prototypes to production: raw materials, WIP, finished goods, capitalization, and cost of goods sold
• Help build and maintain our cost structure for government contracts, including indirect cost pools, allocation bases, rate tracking, and segregation of unallowable costs
• Support contract billing and revenue recognition across different contract types
• Prepare for and support external audits and government reviews, and keep documentation ready before anyone asks for it
• Research and write up the accounting treatment for new or unusual transactions
• Run AP, expense reporting, and the card program with sensible controls
• Document processes and strengthen internal controls as the company scales
• Help evaluate and implement systems as we outgrow our current tools

What We’re Looking For

• 3+ years of accounting experience with real ownership of close, reconciliations, and GL
• Strong command of GAAP and the judgment to apply it when the answer isn't obvious
• Experience in an environment where the numbers were tested closely: audits, compliance reviews, or complex cost accounting
• Comfort working with physical costs: inventory, purchase orders, vendors, and production
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or a related field
• Strong Excel skills and experience with an ERP or accounting system (NetSuite or similar)
• Attention to detail and a record of clean work under deadlines

Bonus Points

• CPA, or progress toward it
• Familiarity with FAR, CAS, or DCAA requirements
• Experience standing up processes or systems from scratch

Who You Are

• Rigorous: You know what an auditor will ask before they ask it, and your support is already there
• Curious: When a transaction doesn't fit the usual pattern, you want to understand it, not force it
• Builder-minded: You'd rather design the process right than inherit one that's broken
• Ready for more: You want a seat where your work shapes how the company operates, not one where the playbook was written years ago

ITAR requirement

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

What We Offer

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
• PTO and paid sick leave
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Daily catered lunch (office)
• Paid parental leave
• Direct impact on a critical national security mission
• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems