Senior Manager, Corporate Accounting

United States Digital Space LLC; Washington; Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Corporate Accountant to lead close operations, develop policies, and drive automation in a high‑growth setting. The role reports to the Director of Accounting Operations and combines hands-on accounting with building scalable processes.

The candidate must hold an active CPA licence and bring a Big 4 audit background with experience in SOX, US GAAP, and cross‑functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Active CPA licence required.
• Big 4 audit background is highly valued.
• Experience designing and operating controls in a SOX environment.
• Hands-on ownership of close processes: reconciliations, JEs, variance analysis.
• Experience building accounting infrastructure from scratch.

Responsibilities

• Own a portfolio of accounts through month-end and quarter-end close, including reconciliations and journal entries.
• Drive close acceleration by eliminating bottlenecks and improving processes.
• Ensure close deliverables are audit-ready with documentation and evidence.
• Oversee SOX control preparation and remediation of gaps.
• Write and maintain technical accounting policies and SOPs.
• Lead external audit responses and deliver schedules.

Skills

Active CPA license

Big 4 audit background

Team leadership

SOX controls

US GAAP

Policy design

AI-enabled automation

Education

Bachelor's degree in accounting

Tools

Claude

ERP systems

Job description

About the company

the company’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the Role

We are looking for a Corporate Accountant to join the company’s Corporate Accounting Operations team. Reporting to the Director of Accounting Operations, this person will lead a team of accountants while staying hands‑on — reviewing and preparing close materials, setting technical standards, and owning their own portfolio of accounts through close.

This is a build role. The successful candidate will write and own the policies and SOPs their team operates against, design the controls framework, and continuously improve the processes underneath it — including using Claude and other tools to automate work that doesn’t need to be manual. We are looking for someone who has built accounting infrastructure from scratch in high‑growth environments and wants to do it again at one of the most important companies in the world.

The role requires an active CPA licence and roughly 10 years of progressive accounting experience combining public company (audit or in‑house) exposure with time in a high‑growth or startup environment. A Big 4 audit foundation is a strong signal. The role carries direct reports and sits at the intersection of close operations, technical accounting, SOX, process automation, and cross‑functional partnership.

Key Responsibilities Close Operations (~35%)

• Own a portfolio of accounts through month‑end and quarter‑end close — reconciliations, journal entries, and variance commentary
• Drive close acceleration by identifying bottlenecks and implementing process changes that reduce cycle time without sacrificing accuracy
• Ensure all close deliverables are consistently audit‑ready with clear documentation of positions and supporting evidence
• Oversee SOX control preparation and execution across owned accounts; review control evidence and own timely remediation of gaps

Technical Accounting & Policy (~20%)

• Write, own, and maintain technical accounting policies and SOPs across the domain — drafting, evolving, and operationalising them as the business changes
• Review technical accounting memos prepared by the team; ensure conclusions are well‑supported and consistent with US GAAP
• Collaborate with Technical Accounting on new or evolving standards and translate guidance into executable procedures
• Own external audit responses within the domain; ensure timely delivery of supporting schedules and audit‑ready workpapers

Process Improvement & Automation (~20%)

• Identify repetitive, rules‑based tasks and build scalable solutions — including leveraging Claude — to automate or replace them
• Document workflows and controls in a way that supports knowledge transfer, audit evidence, and system scalability
• Contribute to ERP and systems implementations, translating accounting requirements into clear specifications and test criteria

Team Leadership & Review (~15%)

• Coach and develop a team of highly agile performers with timely, specific feedback that raises the technical and operational bar
• Hire and onboard accountants as the team grows; set clear expectations and build a culture of precision and continuous improvement
• Serve as the first escalation point for complex transactions and accounting judgments across the team’s workstreams

Cross‑Functional Partnership (~10%)

• Partner with Finance & Strategy, Tax, People Operations, Procurement, and Facilities to keep accounting aligned with business activity in real time
• Translate complex accounting positions into plain language for non‑finance stakeholders
• Support new entity setup and geographic expansion by establishing accounting processes for new jurisdictions

Minimum Qualifications

• Active CPA licence (required)
• Big 4 audit foundation — strong signal of technical depth and audit‑readiness standards
• Has managed or meaningfully coached junior accountants; ready for direct reports
• Experience designing and operating controls in a SOX environment
• Hands‑on ownership of close: reconciliations, JEs, variance analysis, period‑end cut‑off
• Depth across several of: ASC 842 leases, ASC 718 SBC, ASC 340‑40 commissions, payroll, fixed assets / capitalisation, cash & investments, debt, intangibles, prepaids, accruals
• Player‑coach: moves fluidly between reviewing team work and doing the work — equally comfortable in a recon spreadsheet and a review meeting
• Owns policies and SOPs end‑to‑end: writes them, maintains them, accountable for how the team applies them
• Thrives in ambiguity: structures work, reaches defensible conclusions, documents clearly when the answer isn’t obvious
• Builder mindset: energised by building from scratch rather than maintaining what exists
• Clear POV on how AI tools eliminate low‑value accounting work — and wants to put that into practice
• Communicates complex positions in plain language to non‑accounting partners

Preferred Qualifications

• ~10 years progressive accounting experience combining public company (audit or in‑house) with high‑growth / startup
• Public company accounting experience including exposure to financial reporting cycles
• Deep expertise in two or more of: ASC 842, ASC 718, commissions, payroll, or fixed asset accounting
• Led or played a significant role in an ERP implementation in a high‑growth environment with evolving requirements
• Built accounting infrastructure from the ground up: chart of accounts, allocation methodology, close cadence
• Familiarity with AI or infrastructure‑heavy business models where cost attribution and capitalisation decisions are complex
• Managed accounting through significant change: new entity setup, geographic expansion, or business model evolution

The annual compensation range for this role is listed below.

For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role.

Annual Salary:

$230,000—$300,000 USD

Logistics Minimum education:

Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience

Required field of study:

A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience

Minimum years of experience:

Years of experience required will correlate with the internal job level requirements for the position

Location-based hybrid policy:

Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship:

We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas fo