Vice President, Accounting

Capstone; Washington, Baltimore (District of Columbia, MD); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Capstone is seeking an experienced accounting leader to own the entire accounting function in a lean, modernizing finance organization based in the US. This hands-on role builds and runs the close process, automating workflows and driving data quality across entities, including the UK.

You will lead an associate team and external partners, expanding toward a Controller title as Capstone scales. The ideal candidate has strong US GAAP knowledge, familiarity with UK requirements, and a proven track

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of progressive accounting experience, including ownership of a full close cycle.
• Strong command of US GAAP and revenue recognition, working familiarity with UK requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own the complete month-end close across the US and UK.
• Own external audit and advisor relationships across both entities.
• Maintain accurate, well-documented books in US GAAP and UK requirements.
• Own revenue recognition, invoicing, AR, and AP across both entities.
• Manage payroll relationships with external providers and HR.
• Own cash management, forecasting, and multi-currency funding with automation.
• Identify and redesign workflows using AI tools and automation.
• Serve as functional owner of Campfire ERP and stabilize implementation.
• Optimize finance tooling integrations to improve data flow and reduce reconciliation.
• Build and maintain management reporting and dashboards, with automation over time.
• Convert tribal knowledge into SOPs and internal controls.
• Lead the accounting team and consultants, manage output and deadlines.
• Partner with Head of Finance as trusted deputy.

Skills

Experience

Technical accounting

AI experience

Systems & automation

Process orientation

Operating style

Communication

Tools

Campfire ERP

Ramp

Salesforce

Workday

Navan

Job description

We are looking for a leader who will own the entire accounting function at Capstone. You will direct the team who execute much of the day-to-day work, while holding ownership of accuracy, timeliness, controls, and judgment yourself. This is a hands-on build-and-run role, not a maintain role. You will actively re-engineer how the work gets done, including designing AI-assisted and systematized workflows that reduce manual touchpoints, accelerate the close, and improve data quality. You will treat automation as the default and the spreadsheet as the exception. The role reports directly to the Head of Finance & Accounting and sits at the center of a lean, modernizing finance organization with real ownership and visibility. This is a controller-track role: the right person will expand their scope and grow into a Controller title as the business scales.

What You’ll Own

Accounting & Finance Operations

• End-to-end close. Own the complete month-end close across the US and UK (revenue, prepaid, accrued, COGS, consolidations, and intercompany entries) driving faster, cleaner cycle times each month. You own the calendar, the quality, and the sign-off.
• Audit & statutory compliance. Own external audit and advisor relationships across both entities including UK audit, VAT, statutory surveys, 1099s, taxes, etc.
• General ledger integrity. Maintain accurate, consistent, well-documented books in compliance with US GAAP and applicable UK requirements, with reconciliations and workpapers that hold up under external review.
• Revenue, AR & AP. Own revenue recognition, invoicing, AR, and the AP cycle across both entities.
• Payroll. Manage the relationships across external payroll providers and partner with HR on accurate, compliant and timely processing.
• Treasury. Own cash management across both entities: cash positioning and forecasting, multi-currency funding between the US and UK, bank relationships, and payment execution, with a view toward automating and adding controls to processes.

Automation, AI & Systems

• AI-first workflow design. Identify manual, repetitive, or error-prone workflows and redesign them using AI tools and automation from drafting and reconciliation assistance to AR follow-up, document handling, and close support.
• ERP ownership. Serve as a functional owner of Campfire ERP: complete and stabilize the implementation, configure recurring billing and revenue recognition, and push routine work into the system rather than spreadsheets.
• Tech stack optimization. Evaluate, implement, and operate finance tooling and integrations between Salesforce, Workday, Ramp and the ERP to improve data flow and reduce reconciliation overhead.
• Reporting & visibility. Build and maintain meaningful management reporting and dashboards, starting from pragmatic, partly manual views and evolving toward fully automated, real-time as data quality improves.
• Process & controls. Convert tribal knowledge into clear SOPs and internal controls so the function is resilient, auditable, and ready to scale.
• Direct the team and build the function. Lead an associate plus part-time consultants who execute much of the transactional work. You assign, review, and own the output, managing tasks and deadlines through shared, automated tracking rather than ad‑hoc check‑ins. Coach the associate to build accounting depth over time.
• Partner with the Head of Finance. Operate as a trusted second‑in‑command escalating only the highest‑judgment items, and bringing solutions rather than status updates.

What You Bring

• Experience. 5–10 years of progressive accounting experience, including ownership of a full close cycle. Multi‑entity and/or multi‑currency experience required.
• Technical accounting. Strong command of US GAAP and revenue recognition, working familiarity with UK requirements, and demonstrated ownership of external audit relationships.
• Demonstrated AI experience. Hands‑on, demonstrable experience leveraging or implementing AI in accounting/finance workflows. You’ve built automations, deployed AI agents, or re‑engineered processes around AI, and you can show your work (e.g., Claude / Claude Cowork or similar).
• Systems & automation. Proven ability to optimize finance stack systems, integrations, and workflow automations.
• Process orientation. A builder’s mindset. You reach for a tool or a process before you reach for a spreadsheet, and you document as you go.
• Operating style. Highly organized, self‑directed, and comfortable in a lean, fast‑moving, multi‑jurisdictional environment with minimal layers.
• Communication. Excellent written and verbal communication and cross‑functional collaboration.

Nice to Have

• CPA or equivalent credential.
• Coding literacy. Comfortable writing light scripts (e.g., Python, SQL) to move, clean, or reconcile data.
• UK accounting experience.
• Direct experience with Campfire, Ramp, Navan, Salesforce, or Workday in an accounting context.