Vice President of Finance

Lightship; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 420,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Dental

Vision

LightTrip: $2,000/year toward RV trip

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

401k

Job summary

Lightship is seeking a senior finance leader to own FP&A, accounting, and treasury as we scale from early production to a manufactured, cash-efficient hardware business.

You will partner with the CEO and Board, build disciplined cost accounting, and lead strategic decisions on capital allocation, pricing, and supplier terms while funding factory expansion and product growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics or a related quantitative field.
• Track record building integrated three-statement models for a hardware business.
• Direct oversight of accounting with strong command of U.S. GAAP and close processes.
• 10+ years of progressive finance experience including leading a team at high-growth company.
• Hands-on product finance: BOM management, cost accounting, inventory, COGS and margins.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual business planning from company goals to robust financial plan.
• Own integrated company financial model and real-time forecast updates.
• Partner with leadership on strategic financial decisions (pricing, market research, insourcing/outsourcing).
• Manage product cost accounting and measure forecasts against actuals; drive margins.
• Oversee accounting policy, internal controls, and GAAP compliance with finance leadership.
• Manage treasury, cash runway, banking relationships and working capital.

Skills

Strategy & FP&A

GAAP & close process

Board reporting

Product finance & BOM

Team leadership

Cash management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in finance/accounting/economics

Tools

ERP system

Job description

• Reporting to the CEO, you’ll own Lightship’s financial strategy and operations as we move from early production to manufacturing at scale. You’ll be a strategic partner to leadership and the Board, leading FP&A, accounting, business operations, product finance, and treasury


• This is a builder role at an inflection point. You’ll turn a young manufacturing business into one with clear unit economics, disciplined capital allocation and audit-ready controls, while funding a factory expansion and a growing product line. Expect everything that comes with a scaling hardware startup: a fast pace, ambitious goals, and tight resources


• FP&A and planning: Lead the annual business planning process starting from company level goals and resulting in a robust financial plan. You will own the integrated company financial model and be tasked with ensuring that Lightship’s financial forecast is kept accurate in real time


• Business operations: act as a strategic business partner to the company supporting critical decisions that drive our commercial and operational initiatives (examples may include pricing, market research, insourcing/outsourcing decisions, operational process implementation)


• Product finance: Manage the product cost of the product with a robust financial bill of material and oversee Lightship’s cost accounting in order to measure performance of product cost forecasts against actual COGS. Drive margin improvement in partnership with the engineering, operations and supply chain teams


• Accounting and reporting: Oversee corporate accounting policy, internal controls, and GAAP compliance with the Director of Accounting. Review external audits and final financial statements for board and investor reporting


• Treasury and working capital: Manage cash, runway, banking relationships and working capital, including inventory, supplier terms and customer deposits


• Fundraising and investor relations: Partner with the co-founders to raise equity and debt, including equipment and asset-based financing. Own models, data rooms, diligence and investor reporting


• Controls, systems and compliance: Design and maintain financial controls and scale our finance systems including our ERP system as we grow. Oversee tax, sales tax and regulatory compliance across states


• Board and executive reporting: Present results, KPIs and strategic insight to the executive team and board (this role is part of the executive leadership team)


• Team leadership: Recruit, mentor and grow a high-performing finance and accounting team (currently 4 people)

Benefits

• Healthcare, Dental, Vision (full time only)


• $2,000 per year towards an RV trip of your own, we call this a LightTrip (full time only)


• Unlimited Paid Time Off that we actually want you to use! 3-4 weeks is common at Lightship


• 12 weeks paid parental leave


• 401k

A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics or a related quantitative field, or equivalent experienceA track record building and owning integrated three-statement models for a complex hardware businessDirect oversight of an accounting function, with strong command of U.S. GAAP, the close process, audits and internal controls for a scaling organization10+ years of progressive finance experience, including significant time leading a team at a high-growth companyHands-on experience with product finance at a manufacturing company: BOM management, cost accounting, inventory, COGS and margin analysis in a production environmentDeep expertise in FP&A, corporate finance and cash management at a hardware, manufacturing or other physical-product companyClear, confident communication with non-finance audiences and the boardFinance leadership at a company that does manufacturing in-house (not through a CM)Experience in electric vehicle, automotive or other complex hardware manufacturingFinance leadering experience at a direct-to-consumer companyExperience leading a company through multiple equity and debt raisesA background in investment banking, management consulting, private equity or venture capital