Accounting Manager - Ai Native (Bbs744)

Hire Overseas; Johannesburg; Remote; ZAR 1,985,000 - 2,977,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

Holidays

100% remote setup

US business hours alignment

Job summary

Hire Overseas seeks an Accounting Manager (AI-Native) to own the full accounting function for a fast-scaling premium food brand. You’ll bring day-to-day accounting in house, run the monthly close, own the general ledger, and lead deductions and chargebacks.

This is cloud-native and AI-forward: manage Xero and Airtable, build dashboards, automate workflows, and use Claude daily to accelerate analysis while ensuring accuracy and compliance across US GAAP.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or related field required.
• 6+ years of full-cycle accounting experience including monthly close and financial statement ownership.
• Working knowledge of US GAAP for US-based companies.
• Hands-on inventory and cost accounting in a physical-product business.
• Fluency with AI in accounting, with practical Claude usage or ability to adopt quickly.
• Ability to build dashboards and automated workflows; comfort with cloud accounting tools like Xero and Airtable.

Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle accounting and monthly close with a tight, predictable calendar.
• Own AP/AR, reconciliations, journal entries, accruals, prepaids, fixed assets, and intercompany entries.
• Manage inventory accounting, cost of goods, variances, and valuation.
• Oversee revenue recognition under US GAAP for a CPG/FMCG business; ensure audit-ready books.
• Own deductions and chargebacks processes end-to-end with recovery tracking and dispute resolution.
• Develop cost analysis, margin tracking, and cash forecasting; optimize working capital.
• Maintain internal controls and support audits and capital raises.

Skills

US GAAP knowledge

Full-cycle accounting

Inventory & cost accounting

Financial statements preparation

AI in accounting

Cloud accounting (Xero)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting

Tools

Xero

Airtable

Claude AI

Job description

We're looking for a Accounting Manager (AI-Native) to own the full accounting function for a fast-scaling premium food brand sold through major retail, the natural channel, and direct to consumer. You will bring day-to-day accounting in house from an outside firm, run the monthly close end to end, own the general ledger and financial statements, and lead the company's deduction and chargeback recovery. This is a build-and-own role, not a maintenance seat.

This is also a genuinely technology-forward role. You will run the company's cloud finance stack, build dashboards and automated workflows, and use Claude every day to work faster and think more clearly. If you bring strong full-cycle depth, US GAAP experience, a CPG or food and beverage background, and real enthusiasm for using AI and automation to do finance better, this role is a strong fit.

Why You'll Want to Join

• You will be paid in USD (bi-monthly: every 15th and 30th)
• Paid Time Off in accordance with company policy
• Observance of Holidays per company guidelines
• 100% remote setup so you can work wherever you're most productive
• This role requires availability during US business hours
• Own the entire accounting function of a fast-growing premium food brand with major retail and DTC distribution
• Real room to grow as the company scales, up to running the whole system independently

What You'll Work On

Full-Cycle Accounting and Monthly Close

• Run the monthly, quarterly, and annual close on a proactive, tight calendar with no chasing and no surprises
• Own AP, AR, bank and credit card reconciliations, journal entries, accruals, prepaids, fixed assets, and intercompany entries
• Keep an accurate, reconciled balance sheet and a clear, timely income statement with variance commentary management can act on
• Work with the outside firm to internalize their work and steadily take full ownership

Inventory and Cost Accounting

• Own inventory accounting for a physical-product food business: reconcile the ledger to what is actually in stock, and investigate and explain variances
• Keep cost of goods clean and accurate, owning inventory valuation, costing, and adjustments for shrink, spoilage, damage, and timing differences
• Partner with operations and the warehouse or 3PL on counts, cut-off, and the data behind inventory and margin
• Build a repeatable, documented inventory reconciliation process the business can rely on every month

Revenue Recognition and Financial Statements

• Apply US GAAP revenue recognition for CPG and FMCG including gross-to-net, trade spend, slotting, promotions, and returns so the top line is clean and defensible
• Keep the books audit-ready and lender-ready at all times, backed by a clean audit trail that stands up to bank and lender scrutiny
• Own audit prep and support external auditors and tax preparers

Deductions and Chargebacks

• Own retail and distributor deductions and chargebacks end to end including shortages, MCBs, spoilage, and freight
• Identify, document, validate, and dispute deductions, file at scale, track recovery, and lead the workflow that wins back cash that would otherwise be lost
• Reach out to customers and distributors on AR, collections, and disputed deductions to resolve issues early and keep cash coming in

Cost Analysis and Savings

• Analyze margin, COGS, vendor spend, and freight to find cost leaks and bring management specific, actionable ways to save without being asked
• Manage cash reporting, AR aging, vendor terms, and inputs to forecasting and the line of credit

Compliance

• Own sales tax, 1099s, and internal controls and keep the company diligence-ready as it raises capital

Cloud-Native and AI-First Ways of Working

• Own and run the cloud finance stack including Xero and Airtable with disciplined, well-documented books
• Build and maintain live dashboards and trackers for close status, AR aging, deductions and recovery, cash, inventory, and margin so the team sees the numbers without asking
• Connect and automate across the ledger, banks, Airtable, deduction management, OCR, and settlement tools so data flows without manual re-keying
• Use Claude daily to reconcile, categorize, draft dispute packages, and speed up analysis, and build repeatable documented processes around it, always checking the AI's work before it reaches the books

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or a related field
• At least 6 years of full-cycle accounting, including running a monthly close end to end and preparing financial statements you owned
• Working command of US GAAP with experience supporting US-based companies
• Hands-on inventory and cost accounting in a physical-product business, reconciling the ledger to stock and keeping cost of goods clean (CPG, food and beverage, or consumer goods preferred; retail, wholesale, or hospitality inventory also relevant)
• Real, current fluency with AI in your accounting work. You should already use a tool like Claude day to day, or be able to clearly show you can get there fast and sanity-check everything it produces before it reaches the books
• Able to build dashboards and automated workflows yourself, not just read reports someone else built
• Strong with spreadsheets and cloud accounting, and comfortable owning and running a stack like Xero and Airtable, not just working inside it
• Exposure to trade spend, deductions, and distributor or retailer chargeback disputes, or the ability to learn this quickly and run it across a distributed team
• Excellent written and spoken English with proactive communication across time zones
• Flags issues early and closes loops without being asked

Nice to Have

• CPA or local equivalent
• Hands-on experience building automated accounting workflows with AI tools including Claude
• Background supporting a high-growth or venture-backed consumer brand
• Experience with natural channel distributors such as UNFI or KeHE
• Prior experience bringing accounting in house from an outside firm