# Assistant Controller

**Company:** [Thinking Machines Lab](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/thinking-machines-lab)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Finance & Accounting
**Salary:** $325k – $400k/yr
**Experience:** 15+ years
**Skills:** US GAAP, CPA, Financial Reporting, Month-End Close, Internal Controls, Asc 842, Asc 718, Asc 350-40, NetSuite, Rippling
**Posted:** 2026-06-18

> Own core accounting function and financial operations at an AI lab. Lead month-end close, financial reporting, internal controls, audit readiness, and build scalable accounting infrastructure.

## Job Description

## What You'll Do

- Own core general-ledger accounting across the balance sheet, operating expenses, international entities, and intercompany activity, ensuring accuracy from the transaction level through to a clean monthly close.
- Lead the month-end and quarter-end close, setting the standard for timeliness and quality and driving the process improvements that sustain it at scale.
- Own the accuracy, completeness, and timely delivery of all financial reporting.
- Design, document, and implement scalable end-to-end accounting processes—close, accounts payable, payroll, procurement, and indirect tax—building them where they don't yet exist and re-engineering them as the company grows.
- Architect and maintain the company's internal control framework, and lead audit readiness end to end.
- Own the accounts payable and procure-to-pay function, including vendor onboarding, purchase-order issuance, two-way matching, expense management, and payment runs, with the controls and automation to scale it.
- Own multi-state payroll processing in Rippling—ensuring accurate, compliant, and timely pay runs, tax withholding, and filings—and own the integrity of the payroll-to-GL flow in partnership with People Ops.
- Own indirect tax compliance across US sales-and-use tax and international VAT/GST, including nexus and registration analysis, taxability and exemption determinations, filings, and the tax-automation tooling that supports them as the company expands across jurisdictions.
- Lead cash management operations, including daily cash positioning, bank account administration, payment controls, and cash-flow forecasting in partnership with Finance.
- Own relationships with external auditors, outsourced accounting partners, and technical accounting advisors, holding each to a high bar.
- Bring sound accounting and risk judgment to new research and product initiatives from the outset, partnering cross-functionally to build scalable processes.
- Lead system implementations and automation—including AI-assisted tooling—to build an accounting function that scales without scaling headcount linearly.
- Partner with Finance, Tax, Legal, and Operations to translate financial performance into recommendations that inform senior-leadership decisions.
- Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing accounting team, and build the organizational capacity to support rapid scale.

## Skills and Qualifications

**Minimum qualifications:**
- CPA or CA with deep expertise in US GAAP and technical financial reporting.
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline.
- 15+ years of progressive experience in senior accounting leadership, spanning some combination of public companies, high-growth technology startups, and public accounting (Big 4 preferred).
- A track record of owning month-end close cycles, external audits, and financial reporting in fast-paced, rapidly evolving environments.
- Strong technical accounting depth across ASC 842 (Leases), ASC 718 (Stock Compensation), and ASC 350-40 (Internal-Use Software / Cloud Computing Arrangements).
- Demonstrated success designing and implementing scalable processes and internal controls.
- A proven record of building, scaling, and leading accounting teams.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication, with the ability to make complex accounting clear for both technical and non-technical audiences.

**Preferred qualifications:**
- Advanced degree (MBA, MAcc) or equivalent experience.
- Experience at a frontier AI laboratory, deep technology company, or enterprise SaaS organization with complex, multi-product revenue models.
- Familiarity with infrastructure accounting, including cloud computing.
- Proficiency with modern ERP systems (NetSuite, Campfire, Rillet, or equivalent) and working knowledge of SQL, data analysis tools, or BI platforms (Hex).
- Exposure to international tax structures and multi-entity consolidation across jurisdictions.
- Interest in applying AI and automation to transform finance and accounting workflows.

## Similar roles

- [Strategic Finance, International](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/bf220ce7-42b6-43ec-92ef-d45c4d150786) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $234k – $260k/yr
- [Financial Controller](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a1086843-0a30-4cdf-a01f-ea8b3da2549f) - BuildOps - Los Angeles, CA - $225k – $270k/yr
- [Compute & Infrastructure Accounting Manager](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/51ec3a18-4006-46fa-beec-80f851c125e3) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $216k – $240k/yr
- [Technical Accounting Manager, Compute Infrastructure](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/d6e55ecc-1e2e-40b7-8af4-9e040f506ade) - OpenAI - San Francisco, CA - $216k – $240k/yr
- [Controller](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/9e3cf033-be14-4126-84d8-13ceb6fae3d4) - Pilot.com - San Francisco, CA - $200k – $250k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/b5ecb348-eac8-4c86-84fa-31e8a75f928e
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/b5ecb348-eac8-4c86-84fa-31e8a75f928e