VP of Finance

About the role

Responsibilities

• 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).

Requirements

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

Benefits

• Vision
• Equity