You’ll be the first dedicated finance lead at a fast-growing, deep tech start-up led by experienced founders. You will build and lead financial operations from the ground up. You will own the numbers day-to-day to help the leadership team drive strategic business decisions. The role combines operational finance (cash management, AP, auditing, close quality) with clear, transparent communication and reporting (financial statements, operational reports, investor reporting packages).

Key Responsibilities

Accounting & Financial Operations

• Own and execute a clean monthly and quarterly close, including reconciliations, accruals, and journal entries, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.

• Maintain GAAP-compliant accounting practices across all transactions — including CapEx, prepaid vendor deposits, grants, and intercompany activity.

• Implement and refine accounting systems and internal controls to support audit readiness and operational scale.

• Manage cash, treasury, and banking relationships to ensure proper fund tracking, liquidity visibility, and compliance with investor or grant requirements.

• Oversee payroll, A/P, A/R, and expense management, ensuring policy consistency and accountability across departments.
  

Audit & Compliance

• Lead annual financial statement audits and coordinate with external auditors, tax advisors, and legal counsel.

• Ensure documentation and process readiness for potential financial diligence associated with future fundraising or government contracts.

• Maintain tight internal controls and documentation standards
  

Investor & Leadership Reporting

• Deliver accurate, transparent financial statements and operational reports for leadership and the board.

• Support investor reporting packages with clarity around burn, runway, capital allocation, and use-of-funds tracking.

• Partner with the executive leadership team to ensure the company maintains financial credibility and investor confidence through clean reporting and compliance.
  

Systems & Process Improvement

• Maintain optimized ERP and financial automation tools (e.g., QuickBooks, Mercury).

• Design scalable workflows that can support growth in size and complexity

• Drive continuous improvement in process efficiency, documentation, and financial hygiene.
  

Strategic

• Develop and monitor financial performance metrics

• Contribute to budgeting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling to support strategic decision-making.

• Provide ad-hoc analysis for board and investor presentations.

• Support efforts to translate accounting data into insights for forecasting and cash-flow planning.

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of experience in finance at fast-growing startups or deep tech

• Hands-on experience managing financial audits, implementing controls, and overseeing close quality; comfortable bringing accounting in-house or overseeing accounting functions.

• CPA required (or equivalent), with deep understanding of U.S. GAAP and audit processes.

• Demonstrated ownership of monthly close, audit management, and accounting operations in a capital-intensive or pre-revenue environment.

• Proven ability to implement or optimize accounting systems and controls for accuracy and scalability.

• Exceptional attention to detail, analytical rigor, and accountability; a bias toward structure and continuous improvement.

• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills — able to work closely with technical, operational, and leadership teams.

• Nice to have: experience with FP&A, SaaS/contract accounting, or hardware/CapEx tracking in a deep-tech or R&D-heavy business.

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Sygaldry Technologies is building quantum-accelerated AI servers to exponentially speed up training and inference. Our AI servers will address the problem of rising compute and energy costs for scaling AI, enabling companies to innovate faster and more affordably. Sygaldry AI servers combine multiple qubit types within a single, fault-tolerant architecture, leveraging their respective strengths while avoiding their limitations. The company is led by the experienced founding team of quantum veterans Chad Rigetti and Idalia Friedson and AI scientist Michael Keiser. Sygaldry is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Compensation Range: $90K - $150K