Controller

About the Role

We're bringing accounting in house, and you'll be the person who owns it. As our Controller and right hand to our VP of Finance, you'll take full ownership of bookkeeping, the month-end close, financial reporting, tax, and audit, raising the bar on accuracy and building the foundation leadership relies on to make strategic decisions.

This role flexes both ways. Day to day, you'll be hands-on in the books, running close and reconciliations yourself. You'll start as an individual contributor for your first 6 to 12 months, with a clear path to Senior Controller leading a small team as the function grows.

About the Team

You'll join our Finance team as the first in-house accounting hire, working directly with our VP of Finance. Accounting has been supported by outsourced partners up to now, and as Arketa grows we're ready for someone with a true owner's mindset to build the function from the ground up. You'll have high visibility with our leadership team and partner closely with our external auditors and tax advisors. As the team grows, you'll help shape it, with future hires organized by P&L line (revenue and expenses).

What You'll Do:

• Month-end close & financial reporting: Drive a timely, accurate close and produce monthly financial statements that leadership can trust and act on.
• Audit leadership: Serve as primary liaison to our external audit firm, prepare schedules, respond to PBC requests, and manage the audit timeline.
• Internal controls & GL structure: Design and maintain the control environment, including correct account and department mapping, clean categorization rules, and documentation that will hold up under audit scrutiny.
• Tax compliance & coordination: Manage tax filings and coordination with external tax partners, including credits (e.g., R&D) and multi-state considerations.
• Payables & receivables: Manage the full AP/AR cycle, including vendor bill pay, employee reimbursements, invoicing, and collections, ensuring nothing sits stale or miscategorized.
• Bookkeeping & accounting operations: Own day-to-day bookkeeping alongside higher-level accounting: transaction categorization, journal entries, and general ledger maintenance across our banking, payroll, payments, and accounting systems. Use AI to speed up repetitive, time-consuming work while applying your own judgment to get it right.

What success looks like:

• First 30 days: Take ownership of the books from our outsourced partner, learn our systems (banking, payroll, Stripe, Brex, accounting), run your first month-end close, and have audit prep underway for the December kickoff.
• First 60 days: Serve as the day-to-day lead with our auditors through fieldwork, delivering schedules and PBC requests on time, while tightening GL mapping and categorization rules.
• First 90 days: Deliver a consistent and reliable monthly close, have core internal controls documented, and be on track to take bookkeeping accuracy to 99%.

What we're looking for:

• Typically 5+ years of progressive accounting experience. We care more about relevance than tenure, so a strong candidate with 3 to 4 years doing exactly this work is encouraged to apply.
• Big 4 (public accounting) training or experience in the accounting function of a large company, ideally followed by a move into a high-ownership, early-stage environment
• Deep command of core accounting: month-end close, financial reporting, internal controls, payables and receivables, and tax
• A high-ownership mindset and genuine enjoyment of hands-on work
• Comfort with ambiguity and building process where none exists
• Best-in-class attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to accuracy
• You use AI to move faster on repetitive, time-consuming tasks while still exercising your own judgment
• Authorization to work in the U.S. without visa sponsorship

Bonus:

• CPA
• Prior audit experience, ideally from the company side (preparing schedules, responding to PBC requests, managing the audit timeline)
• Familiarity with Stripe and Brex (or similar tools) and experience managing books across multiple systems without a single unified ERP

You Should Apply If

• You're smart, a little bored in your current role, and hungry for a bigger challenge
• You want to build a finance function from scratch with real visibility and ownership
• You trained in public accounting or a large company and are ready to own the whole picture at an early-stage company
• You want to be hands-on today with a clear path to Senior Controller and a team
• You're mission-driven and excited about wellness becoming more accessible

You May Not Want to Apply If

• You prefer the structure and defined scope of a large, slower-moving environment
• You'd rather manage the work than do it yourself
• You need fully built-out processes to be effective
• You want a slower pace or a more established later-stage environment

What We Offer:

• Ownership and Opportunity for Advancement
• Competitive Salary and Stock Options
• Unlimited PTO: our policy is designed to give you the flexibility to rest, recharge, and take care of personal needs, while staying aligned with your team and responsibilities.
• Medical, dental and vision health insurance
• Fitness Class Reimbursement: we're committed to supporting both employee wellness and our industry relationships. As an Arketa employee we see movement as opportunity.
• Parental Leave Policy