Finance Leader (First In-House Role) - Kantiv

Kantiv is a US SaaS company for the AEC industry. We sell an annual platform subscription. We recently launched AI agents, which customers buy as prepaid credit packs. This hybrid model makes billing, revenue recognition, and commissions more complex every month.

You are our first in-house finance leader. You take over all finance work from our fractional CFO, our outsourced accounting firm, and our Chief of Staff. You own accounting and the monthly close, order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, revenue recognition, commissions, and forecasting. You build the finance team as the company grows, starting with your first accountant hire.

We have not billed usage yet. Our price plan is designed. You lead the build of our usage billing on Stripe through the first invoice. You then use real usage and margin data to help us improve pricing.

Location: India (remote), employed by Kantiv's India entity. You work with US-based leaders and US customers.

Responsibilities

Accounting and monthly close

• Own the general ledger in QuickBooks and the US GAAP accrual close. Deliver monthly financial statements by business day 10.
• Reconcile bank, credit card, payment processor, and balance sheet accounts each month.
• Post accruals, prepaids, deferred revenue, depreciation, and commission entries.
• Prepare for a first financial audit or investor due diligence.

Billing, collections, and sales tax (order-to-cash)

• Issue all customer invoices: platform fees in advance, agent credit packs in advance.
• Reconcile credit use in the product to credits sold and to remaining balances each month.
• Own collections. Track AR aging, send reminders, and escalate overdue accounts.
• Manage US SaaS sales tax. Monitor economic nexus by state, apply the correct tax on invoices, and prepare filings with our tax tool or advisor.
• Collect and store customer tax-exemption certificates.

Revenue recognition and commissions

• Prepare monthly revenue schedules under ASC 606: platform fees ratably, usage as consumed.
• Track deferred revenue, prepaid credit balances, credit expiry, and breakage, and minimum commitments.
• Calculate sales commissions on platform and usage revenue each month. Resolve disputes with sales.
• Prepare commission capitalization schedules (ASC 340-40).
• Post revenue and commission entries in the monthly close.

Accounts payable and vendor management

• Process and pay vendor bills on a weekly payment cycle.
• Collect W-9s and issue 1099s.
• Keep a vendor and contract register: renewal dates, notice periods, and owners.
• Review SaaS and infrastructure spend. Recommend cuts and negotiate renewals.
• Track AI model and cloud costs, which change with agent usage.

Forecasting and FP&A

• Own the operating model. Forecast revenue, headcount, spend, and cash runway.
• Model usage revenue separately from platform revenue: adoption, volume per customer, price per unit.
• Prepare monthly budget-vs-actual analysis and explain variances.
• Analyze usage, margin, and adoption data to recommend price and packaging changes. Build models for hiring decisions.

Metrics and reporting

• Track ARR, usage revenue, net revenue retention, gross margin, burn, runway, and CAC payback.
• Report gross margin with and without AI inference costs.
• Own the monthly management pack, the board finance section, and investor reporting.

Systems and process

• Lead the Stripe Billing build with product and engineering: usage meters, price plans, credits, invoice templates, and Stripe Tax. Write the requirements, test the output, and sign off before the first usage invoice.
• Connect CRM, billing, and QuickBooks so that data flows without manual re-entry.
• Write the finance policies: approvals, expenses, revenue, and commissions.

Team and external partners

• Hire and manage your first accountant. Plan the finance team as revenue grows.
• Manage external partners: US tax return preparer, 409A valuation firm, auditors, and the India CA firm.
• Own US sales tax filings, 1099s, and annual state reports with these partners.
• Own India entity finance with the CA firm: GST, TDS, payroll, ROC filings, statutory audit, and transfer pricing.
• Support the CEO on fundraising: data room, financial model, and diligence answers.