Vice President of Finance

About This Role

This executive leadership role owns Lightship's financial strategy and operations, guiding the company from early production to large-scale manufacturing. The Vice President of Finance acts as a strategic partner to leadership and the Board, overseeing FP&A, accounting, business operations, product finance, and treasury. This is a builder role at an inflection point, focused on establishing clear unit economics, disciplined capital allocation, and audit-ready controls while supporting factory expansion and a growing product line.

Responsibilities

• Lead the annual business planning process, starting from company-level goals and resulting in a robust financial plan
• Own the integrated company financial model and ensure Lightship’s financial forecast is kept accurate in real time
• Act as a strategic business partner supporting critical decisions that drive commercial and operational initiatives (examples may include pricing, market research, insourcing/outsourcing decisions, operational process implementation)
• Manage the product cost with a robust financial bill of material and oversee Lightship’s cost accounting to measure performance of product cost forecasts against actual COGS
• Drive margin improvement in partnership with the engineering, operations, and supply chain teams
• 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
• Manage cash, runway, banking relationships, and working capital, including inventory, supplier terms, and customer deposits
• Partner with the co-founders to raise equity and debt, including equipment and asset-based financing
• Own models, data rooms, diligence, and investor reporting
• Design and maintain financial controls and scale finance systems, including the ERP system, as the company grows
• Oversee tax, sales tax, and regulatory compliance across states
• Present results, KPIs, and strategic insight to the executive team and board
• Recruit, mentor, and grow a high-performing finance and accounting team (currently 4 people)

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent experience
• 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
• 10+ years of progressive finance experience, including significant time leading a team at a high-growth company
• Hands-on experience with product finance at a manufacturing company: BOM management, cost accounting, inventory, COGS, and margin analysis in a production environment