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Salary: USD 250,000 - 290,000 / annual
Patronus AI is a frontier AI lab developing simulation research and infrastructure to accelerate progress toward human-aligned AGI. The company is behind influential research in AI evaluation (FinanceBench, Lynx, SimpleSafetyTests, CopyrightCatcher, Humanity's Last Exam) and serves foundation model labs and Fortune 500 enterprises like Adobe. The team includes former researchers and engineers from Meta AI, Amazon AGI, and Google, backed by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Notable Capital, Stanford University, and notable individuals like Noam Brown and Gokul Rajaram.
As Director of Finance, you will build and own the entire finance function for this fast-growing frontier AI data lab. This is a highly autonomous role spanning accounting, close, and cash management through planning, pricing, fundraising support, and board reporting. You will partner closely with leadership, research, delivery, and go-to-market teams to ensure major decisions are grounded in accurate numbers.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own accounting and monthly close end-to-end, delivering accurate, timely GAAP financials and building toward audit readiness
- Build and maintain the company's operating model, including budgets, forecasts, scenario planning, and runway analysis
- Manage cash, treasury, and burn, including banking relationships and working capital across customer collections and vendor payments
- Own revenue operations and contract economics, including billing, collections, revenue recognition, and deal-level margin analysis
- Partner with leadership on pricing, packaging, and unit economics
- Manage major cost lines such as headcount, compute, cloud, and expert contractor spend, building forecasting and controls
- Prepare board materials, investor updates, and KPI reporting; support fundraising diligence and data rooms
- Oversee payroll, equity administration, 409A valuations, tax filings, and compliance, managing outside accountants, auditors, and advisors
- Build the finance stack and processes, including ERP, spend management, procurement, and approval policies, using automation and AI tools
This role is based in San Francisco headquarters and requires in-office attendance five days a week.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field (CPA, CFA, or MBA is a plus)
- 8+ years of experience in finance and accounting, including time in public accounting, investment banking, or FP&A, and at least 3 years leading finance at a venture-backed startup
- Proven track record of building a finance function from the ground up, including close process, controls, and reporting
- Deep understanding of GAAP and revenue recognition (ASC 606)
- Highly analytical, with experience building operating models and translating them into clear recommendations for leadership and the board
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with ability to explain financial tradeoffs to researchers, engineers, and investors
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building structure where none exists, with hands-on mentality and strong bias toward action and automation
- Comfort using AI tools to do real finance work is a must
- Good character, integrity, and respect for others
