Strategic Finance Lead

MISSION OF THE ROLE We're hiring a Strategic Finance Lead to own the operational, in-the-weeds finance work that keeps Heron running — accounts receivable and billing (one of our most important and trust-critical customer touchpoints), burn reconciliation, revenue reconciliation, and the numbers that feed our investor reporting and business reviews. As we scale, we want someone who can take full ownership of these workflows and run them reliably and independently — becoming the person who owns how operational finance actually runs day to day. THE OPPORTUNITY Finance and BizOps are a central enabler at Heron. The function isn't a back office - it sits at the intersection of every team, and deep financial knowledge of the business is what lets us connect dots that aren't obvious from any single seat. You'll be hands-on and exacting from day one: owning accounts receivable, getting billing right, reconciling burn and revenue. This is a finance-heavy, operational role - the work is in the details, and owning it well is the job. Over time, there's real room to grow: more scope as the company scales, ownership of how the whole operational finance function runs, and a front-row seat to the financial story we tell investors as we raise. You'll be in the finance mix of a fast-growing startup, with the chance to build something you own. This is a role for someone who genuinely enjoys getting the details right and wants to own operational finance at a scaling startup - running finance operations exceptionally well, while also being a key partner on the forward-looking side (planning, budgeting, and pressure-testing the model). WHAT YOU'LL DO - Own accounts receivable end-to-end: billing is one of our most important and direct customer touchpoints, and getting it right protects both revenue and customer trust. You'll work cross-functionally to make sure every customer is billed correctly, run the month-end billing process, and own the AR function as it scales - Run month-end finance cycles: own burn calculation and reconciliation across our banking and spend stack, plus the data inputs that feed business reviews - Own revenue reporting investors can trust: reconcile billing and CRM data against our source of truth, untangle the messy edge cases, and build out the retention and revenue metrics (e.g. GRR, NRR, cohort views by segment) that show how the business is really performing and that go to our board and investors - Contextualize the numbers: understand where we're spending and investing as a company, and what the numbers mean in the broader context of the business - Support planning & FP&A: partner on our financial model, budgeting, and forecasting: pull together the inputs, pressure-test assumptions, and help translate the numbers into a forward view. - Automate the finance function: find the repetitive, manual work and build it away; help move us toward a finance function that scales without linearly adding headcount - Use AI deeply: you'll lean on AI heavily, both to automate finance work and to dig into how our product actually generates revenue, so the numbers always reflect what's really happening under the hood WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Our ideal hire started their career in accounting, finance, or banking and has since pivoted into a startup (2–5 years of experience). You genuinely enjoy the detail-oriented work of getting the numbers exactly right, even when it's painstaking. The best fit is someone who wants to own operational finance at a startup. That's who we picture in the seat - but if that's not quite you and you think you're right for it anyway, make the case for why we should take the bet. What matters most: you're excited to run finance operations exceptionally well, not impatient to skip past them. Regardless of background, you'll be: - Detail-obsessed where it counts — you take real satisfaction in getting the numbers exactly right, and you don't drop the ball - A collaborative team player — you work well across fu…