Director of Finance Operations, Spark

• 8–12+ years in finance/accounting operations, having designed and built the systems behind a complex, high-volume transaction or payments engine (commissions, payouts, marketplace/settlement, revenue operations, or similar) — not just operated a clean one
• Systems/process design (you've rebuilt messy finance ops), real accounting fluency (close, controls, GAAP — enough to eventually own more controllership directly, not just manage a vendor), and enough operational depth to set and enforce standards for AR/AP/payroll
• Track record building from scratch in a fast-scaling, still-messy environment (post-remediation or Series A→C stage)
• Strong data/analytical chops — fluent in Excel; comfortable partnering with a data team on SQL/warehouse-backed reconciliation
• Experience managing outsourced accounting/finance providers, ideally including having transitioned work in-house before

Desirable

• We're hiring an owner for Spark's finance operating system end to end — the systems, standards, and controls behind accurate commissions and agency-finance, and increasingly, the accounting and controllership built on top of them
• The role starts as a systems-and-standards owner, re-architecting brittle, spreadsheet-based processes into scalable, auditable systems for commissions, marketing co-op, and reconciliation — with authority to set and enforce the standards behind them
• It's explicitly a step toward bringing more accounting and controllership in-house over time, including sharper ownership of AR, AP, and payroll standards. Today, agency-finance owns day-to-day payment execution, Data builds the commissions tooling to this role's spec, and an outsourced firm runs the GAAP close, which this role directs and reviews. As the function matures, expect that outsourced relationship to shrink and this role's in-house scope to grow
• Design & build the finance operating system (the re-architecture): turn brittle, manual, spreadsheet/Airtable-based processes into scalable, auditable systems for commissions, marketing co-op, rate/override source-of-truth, and reconciliation. Set the finance requirements for the Data team's commissions database/calculator, and own build-vs-buy decisions
• Own financial accuracy end to end: set and enforce the standards, controls, and reconciliation framework that make payments — and the financials built on them — correct, from upstream data through reconciliation to accounting and reporting
• Own accounting & controllership more directly than a pure systems role, including AR, AP, and payroll standards and outcomes. Standards and accuracy accountability start day one, with direct execution of AR/AP/payroll potentially following as the function matures
• Own and evolve the outsourced controllership relationship: direct, review, and accept the external accounting firm's monthly close and statements today, and help build the internal capability to bring close/controllership in-house over time, with the outsourced firm's role shrinking accordingly
• Own reporting integrity: keep financials and reporting trustworthy and on time, and own recurring and bespoke deliverables like lender/debt-facility reporting, diligence data rooms, and leadership requests
• Hands-on commission processing, disbursement (Tipalti), and banking runs stay with the existing agency-finance team — this role gives their work an owned, well-designed system rather than replacing them
• GAAP close mechanics and statement production stay with the outsourced accounting firm today, with an explicit path toward this role absorbing more of that function in-house