[Hiring] Finance Director @Graswald

Role Description

Your mission is to build the finance function largely from scratch as the first dedicated finance hire at Graswald AI, a Series A startup. This is a hands-on, generalist finance role with a high degree of ownership and visibility.

• Work closely with the CEO and department leads, translating company strategy into numbers and vice versa.

Financial Planning, Budgeting & Commercial Goals

• Build and maintain annual and rolling financial projections (revenue, costs, cash flow, headcount).
• Translate company-level targets into departmental budgets and commercial goals, collaborating with department heads.
• Monitor actuals against budget and projections; flag variances early and recommend corrective action.
• Produce regular reporting for the CEO and, as needed, investors/board — KPIs, burn rate, runway, unit economics.
• Support fundraising processes with financial models, data rooms, and investor reporting as needed.

Billing, Invoicing & Cash

• Own end-to-end billing and invoicing for customers, including issue resolution and dunning.
• Manage accounts receivable and payable, and monitor cash flow and runway.
• Set up and improve billing systems/processes as the company scales.

Payroll & Compensation

• Run monthly payroll (directly or via a payroll provider), ensuring accuracy and compliance with German and international employment and tax law.
• Maintain compensation bands and contribute to salary benchmarking and negotiations for new hires.
• Administer employee benefits and related contracts where relevant.

Tax, Compliance & Accounting

• Act as the main point of contact with external tax advisors and accountants for German tax returns, VAT filings, and annual financial statements.
• Ensure compliance with German GAAP (HGB) and relevant statutory/regulatory requirements.
• Own bookkeeping oversight and month-end close, working with external accounting support where relevant.
• Maintain internal financial controls, policies, and audit-readiness as the company grows.

Building the Finance Function

• Set up scalable finance processes, tools, and systems appropriate for a small but growing team.
• Advise the CEO and leadership team on financial strategy, pricing, and resource allocation.

Qualifications

• Experience in FP&A, finance management, or a similar broad finance role — startup experience (ideally Series A/B) preferred.
• Solid working knowledge of German tax and finance regulations (HGB, VAT/Umsatzsteuer, payroll compliance).
• Hands-on experience with billing/invoicing and payroll, not just budgeting and reporting.
• Strong financial modeling and Excel/Sheets skills; comfort building projections and budgets from scratch.
• Fluent in German and professional working proficiency in English.
• Comfortable with startup ambiguity: happy to build processes and tools rather than inherit them.
• Bonus: experience with startup finance/payroll tooling, and exposure to fundraising or investor reporting.

Benefits

• The opportunity to build the finance function of an early-stage company from the ground up, with real influence on strategy.
• Fully remote work, with flexibility on how you structure your time.
• Direct collaboration with the CEO and leadership team.