Head of Finance & Operations - San Francisco Bay Area

About Flagright

AI-native AML compliance platform for fintechs & banks

Tech

Go, NoSQL Columnar DBs (Cassandra/DynamoDB), Node.js, React, Typescript, Spark, Kafka

The role

**About Flagright:**Flagright is an AI operating system for financial crime compliance used globally by Fortune 500 companies, large banks, fintechs, and fast growing startups. Flagright enables real-time risk detection, automated investigations, and intelligent decisioning, helping compliance teams operate at their full potential in the fight against financial crime.We operate as a lean, high-performance team with high individual ownership and direct access to leadership.**Role overview:**The Head of Finance & Operations will take ownership of Flagright’s financial, HR, and legal operations globally, spanning our offices in the US, UK, India, and Singapore. This is a hands-on, operational role for a generalist with strong finance & legal expertise who thrives in high-growth environments and is excited to take on significant responsibilities while building and optimizing processes to support rapid scaling.People who thrive at Flagright:- Take ownership and operate with urgency- Are resourceful and solution-oriented- Learn quickly and adapt to changing priorities- Have strong opinions and can defend them- Want to work with no-BS people building something importantPeople who struggle here:- Need extensive hand-holding- View high expectations as “unreasonable”- Actually prioritize work-life balance- Can’t handle ambiguity- Prefer consistent routine over fast-changing priorities**Key responsibilities:**Finance- Prepare and manage investor updates, Board meetings, and monthly consolidated management accounts spanning 4 entities across US / UK / India / Singapore- Lead financial planning and analysis (FP&A), including budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis- Develop and maintain detailed financial models to support strategic decision-making and operational planning- Oversee accounts payable and enforce accounts receivable processes to maintain smooth cash flow operations- Collaborate with external accountants and tax experts to optimize accounting and tax strategies, ensuring compliance and efficiency- Implement inter-company pricing measures, including managing transfer pricing documentation and compliance- Oversee external auditors for a yearly audit across 4 global entities- Contribute to pricing and deal desk operationsOperations- Lead the HR function, setting clear standards for policies, execution, compliance, employee experience, and operational discipline- Manage and mentor the HR team, ensuring strong ownership across onboarding, offboarding, employee documentation, payroll coordination, benefits, and HR systems- Build scalable people processes across multiple jurisdictions, partnering with external counsel and advisors where needed- Partner with leadership on performance management, compensation reviews, promotions, role changes, workforce planning, and organizational design- Establish people dashboards, reporting cadences, and operating rhythms to give leadership visibility into headcount, hiring, retention, performance, and people risksLegal Operations- Partner with leadership and sales on commercial negotiations and MSAs, balancing speed, risk management, and business priorities- Liaise with external lawyers to manage contracts, mitigate risks, and ensure global compliance- Manage an internal legal team working across employment, commercial, corporate, insurance, regulatory, and cross-border matters**Who we are looking for:**- 5+ years of professional experience, with a solid background in Finance (must have) and HR and Legal operations (preferred) in a high-growth environment- Must have hands-on FP&A or Strategic Finance experience, including budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling, variance analysis, and leadership reporting, gained in roles such as FP&A Analyst, FP&A Manager, Head of FP&A, or Strategic Finance Lead- Must have prior experience in a SaaS start-up environment (Series A to C)- Experience operating across multiple entities, jurisdictions, currencies, and time zones, with an understanding of cross-border finance and multi-entity accounting, as well as HR, legal, tax, and compliance considerations- Strong working knowledge of SaaS business models, including ARR, retention, gross margin, CAC/payback, burn, runway, cash forecasting, and investor-facing operating metrics- Comfortable being both strategic and hands-on: able to advise leadership while also diving into models, contracts, payroll issues, vendor workflows, and operational details when needed- Proven people-management experience, ideally managing distributed or offshore teams, with high standards for ownership, responsiveness, and execution - note that the team reporting to this role is based in the Philippines- Based in the Bay Area with right to work in the USA (visa sponsorship not available). This is a fully in-person role, based in our Santa Clara office.**What we offer:**- Leadership position with direct impact on how Flagright runs and grows globally- High-bar environment focused on execution, learning, and continuous improvement- Health insurance through Kaiser Permanente in California- Equity from day 1 at a Y Combinator startup- Housing subsidy if you live within 1 mile of our office- Work alongside a highly competent, top-tier team, including professionals from Y Combinator, ex AWS, and Palantir- Enjoy a low-bureaucracy environment, minimal meetings, and an asynchronous communications culture