VP, Finance

About the role

Canals is seeking a Head of Finance to serve as the cornerstone of our financial strategy and execution. You will own the company's financial model end-to-end, building and maintaining a clear forward-looking model that enables scenario planning, hiring projections, profitability analysis, and capital allocation decisions. This is not a "manage a big team" role; it is a build-and-own role where you act as a strategic partner to the CEO and the keeper of our financial integrity. You will operate at both altitudes: strategic finance and blocking-and-tackling execution, ensuring we have the clarity and discipline to navigate rapid growth. You will oversee accounting, taxes, and books and records, partnering with external firms where appropriate while maintaining ultimate accountability for accuracy, completeness, and timeliness. You will translate complex financial data into clear insight, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities to drive company-level decisions. This role reports directly to the CEO and will play a key role in board communication, company planning, and presenting results with confidence to leadership and the board.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own the company's financial model end-to-end and ensure it reflects reality and supports decision-making.
• Build, maintain, and evolve a clear forward-looking model that enables scenario planning, hiring projections, profitability analysis, and capital allocation decisions.
• Oversee accounting, taxes, and books and records, leveraging external partners while retaining full accountability for outcomes.
• Partner with external firms where appropriate, but drive accuracy, completeness, and timely delivery of financial information.
• Lead FP&A and strategic planning to align financial planning with business objectives.
• Translate financial data into insight, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities while bringing clear recommendations, not just numbers.
• Partner closely with go-to-market leadership to support sales compensation planning, revenue forecasting, invoicing processes, collections, and customer-facing financial workflows.
• Own financial reporting and board preparation, preparing quarterly financials and presenting results clearly and confidently to leadership and the board.
• Improve operational finance systems and processes, ensuring we use the right tools and workflows for a fast-growing SaaS company.
• Leverage automation and AI where appropriate to operate lean without sacrificing rigor in financial operations.
• Manage working capital and cash discipline, monitoring burn, profitability, collections, and vendor payments with precision.
• Provide sound judgment in scrappy environments, knowing when something materially matters and when it does not.
• Support revenue organization initiatives including sales compensation plans, forecasting accuracy, and customer financial workflows.
• Ensure financial controls and processes scale with headcount and complexity while maintaining efficiency.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in early-stage startup environments (pre-Series B or into Series B strongly preferred).
• Must have worked closely with a founder CEO and understand the pace and demands of startup leadership.
• Strong financial modeling skills with the ability to build and defend a sophisticated operating model without relying on others.
• Experience overseeing accounting, taxes, and books and records, even when execution is outsourced to third parties.
• Comfortable operating as a lean finance function, such as a VP plus one additional team member or external support structure.
• Experience partnering with revenue organizations on sales compensation planning, forecasting, invoicing processes, collections, and customer payments.
• Ability to present financial results clearly to executive leadership and board-level audiences with confidence and clarity.
• High ownership mindset where you do not wait to be told what to fix and you act when issues arise.
• Comfort with ambiguity, scrappiness, and imperfect information while maintaining sound judgment on risk and rigor.
• Strong judgment to know which risks require deep rigor and which can be navigated with pragmatic flexibility.
• Experience in SaaS is preferred, with familiarity with SaaS metrics such as retention, gross margin, and Rule of 40 being a significant advantage.
• Understanding of M&A processes and implications is a nice-to-have but not required for this role.
• Willingness to explore how AI and automation can improve finance and accounting efficiency while maintaining control and accuracy.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with SaaS metrics and nuances that drive high-growth businesses.
• Prior experience in similar wholesale distributor or B2B environments where operational complexity is high.
• Exposure to board-level reporting and investor communication in a growth-stage company.
• Experience implementing and improving financial systems and automation in fast-scaling organizations.

Practical notes

This role is full-time based in New York. The position requires comfort with scrappy execution, ambiguous situations, and rapid decision-making. You must be able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while maintaining attention to detail and accuracy. Travel is not required for this role. There are no visa sponsorship considerations at this time. The successful candidate will start as soon as possible given the pace of business growth.