Chief Financial Officer

About the role

You are a battle-tested Chief Financial Officer who will partner directly with our CEO and executive leadership team on a daily basis. You have spent years in high-growth, Series A-and-beyond startups and understand the specific demands this environment places on leadership and execution. This is not an inheritance role; you will be expected to operate comfortably within productive chaos and treat that chaos as raw material for building order. You will build the finance plane while flying it, establishing core systems, forecasting rigor, controls, and capital management so Quartermaster AI can scale cleanly without missing a beat. You will be the key asset in designing the financial foundation and ensuring the company's strategic ambitions are backed by sound financial architecture.

What you'll do

• Commercial Thought Partnership: Act as the strategic co-pilot to the CEO and functional leaders on pricing, deal structuring, unit economics, and go-to-market strategies, translating commercial intent into financially sound approaches.
• Fundraising & Capital Strategy: Co-lead institutional fundraising alongside the CEO, shaping valuation, managing investor syndicates, structuring equity and debt facilities, and leading term sheet negotiations through to final close.
• Capital Protection & Governance: Partner with legal counsel to screen prospective investors for regulatory, CFIUS, and governance risks, protecting long-term operating flexibility and ensuring strict compliance with external requirements.
• Financial Authority & Diligence Defense: Own the financial narrative for the board and investors, defending complex international revenue, FX exposure, enterprise payment terms, and unit economics under intense institutional scrutiny.
• Team Building & Operational Agility: Hire, mentor, and scale a high-performing finance team while ensuring resilient financial controls and adapting quickly to the evolving needs of a fast-growing startup.
• Strategic Scenario Planning: Develop and maintain multiple financial scenarios and sensitivity analyses to guide leadership decisions under uncertainty and support informed strategic pivots.
• Board and Investor Communication: Serve as the primary financial spokesperson in board meetings and investor discussions, articulating the company's trajectory, risks, and key milestones with clarity and confidence.
• Process and Control Design: Establish and refine financial processes, reporting cadence, and internal controls that scale with growth while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and audit readiness.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with commercial, product, and operations teams to align financial planning with business objectives and ensure data-driven decision-making across the organization.
• Risk Management and Forecasting: Drive rigorous forecasting and variance analysis, identify early warning signs, and collaborate with leadership to mitigate financial and operational risks proactively.

Requirements

• Experience: 10+ years of progressive financial leadership, with proven experience as a CFO, VP of Finance, or Head of Finance at a high-growth, Series B or later venture-backed startup.
• Investment banking or capital markets experience - ECM, leveraged finance, or growth-stage tech/industrial coverage - followed by direct operating experience inside a company, ideally as CFO, deputy CFO, or Head of Corporate Development.
• You have navigated at least one full raise-to-close cycle and beyond on the company side of the table, understanding the operational realities that follow closing.
• Real experience with export-controlled, dual-use, or defense-adjacent companies raising outside capital, including familiarity with ITAR/EAR fundamentals and CFIUS mechanics.
• A demonstrated track record of leading large, competitive primary raises in close collaboration with a CEO or founder, with the negotiation skill and structuring fluency to blend debt and equity without diluting the growth story.
• Demonstrated presence at the board level, having stood alongside a CEO in front of a board and institutional investors as a genuine partner in the room.
• Comfort leading a finance organization where compliance reports in but is not personally owned, allowing you to focus on being the CEO's strategic partner on capital strategy.
• You can speak credibly about DCAA/CAS readiness and audit processes alongside the CEO, even though the Controller and compliance team own those functions day to day.

Nice to have

• Experience supporting a company through major financial milestones such as Series B, C, or D rounds, debt financing, M&A, or IPO preparation.
• Background in a fast-paced technology or AI company that has navigated rapid scaling and evolving investor expectations.
• Direct experience managing international expansion, complex multi-entity structures, or defense and government contracting finance.