VP of Finance

About the Team

Born at X, Google’s Moonshot Factory, Taara is on a mission to connect billions of people lacking abundant and affordable internet today by pioneering the way we use light to deliver faster, cheaper, more reliable connectivity. Lead the charge in bringing our groundbreaking wireless optical communication and photonics chip technologies to the world. Drive our growth story as we scale innovative solutions across the world. Join us to light the way for bridging the digital divide and illuminating the future.

About the Role

Taara is hiring a VP of Finance to own the finance function end to end: strategy, planning, capital, and financial operations. This is the senior finance seat at a venture-backed hardware startup preparing for its next funding round: you will be the CEO’s partner on strategic finance, capital decisions and the source of truth on the numbers. It is a player-coach role. You will own the financial model, help prepare board materials, participate in investor meetings, and execute the day-to-day finance processes together with our internal team and external partners.

From the long-range operating model to the annual budget, from capitalization to board reporting, and from invoicing and collections to the monthly close, you will be the person the leadership relies on for the numbers and the strategy behind them. You will oversee our external accounting partners and finance operations, set the financial reporting cadence for the company, and translate analysis into clear business decisions: which growth initiatives to fund, how to structure pricing, and cash runway.

How you will make 10x impact

• Lead the Finance Function: Own finance end to end. Direct our outsourced accounting and international accounting partners, oversee finance operations, and execute the monthly close, and the reporting calendar.

• Own the Financial Model and the Plan: Build and maintain the company operating model and long-range plan. Build the annual budget with the CEO and leadership, re-forecast as the business needs evolve, run scenario and sensitivity analyses, and reconcile the plan to actuals monthly.

• Drive Capital and Fundraising Strategy: Own the financial narrative, model outputs, and data room for future growth capital. Join investor meetings alongside the CEO, build investor ready scenarios, manage financial diligence, and help shape optimal capital structure decisions.

• Prepare Board and Executive Materials: Build clear, decision-focused financial packages for board meetings, investor updates, and monthly executive reviews. Frame materials around key strategic choices and milestones rather than raw data alone.

• Run Strategic and Commercial Analysis: Lead the analysis behind the company’s biggest choices: market sizing, pricing, unit economics, make-vs-partner decisions, and the financial case for new business lines, deals, and partnerships.

• Oversee Money In and Money Out: Oversee invoicing and AR function, AP and procure-to-pay. Manage the cash position and runway, and run the banking relationships. You approve the big-ticket spend, make the working-capital calls, and keep a trusted rolling view of cash..

• Stay Close to the Details: Partner with Engineering and Operations to verify and sign off on high-ticket spend r, review the close with our accounting partners, follow up on collections, and test the numbers to ensure accuracy. Staying close to the work is how the numbers stay trustworthy.

• Own Compliance, Tax, and Risk: Oversee the tax compliance calendar across US federal, state, and international obligations, drive audit readiness and continuous improvement toward full US GAAP compliance, and coordinate equity administration (409A, cap table) with our legal team and external partners.

• Build a Finance Org That Scales: Design the controls, systems, and processes that carry the company through its next stage, and define the hiring plan for the finance team needed as the organization expands.

What You Should Have

• Proven Track Record: 10+ years of progressive finance or strategy experience, with a foundation in investment banking, private equity, or finance leadership at a growth-stage tech startup.

• Strategic-First Mindset with Operational Rigor: Highly strategic, growth-oriented thinker with strong financial modeling depth who can drive long-term capital planning and business strategy, while maintaining the low ego needed to oversee external accounting partners, ensure financial hygiene, and stay close to the ledger when needed.

• Entrepreneurial Ambition & Growth Mindset: A strong desire to help build and scale a business from the ground up, driven by high intellectual curiosity, a broad mission-driven outlook, and long-term aspirations to take on strategic leadership or general management responsibility.

• Core Financial & GAAP Fluency: Fluency across the full P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow, with working US GAAP knowledge and comfort owning a monthly close executed by external providers.

• Hands-On Financial Modeling Depth: Proven capability to personally build investor-grade operating models, scenario analyses, and unit-economics frameworks, with the skill to defend every assumption during diligence.

• Fundraising & Transaction Exposure: Experience being in the room during an equity raise, debt financing, M&A process, or comparable institutional transaction—on either the principal or company side of the table.

• Commercial Strategy & Business Sense: Exceptional commercial intuition and strategic mindset—able to evaluate trade-offs, connect financial models to operational realities, and translate quantitative insights into commercial strategy (e.g., pricing strategy, unit economics, deal structuring).

• International & Multi-Entity Operations: Experience managing multi-entity or international financial operations (e.g., cross-border entities, transfer pricing, global compliance), alongside the financial agility to quickly master complex unit economics and cost structures.

• Management of External Partners: Demonstrated history directing contractors, accounting firms, fractional executives, bankers, or auditors while taking end-to-end ownership over the quality of their output.

• Executive Presence & Range: Ability to seamlessly bridge high-level corporate strategy with operational execution. Equally credible presenting to a board or zooming into the ledger, with a low-ego mindset where no task is beneath you.

• Executive Communication: Ability to turn complex financial analysis into clear, actionable recommendations for the CEO, Board of Directors, or functional department leads—both in writing and in the room.

• Hands-On Operating Experience: In-house experience owning a budget, close, or finance function (beyond pure advisory or modeling roles).

• In-Office Presence: Ability to work in our Sunnyvale office at least 3 days per week.

It Would Be Great If You Also Had These

• Lead Company-Side Fundraising: Experience leading or serving as a core internal team member on a completed institutional raise (Series A–D, growth equity, or debt facility) on the company side.

• Hardware & Infrastructure Domain Experience: Direct finance experience within hardware, advanced manufacturing, photonics, telecom, or physical infrastructure economics, especially involving global supply chains across regions like the US and India.

• Hybrid Business Model Exposure: Familiarity with recurring-revenue, hardware-enabled software, or "as-a-service" business models layered on top of hardware sales.

• Market Opportunity & GTM Analysis: Experience evaluating new market entry, structuring complex commercial deals, or analyzing go-to-market strategies for novel products/services.

• Advanced Credentials: An MBA, CFA, or CPA.

Relocation assistance can be provided.The US base salary range for this full-time position is $225,000 – $265,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.