Finance Intern

Finance Intern Opportunity

Gesture is looking for a Finance Intern to support how we understand and manage the financial health of the business as we scale. This role is primarily finance: reading and building financial statements, tracking cash flow, and helping leadership understand where the business stands and where it's headed. It is not a filing or bookkeeping role. This is a hands-on opportunity for someone who wants real exposure to how a growing company thinks about money, not just where it goes.

You'll work closely with the Chief of Staff and finance function day to day, while gaining direct exposure to Gesture leadership more broadly, including how cash flow, the balance sheet, and P&L decisions connect to the bigger picture of running and scaling the business. Candidates currently pursuing or holding an MBA are strongly preferred, though we welcome strong candidates from related backgrounds.

This role offers:

• A hands-on seat inside how Gesture manages cash, reads its own financial position, and plans ahead
• Direct, regular work with cash flow data, the balance sheet, and the P&L, not just accounting paperwork
• A role where your analysis and observations get used in real financial decisions, not filed away and forgotten
• A chance to build a genuine finance skill set at a growth-stage startup, with light accounting and ops exposure on the side

This role is not for:

• Someone who wants a role that stays in accounting and never touches financial analysis
• Someone not comfortable working with numbers, models, or spreadsheets on a daily basis
• Someone who needs every task fully spelled out rather than digging into the data to find the answer

Responsibilities include:

• Tracking and monitoring company cash flow, helping identify trends, timing gaps, and areas of risk or opportunity
• Reading and interpreting the balance sheet to understand the company's assets, liabilities, and overall financial position
• Supporting cash flow forecasting and scenario modeling to help leadership plan ahead
• Helping build pro forma financial statements and projections to support planning and decision-making
• Tracking and comparing financial ratios across departments to help identify what's driving performance in each area
• Assisting in preparing and maintaining P&L statements, connecting revenue and expense trends to the broader financial picture
• Helping compile financial summaries, variance analysis, and reports for leadership review
• Supporting month-end close activities and basic financial reconciliations
• Researching and helping evaluate financial planning topics as assigned, from burn rate to runway to unit economics

Accounting support includes:

• Supporting light accounts payable and receivable tasks as needed, including reviewing invoices and monitoring outstanding balances
• Helping maintain accurate financial records to keep the underlying data clean for analysis

Operations support includes:

• Assisting with day-to-day administrative tasks for the finance function as needed
• Supporting ad hoc operational requests from the Chief of Staff or finance leadership

Desired skills and qualifications include:

• Currently pursuing or recently completed an MBA (preferred), or a bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field
• Must be able to read and interpret a balance sheet and understand core financial statement relationships
• Working understanding of cash flow: what drives it, how to track it, and why it matters more than revenue alone
• Basic understanding of P&L statements and core financial concepts
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, including building simple models and summaries
• Analytical mindset with strong attention to detail and comfort working with numbers
• Organized, detail-oriented, and able to maintain confidentiality
• Available to work onsite at our NYC headquarters

What you'll gain:

• Hands-on experience building pro formas and real, practical business acumen, not just theory
• Exposure to financial ratios across departments, learning how different parts of the business are measured and what actually drives performance
• Hands-on experience with cash flow management, balance sheet analysis, and financial reporting at a growth-stage startup
• Direct exposure to how a real company tracks financial health and plans ahead
• Mentorship from Gesture leadership, with exposure to how finance decisions connect to broader business strategy
• The chance to directly support financial decision-making as the company scales
• Practical business fundamentals that go beyond finance: how a growth-stage company sets priorities, allocates resources, and makes tradeoffs under real constraints
• Exposure to how finance, operations, and leadership decisions intersect day to day, not just how each function works in isolation
• Direct interaction with founders and senior leadership, including visibility into the kinds of conversations and decisions that shape the business
• A foundation in business judgment and communication that transfers well beyond finance, useful whether your next step is another finance role, an MBA, or a general business or startup path
• Networking opportunities within a dynamic, fast-moving tech company
• AI training, lunch and learn sessions from executive leadership.

How you operate:

• Analytical: You dig into the numbers until you understand the story behind them, not just the surface-level total
• Detail-Oriented: You catch discrepancies and inconsistencies before they become someone else's problem
• Proactive: You ask questions and follow through rather than waiting to be told exactly what to do next
• Reliable: You can be trusted with sensitive financial information and confidential business details
• Coachable: You take feedback well and apply it quickly, since this role is built around learning fast

Personal attributes:

• Analytical: comfortable digging into numbers to find the story behind them
• Detail-Oriented: strong attention to detail and commitment to producing accurate, high-quality work
• Reliable & Confidential: trusted with sensitive financial information
• Proactive and Self-Motivated: comfortable taking ownership of tasks and following through
• Collaborative: open to feedback and excited to work cross-functionally

Who should apply:

• You want real, hands-on exposure to how a business manages its money, not just theory from a classroom
• You're comfortable digging into numbers and asking why until you understand what's actually driving the trend
• You're currently pursuing or recently completed an MBA, or have a strong finance, accounting, or business background and want practical experience to back it up
• You want mentorship and visibility into how leadership actually makes decisions, not just a resume line
• You're looking to build a true finance skill set, cash flow, balance sheets, pro formas, and financial ratios, not just bookkeeping

Benefits include:

• Compensation: competitive stipend
• Professional development: support for ongoing learning and career growth
• Work environment: positive, friendly, and collaborative atmosphere
• Free Gestures for friends and family

Application process:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume, cover letter, and any relevant coursework or projects. In your cover letter, please emphasize your key skills, experiences (including MBA status or progress), and the reasons you're drawn to this role.

Compensation:

• Stipend: $800 to $1,600 per month, based on skill level
• Contract Length: 6 months

Gesture is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Actual stipend amounts are based on factors unique to each candidate, including skill set, depth of experience, and work location.