Director of Finance

Director of Finance

San Francisco Bay Area

About HumanSignal

Real-world data is the competitive edge in AI.

HumanSignal is a human data partner for companies building AI models and products. Our customers ship better AI, faster, because we partner with their researchers from real-world data creation to annotation to delivery.

We design and create datasets from scratch, recruit and manage the domain experts who evaluate model output, and run everything through our own platform, Label Studio, the open-source standard for data labeling and evaluation, used by over 1 million practitioners worldwide.

We specialize in the operationally complex: real-world data collection, multimodal pipelines, and multi-step workflows. Advanced ML and AI teams use our enterprise platform to run their own data factories, and our services team to extend their reach where in-house capacity runs out.

If you want to do work that materially shapes how the next generation of AI products gets built, we'd love to talk.

About the Role

We're hiring a Director of Finance to own the financial backbone of HumanSignal, the company behind Label Studio. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll own financial planning, business analytics, and the metrics infrastructure that drives decision-making across the company, including our SaaS & labeling services business.

This is a hands-on leadership role with broad scope. You'll partner with the executive team on strategy and planning, work cross-functionally with product, marketing, and sales, and build the financial infrastructure we need for the next stage of growth. If you're energized by ownership, building from scratch, and operating at the intersection of strategy and execution, this is your role.

What You'll Own

• Own the full P&L and free cash flow forecast; build and maintain our long-range financial model
• Lead the annual and quarterly planning cycle, including budgets, variance analysis, and ad-hoc modeling
• Deliver weekly KPI reporting to the executive team and board/investor reporting packages

• Run deal desk operations in partnership with Sales and Customer Success to ensure coherent deal structure and pricing
• Build and manage sales commission and incentive plans
• Develop, align, and drive accountability around company-wide KPIs

• Own the financial model for our labeling services business, including project-level profitability, utilization, and margin analysis
• Partner with services leadership to develop pricing models, capacity planning, and resource forecasting
• Track and report on services revenue, backlog, and pipeline as a distinct business line alongside software ARR

• Own end-to-end board meeting preparation, including deck creation, data packages, and follow-ups
• Partner with leadership on strategic initiatives, business cases, and scenario planning
• Serve as primary liaison to external accounting, tax, and payroll services

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years in an FP&A, finance, or business analytics role at a high-growth startup, or relevant experience in management consulting
• Experience building financial infrastructure largely from scratch, you're comfortable being the first dedicated finance hire
• Strong command of SaaS metrics: ARR, NDR, CAC payback, gross margin
• Experience with services or professional services financial modeling (utilization, project margins, blended rates) is a strong plus
• Highly analytical with advanced modeling skills
• Experience preparing board materials, investor updates, and executive-level reporting
• Ability to build a case and tell a persuasive story that drives decision-making across the organization
• Self-starter who can own complex projects end-to-end with minimal direction
• Startup mentality, no job is too small, and you default to action over analysis
• You're familiar and utilizing all of the latest AI tooling and support to make yourself more efficient
• Attention to detail. In your application, tell us about a financial model you built that turned out to be wrong, and what it taught you. We read every application and want to make sure you do the same.

What Success Looks Like

• First 30 Days: Own the financial model, take over the P&L and FCF forecast and identify gaps or errors
• Deliver your first board data package with minimal hand-holding
• Produce an initial labeling services P&L with project-level margin visibility
• Audit external accounting and payroll vendors; present a recommendation on any changes

• First 90 Days: Own the full board prep process end-to-end, including the deck, data, and follow-ups
• Ship a company-wide KPI framework with named owners, targets, and a weekly reporting cadence
• Work alongside product to create pricing structure for new product / add-ons
• Deliver a revised deal desk process with documented pricing guardrails and approval workflows

• First 6 Months: Rebuild the long-range financial model to support scenario planning across software and services
• Execute at least two pricing or cost optimization initiative with measurable impact
• Be the person leadership relies on for any financial question, no one should need to go elsewhere