# Finance Lead at Tern

- Company: Tern
- What the company does: Plan Less. Get Out More. AI planning for everyday life. Backed by Techstars.
- Company website: https://travelwithtern.com
- Type: Startups (AI role)
- Level: Senior
- Location: United States
- Work setup: Remote
- Pay: $150K to $175K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-09-11
- Apply by: 2026-10-26
- Apply: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tern/14e3ab6a-f8ce-4ba0-9f81-35af07f883ce
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/tern-finance-lead/

## About the role

Tern spent years becoming the place travel advisors do their work. Now we're becoming part of how the industry actually transacts. That's a different kind of company, and it needs a different kind of finance function. This is an important bet, and if we get it right, the path to a genuinely large, successful business is clear. It only works if the books and the processes are right from day one- this is your job. If this sounds like a challenge you want to take on, let's talk.

## What they're looking for

- Built the function: You've been the first or earliest accounting hire at one or two startups. You built the chart of accounts, the close, and the controls rather than inheriting them
- Revenue recognition judgment: You've made a gross-vs-net call under ASC 606 and lived with it, ideally at a company that was or became the merchant of record. You can reason through the principal-vs-agent test, not just recite it
- Payments and marketplace accounting: You've accounted for money that flows through the company rather than to it- held funds, payouts, chargebacks, interchange, processing fees
- Requirements writing: You've told an engineering team what the ledger needs and had it built. You can hold that line without needing to own the roadmap
- Close ownership: You can spot a wrong close by looking at it. You've owned month-end, not just reviewed the output
- Pace: You operate without a defined process and without waiting for one. You pick up unowned work

Tags: Finance