Technical Accounting

About Anthropic

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the role:

We are seeking a well experienced Technical Accountant to join our Finance team at Anthropic. In this role, you will serve as the company's foremost accounting authority in specific areas of responsibility, providing strategic guidance on complex accounting matters while building and leading cross functional projects. As we continue to scale our business and navigate an evolving regulatory landscape, you will play a critical role in establishing robust accounting policies, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of our accounting policies, and serving as a trusted advisor on accounting implications of business decisions.

This role requires someone who excels both as a hands-on technical expert and as a business partner. You will partner closely with cross-functional teams across Finance, Legal, Product, Tax, Treasury and Business Operations to assess accounting treatment for novel business models and transactions. You will also work directly with external auditors and drive continuous improvement of our accounting infrastructure. If you are passionate about solving complex accounting challenges while developing high-performing teams at an innovative AI company, we want to hear from you.

In this role, you will:

• Serve as one of the company's principal technical accounting authority, providing expert guidance on complex accounting matters including revenue recognition, equity transactions, leases, business combinations, and emerging issues
• Partner with business teams to assess accounting implications of new products, business models, partnerships, and strategic transactions before they are executed
• Embed with functional teams across the organization to provide real-time accounting consultation and build strong working relationships with business partners
• Foster a culture of excellence, continuous learning, and collaboration
• Establish and maintain comprehensive accounting policies, procedures, and technical accounting memos that ensure compliance with US GAAP and SEC requirements
• Lead the evaluation and implementation of new or revised accounting standards, including impact assessments, policy development, and cross-functional education
• Oversee the preparation of technical accounting documentation for quarterly and annual financial statements, including footnote disclosures and supporting schedules
• Serve as the primary liaison with external auditors for technical accounting matters, coordinating audit responses and driving timely resolution of audit inquiries
• Drive automation and process improvements across the technical accounting function, leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and scalability
• Present technical accounting findings and recommendations to senior leadership, distilling complex matters into clear, actionable insights
• Monitor regulatory developments and industry trends, proactively identifying potential impacts on the company's accounting and financial reporting
• Support special projects including, system implementations, and internal control enhancements and others as needed
• Develop talent across the broader finance organization through training, mentorship, and technical accounting guidance

You may be a good fit if you:

• Have 12+ years of progressive accounting experience with at least 4-6 years in leadership roles or working in areas which emphasize cross functional collaboration
• Hold an active CPA license
• Have significant Big 4 accounting firm experience, including time in a national office or Professional Practice Group in a technical capacity
• Have substantial in-house experience at high-growth technology companies, preferably in roles of increasing responsibility
• Possess deep expertise in US GAAP and SEC accounting and reporting requirements, with proven ability to research and document complex accounting conclusions
• Have a track record of autonomously navigating large, matrixed organizations and influencing stakeholders at all levels
• Demonstrate exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with ability to clearly explain complex accounting concepts to both accounting and non-accounting audiences
• Excel at both strategic thinking and hands-on technical work
• Have experience building and developing high-performing teams
• Are proficient with accounting systems (NetSuite preferred) and advanced Excel capabilities
• Possess strong project management and organizational skills
• Are comfortable working in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with evolving priorities
• Take a proactive, solutions-oriented approach to problem-solving

Strong candidates may also:

• Have expertise in one or more specialized areas such as:

  • Revenue recognition (ASC 606) for SaaS, consumption-based, and API business models
  • Stock-based compensation (ASC 718) and equity structures
  • Business combinations and M&A accounting (ASC 805, 810)
  • Leases (ASC 842) and complex real estate transactions
  • Fair value measurement (ASC 820) and financial instruments (ASC 815, 825) including designated hedging programs
  • Software development costs (ASC 350-40) and intangible assets
• Have implemented accounting for novel or emerging business models in technology
• Demonstrate expertise in SOX compliance and internal controls over financial reporting
• Possess the ability to anticipate accounting implications of product and business strategy
• Have a track record of building scalable processes during periods of rapid growth
• Excel at balancing technical rigor with pragmatic business solutions
• Have experience coaching team members through technical accounting challenges
• Are passionate about leveraging technology to enhance accounting operations

Deadline to apply: None. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The expected base compensation for this position is below. Our total compensation package for full-time employees includes equity, benefits, and may include incentive compensation.

Annual Salary:

$230,000—$300,000 USD

Logistics

Education requirements: We require at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience.

Location-based hybrid policy: Currently, we expect all staff to be in one of our offices at least 25% of the time. However, some roles may require more time in our offices.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas! However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every role and every candidate. But if we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa, and we retain an immigration lawyer to help with this.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. Not all strong candidates will meet every single qualification as listed. Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more prone to experiencing imposter syndrome and doubting the strength of their candidacy, so we urge you not to exclude yourself prematurely and to submit an application if you're interested in this work. We think AI systems like the ones we're building have enormous social and ethical implications. We think this makes representation even more important, and we strive to include a range of diverse perspectives on our team.

How we're different

We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large-scale research efforts. And we value impact — advancing our long-term goals of steerable, trustworthy AI — rather than work on smaller and more specific puzzles. We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science. We're an extremely collaborative group, and we host frequent research discussions to ensure that we are pursuing the highest-impact work at any given time. As such, we greatly value communication skills.

The easiest way to understand our research directions is to read our recent research. This research continues many of the directions our team worked on prior to Anthropic, including: GPT-3, Circuit-Based Interpretability, Multimodal Neurons, Scaling Laws, AI & Compute, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, and Learning from Human Preferences.

Come work with us!

Anthropic is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues. Guidance on Candidates' AI Usage: Learn about our policy for using AI in our application process