Director, Finance

AltaML • Edmonton • 2w ago

About Us:

AltaML is a leading North American applied AI company with extensive experience in building and operationalizing AI software solutions.

We are a company like no other – we believe in making small bets, failing fast, and being better together. We are looking for creative problem-solvers who obsess about the customer to find wins across different industries.

We don’t hire for fit; we hire to add. We are looking for people who play our core values of being: Agile, Gritty Humble, and Happy. If you’re passionate about AI/ML, thrive in a dynamic environment, and want to work with a diverse team of wickedly smart people, we want to hear from you!

About the Role:

As the Director, Finance, you will be a key strategic partner to the CFO, driving the financial health and operational excellence of our fast-growing, AI-first organization. You'll oversee all accounting operations and compliance, lead our budgeting and forecasting processes, and develop a high-performing finance team to support our ambitious strategic growth goals. Your role is not just about reporting on the past, but also about building the systems and providing the insights that enable our future success.

Strategic Alignment:

Build an indestructible financial platform to confidently invest in Agentic AI: You will maintain accurate reporting, sophisticated forecasting, and dynamic cash flow modeling to enable strategic investments. You will drive audit readiness, establish robust internal controls, and ensure financial transparency across all entities. You'll ensure compliance with ASPE/IFRS and other regulatory requirements, mitigating financial risk.
We are a global thought leader and trusted partner in diffusing and operationalizing responsible AI: You will be instrumental in identifying and implementing technology solutions to improve financial operations and reporting, ensuring our systems are scalable for rapid growth.
Utilize all partnership avenues to develop our own IP and cultivate equity opportunities: You will guide financial models and provide critical metrics to inform investment, partnership, and M&A decisions. Your insights will be crucial in evaluating the financial viability of new ventures and projects.
Become an AI-first organization that fosters a diverse, world-class team and launches exceptional careers: You will be a mentor and leader, fostering a high-performance culture within the finance team. You will recruit, train, and develop future finance leaders, ensuring the team has the skills and capabilities to meet future challenges.

Required Results:

Timely and Accurate Financial Reporting: Deliver complete and accurate monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements and reports, ensuring full regulatory compliance.
Predictable Budgeting and Forecasting: Own the budget, planning and forecast cycles and provide predictable, reliable financial models (e.g., cash runway, profitability, burn) to support executive-level decision-making.
High-Performing Finance Team: Develop and lead a skilled finance and accounting team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and professional growth.
Robust Financial Operations: Establish and maintain scalable processes, systems and internal controls that support the company's growth while safeguarding assets and ensuring audit readiness

Essential Functions:

Financial Reporting & Compliance (35%):
Oversee all financial reporting, including the monthly, quarterly, and year-end close processes.
Ensure strict compliance with Canadian (ASPE) accounting standards and Canadian and U.S. tax requirements. Possess knowledge of U.S. and IFRS accounting standards
Oversee all financial audits and serve as a key liaison with external auditors.
Maintain relationships with Canadian and U.S. bank and capital partners.
Budgeting, Forecasting & Strategic Modeling (25%):
Lead the company's budgeting and forecasting processes, collaborating with executive and department heads to create and monitor budgets.
Conduct in-depth variance analysis and provide actionable financial insights to the CFO and leadership team.
Develop and manage comprehensive financial models for cash flow, profitability and capital allocation.
Team Leadership & Development (25%):
Manage, mentor, and evaluate the performance of the finance and accounting team.
Foster cross-departmental collaboration to ensure financial data and insights are used to drive business decisions.
Process Improvement & Risk Management (15%):
Identify and implement process improvements and leverage technology to increase efficiency and scalability.
Establish and monitor robust internal controls and policies to mitigate financial risks and safeguard company assets.

Minimum Qualifications

A minimum of 8-10 years of progressive experience in finance and accounting, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership or management role.
CPA designation is required.
Experience in a small to mid-size tech company, startup, or high-growth environment is highly preferred.
Proven ability to build, mentor, and lead a finance team.
Strong knowledge of ASPE/IFRS and regulatory compliance.
Expertise in financial modeling, budgeting, and forecasting.
Experience with ERP implementation (e.g., NetSuite, QuickBooks) is a plus.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex financial data into clear, concise insights for executive leadership.

Responsible AI (RAI)

AltaML employees, contractors, and associates must be trained and well-versed in the importance of Responsible AI and empowered to enact RAI principles by developing and deploying AI solutions. They should also be empowered to raise and escalate RAI concerns as required.

AltaML is responsible for elevating public discourse and awareness of AI through open, transparent communications with the broader public.

Equal Opportunities

AltaML is dedicated to fostering a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace as an equal-opportunity employer. We welcome applications from qualified individuals of all backgrounds, encompassing ethnicity, religion, disability status, gender identity, sexual orientation, family status, age, nationality, and educational backgrounds. If you are invited for an interview and require accommodations during the interview process, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

AltaML acknowledges that its head office is located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages, and cultures of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.

We Look for A-Players Who:

Express our core values
Are hungry for knowledge
Want to learn new skills
Are respectful
Collaborate with others across the whole company
Share knowledge with coworkers
Educate and promote AI and ML concepts both internally and externally
Have a high work ethic and are self-motivated

Our Perks:

🌴Uncapped Vacation - For all full time, permanent employees. Seriously, take the time you need - when you need it.

🚀Make an Impact - Witness the impact your work contribution has on the success of our company.

👩🏿‍💻Working with PhD and Master Level Colleagues - Endless conversations around the latest in Machine Learning and Applied AI.

🩺Competitive Benefits - For all full time, permanent employees.

🏢 Office as a Resource - Hybrid work environment with state-of-the-art office spaces that ignite collaboration.

⚡Big Slack Energy - IYKYK.

Our Culture:

You will be working in a high-paced environment focused on creating unique ML solutions to problems across multiple industries to generate impactful value. You will be working at a company with employees who have multiple years of industrial and academic experience in data science, software engineering, product development, and machine learning fields.

You will be able to experience a collaborative company culture, which means we believe in working hard, getting the job done, and enjoying the group social on Fridays. You’ll also get flexibility in where you work, what hours you work, how much vacation you take, and what you wear. We expect hard work but respect work/life balance.

Core Values:

At AltaML, we are driven by our core values. We believe that by embodying these values in everything we do, we will exceed our customer’s expectations while creating a positive and empowering work environment for our team members. We are dedicated to living our values and strive to make them the foundation for our success.

Gritty - We are entrepreneurial, determined, and resilient, pushing through challenges to achieve our goals.

Agile - We make decisions based on “little bets” creating a safe space to take risks. We embrace an interactive process, allowing ideas to fail quickly or be scaled iteratively. Together, we continuously refine and improve our approach to reach the desired outcome.

Humble - We listen to data, embrace new ideas, admit limitations and take ownership to solve problems. We constantly push ourselves to improve and excel.

Happy - We ignite passion and purpose by fostering a dynamic work environment. We encourage tap dancing to work, common sense over rules, empowering team members to find joy in their contributions, and being your authentic self.