First Finance Hire

About this role

ABOUT CHAI DISCOVERY

Chai builds the design suite for molecules. We train frontier models that learn the underlying foundations of biochemical structure and interaction, so scientists can move faster and pursue targets that other methods cannot reach.

AI is reinventing life sciences the same way it reinvented software engineering, and Chai is at the forefront of this shift. Leading pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly https://endpoints.news/eli-lilly-chai-discovery-sign-ai-software-deal/, Pfizer https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2026/06/04/why-pfizer-and-eli-lilly-are-betting-on-this-13-billion-ai-drug-discovery-startup/, and Novartis https://www.chaidiscovery.com/news/novartis-partnership are adopting our platform to power their drug discovery programs.

We value diverse perspectives and are ready to find greatness in unexpected places.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are making our first finance hire. Someone we can trust to own Chai's financial operating system end to end.

Chai is a small, fast-growing company with complex financial operations; heavy spend on compute and data acquisition; and pharmaceutical partnerships with complex revenue recognition and compliance requirements. We need someone who can make sure the machinery underneath the business is exceptionally well run, and give us the visibility to make good decisions as we scale.

You will own the quality of our books and close process, build a trusted view of where our money is going, and take over the financial model and cash forecast. You'll manage accounting and finance vendors, improve all systems and controls, and lead our audit readiness.

Once the foundations are in place, we expect your attention will turn towards strategic questions: allocating capital, modeling major investments, negotiating important relationships, and generally supporting key decisions as we grow.

ABOUT YOU

You are a financial generalist who combines operational rigor with strong financial judgment. You are sophisticated enough to understand the entire financial picture of the company, but hands-on enough to personally chase down a strange invoice, manage an accounting firm, negotiate a vendor renewal, or rebuild a cash forecast. Nothing is beneath you if it matters to the business.

You likely have meaningful experience inside a startup. You may have been an early finance hire or second-in-command at a high-growth technology company, come from strategic finance after rigorous training in banking, or started in accounting and grown into a broader role.

Most importantly, you own outcomes. When something important falls between functions, your instinct is to understand it, fix it, and build a system so it stays fixed. All with a mindset of making complexity disappear and avoiding unnecessary process.

WE OFFER

The opportunity to work at the vanguard of AI research and frontier biology, with world-class people, on a mission that matters. We protect & promote a culture of high velocity and ownership. We compensate our team accordingly.

Similar jobs

• Fund Finance Relationship Manager — Piermontbank · New York, NY
• Commercial Finance Manager — Reworld · Florham Park, NJ
• Sponsored Finance Specialist — Cornell University · Remote
• Sponsored Finance Specialist — Cornell University (Cornellpositions) · Remote
• Distribution Finance Manager — Motorola Solutions · Chicago, IL
• Builder - Head of Finance — Reevo · San Francisco or Santa Clara
• Homebuilder Finance Loan Administrator Manager — Columbiabank · Mountlake Terrace, Washington | Seattle, Washington | Irvine, California
• Equipment Finance Sales Officer — Commerce Bank · Texas - Dallas - Dallas Commercial (75201)