Finance and Business Operations Lead

Monarch Commerce is a venture-backed startup building and operating a portfolio of white-label e-commerce and retail businesses and wholesale product development for women's sports properties. The Finance and Business Operations Lead will be a key partner to the CEO, owning the financial backbone of the company while helping shape and drive the strategy behind our growth. Near term, the focus is getting our financials to a place where we can drive to profitability as quickly as possible, and partnering with Business Development on which partners are the right fit financially and how to structure deal terms. This is a startup role: the responsibilities below reflect where we are today, and the scope of the role will evolve as the company and team grow. The right candidate is comfortable operating across many functions at once and is energized, not deterred, by that kind of range.

What Success Looks Like in 6 Months

• Full ownership of the newly built finance processes, including royalties, order-to-cash, payables and receivables, after a training overlap with the consultant who built them.
• Timely monthly financials with shop-level and partner-level P&Ls, giving a clear line of sight to profitability.
• Every new partner deal evaluated and structured on clear financial terms before signing.
• Consolidated reporting in place for current entities, with in-country support lined up for new international markets.

Deal Economics & Partnerships

• Partner with Business Development to evaluate which partners are the right fit financially, including expected volume, margin, inventory and cash requirements.
• Build the financial models behind deal term proposals, including revenue share, royalty, minimum guarantee and wholesale structures, optimizing for business growth for Monarch Commerce and its partners.
• Provide the analytical horsepower behind negotiations and contracts with financial terms, helping structure terms that protect margin.
• Evaluate existing partnerships against the original deal assumptions and flag where terms should be revisited.

Accounting & Controls

• Manage all monthly, quarterly and annual accounting: closing books, creating financial reports, filing as needed.
• Own the chart of accounts and accounting policies across all entities, ensuring consistency as new country and shop entities are added.
• Manage inventory accounting and cost of goods sold, including landed cost allocation and reconciliation against the open-to-buy model.
• Manage approvals of invoicing, payables and receivables.
• Prepare and execute on all royalty payments owed and due, including calculations and licensor reporting in line with each license agreement.
• Own the annual audit or review process and serve as primary point of contact for outside auditors, CPAs and bookkeepers.
• Evaluate and lead bringing day-to-day bookkeeping in-house over time, as volume and cost make sense.

Cash, Treasury & Working Capital

• Create, update and manage a monthly cash flow projection and scenarios to ensure sufficient cash on hand, optimizing for working capital.
• Manage banking relationships and account structure across entities and currencies, including new accounts as country entities come online.
• Manage debt or credit facilities, if any, including covenant compliance and lender reporting.

Forecasting & Financial Planning

• Own and evolve the business forecast model for P&L and cash flow, with a regular forecast cadence and variance analysis explaining drivers of actual versus forecast.
• Track closed sales orders against revenue targets, and maintain the reporting that ties closed sales orders to the bonus structure.
• Own the annual budget process
• Help improve margins, identifying and driving initiatives across cost of goods, vendor terms, and operating expenses.
• Maintain shop-level and partner-level P&L visibility so category and partner profitability is visible in real time.

Strategic Finance, Growth & Investor Relations

• Use financial analysis to identify growth opportunities for Monarch Commerce, propose a recommended course of action to the CEO, and drive execution once aligned.
• Own financial discipline across the company, setting the standard for cost management, spending guardrails, and return-on-investment thinking in every team.
• Prepare board and investor reports and analysis
• Partner with the CEO on investor strategy and strategic partnership development as the company grows.

Multi-Entity & International

• Support international business operations across all financial and administrative functions.
• Own and manage QBO with a separate instance for each country, and manage the consolidation of all entities, including international, driving toward a consolidated reporting solution as the entity count grows.
• Source, select and manage in-country accountants, tax advisors and service providers as Monarch Commerce expands into new international markets.
• Manage tax compliance with outside advisors, including sales tax nexus across states, income tax, and international entity tax filings.
• Manage entity structuring and the compliance calendar across countries, including registered agent filings and local statutory filings.
• Manage cross-border payroll and compensation logistics in partnership with the HR system.
• Support financial due diligence and post-close integration for acquisitions, including transfer pricing execution and intercompany reconciliations.

Vendor & Business Administration

• Oversee the system, compliance and payment for POs received and issued
• Evaluate vendor deals for financial terms.
• Own the contractor agreement process end to end, including issuing, collecting and tracking signed agreements and renewals.
• Manage corporate insurance policies, including renewals, claims and coverage adequacy.
• Work as a strategic resource to the CEO managing business administrative issues, including but not limited to technology, software, insurance, benefits administration, leases and hardware, including the exploration, evaluation and recommendation of new implementations.

HR & People Administration

• Serve as the primary point of contact with Rippling and with benefits providers, managing the HR system and the day-to-day relationship with both.
• Evaluate and recommend benefit selections.
• Own payroll administration and compliance across all entities, states and countries.
• Ensure compliance with employment law across jurisdictions where Monarch Commerce has employees or contractors, partnering with employment counsel.

Requirements

• 5+ years of relevant experience, with a strong accounting foundation and a strategic finance mindset. CPA or public accounting background preferred.
• Demonstrated experience understanding retail and consumer product financials, including inventory, is required, with experience in a licensed and royalty model strongly preferred.
• Prior experience at a startup, with a real understanding of what it takes to hold numerous roles in a small company as it grows.
• Strong analytical rigor, with comfort building, stress-testing and defending financial models, from cash scenarios to deal economics and board financials.
• Independently troubleshoot problems, research options, and develop solutions, even outside areas of core expertise. Quickly recognize when progress requires additional expertise, proactively engage the right people, and keep the work moving until the solution is delivered.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Hands-on experience with QuickBooks Online. Familiarity with Shopify, Ramp and Rippling is a plus.