The posting
Head of Finance
At Wafer, we are building AI systems that automatically optimize inference workloads across silicon. Wafer is well funded and serves trillions of tokens a day for mission-critical workloads at fast-growing AI startups.
We're looking for a Head of Finance to own Wafer's numbers: how we bill, how we account for revenue and compute, how we plan, and how we finance the GPUs we run. We buy GPU capacity months before it earns revenue, under contracts that need deposits, and financing those contracts is a large part of this job. You'll work directly with the founders and build the finance function while doing the work yourself.
What you'll do
- Own capital markets. Raise the debt and asset-backed financing that pays for our GPUs, from the first lender conversation to funding: term sheets, credit agreements, collateral and covenants. After funding, run the covenant tests and lender reporting.
- Work through every GPU contract with the Head of Compute before we sign: deposit, term, rate, delivery date, what it does to cash and margin, and how we finance it.
- Own cash: the forecast, runway, treasury, supplier deposits and prepayments, and approval of large payments.
- Build the financial model and planning process: revenue, gross margin by product, cost per GPU-hour, compute spend and hiring. Set the budget and run a weekly review of the numbers.
- Own billing and revenue accounting for usage-based and committed contracts. Make sure every token we serve is billed correctly and reconciles to what we report.
- Run the finance side of fundraising and investor reporting: data room, diligence and board materials.
- Own the books, the monthly close and the audit. Get to accurate financials quickly, every month.
- Own tax, payroll, equity administration, insurance and vendor contracts, with outside partners where it makes sense.
- Build the systems and controls that let the company scale without slowing down.
What we look for
- You have raised debt before, from term sheet to funding: a bank facility, private credit, an equipment lease, a warehouse or asset-backed line. You know credit agreements and covenants well enough to negotiate them and then live with them. Borrower side or lender side both count.
- You have run finance at a high-growth startup, or held a strong finance role at one after banking, investing or audit. You have owned a close and a model, not just reviewed them.
- You have worked with usage-based or infrastructure revenue: metered billing, committed contracts and revenue recognition.
- You are comfortable with a large, variable cost base. Experience with compute, cloud or hardware commitments is a plus.
- You have been through a fundraise or a diligence process on the company side and know what investors and lenders ask for.
- You are technical enough to work from raw data. You can query usage data or build the reconciliation yourself rather than waiting for a report.
- You work without a spec. You can see what the company will need in a year and build it now.
How we evaluate
We score every candidate on seven values:
1. Infinitely Resourceful
2. Exceptionalism
3. Unreasonable Standards
4. Company Over Self
5. High EQ
6. Learns Quickly
7. First Principles Thinker
Benefits
- 401(k) retirement plan.
- Fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance.
- Daily lunch and dinner, unlimited PTO, and parental leave.
- $1K/month housing stipend (post-tax) if you live within walking distance (0.5 miles) from the office.
- Relocation allowance and benefits.
- Covered Uber/Waymo from/to office.
- Visa sponsorship available.
How we work
On-site in San Francisco, five days a week. Small team with massive surface area and ownership. You operate with complete autonomy of how to solve problems.
You will build the finance function while doing the work yourself. Your success is measured by how well the company understands and controls its numbers, and how fast it can act on them. It is also measured by whether the financing is ready when we need to buy compute.
