Biotechnology is rewriting life as we know it, from the medicines we take, to the crops we grow, the materials we wear, and the household goods that we rely on every day. But moving at the new speed of science requires better technology.

Benchling’s mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The world’s most innovative biotech companies use Benchling’s R&D Cloud to power the development of breakthrough products and accelerate time to milestone and market. 

Come help us bring modern software to modern science.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Benchling is looking for a business-oriented Chief Accounting Officer who will be responsible for overseeing all accounting functions, including corporate accounting, international accounting, consolidations, external reporting, technical accounting, audits, payroll, and global tax. The company is looking for a proven leader, results-oriented, with a track record of accomplishing objectives in a complex environment. Equally important is solid business judgment, high integrity, and the ability to partner with the senior management team to drive Benchling's strategic vision. The successful candidate will regularly collaborate with senior management, the business and functional group personnel worldwide, and our various professional service providers.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in a fast-growth corporate environment, have built organizations to scale for efficiency and rapid growth, and have a history of experience that includes public company environments and public accounting. Prior experience with Subscription businesses/SaaS is strongly preferred.

RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Direct and lead accounting teams in the oversight of company- wide accounting policies and controls consistent with SEC, US GAAP, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
  • Plan and direct all accounting activities across the organization, to ensure compliance with GAAP, SEC regulations, SOX, statutory guidelines, and internal financial policies and procedures
  • Coordinate the preparation of the company’s financial statements
  • Drive external reporting, including presentations and direct communication with the external auditors, the  Audit Committee and the Board
  • Provide leadership required to strengthen and grow the Accounting team, with a commitment to recruiting, training, and mentoring
  • Provide guidance and training of any relevant new accounting guidance including SEC regulations to the accounting team and the broader organization
  • Partner with the FP&A organization to ensure the accuracy of the financial statements through a monthly executive review of revenue, expenses, assets, and liabilities
  • Build the technical infrastructure and control environment to support the company's global growth and readiness for public life
  • Leverage technology to build scalable/sustainable processes to create efficiencies, streamline accounting operations, and improve the employee experience
  • Establish strong relationships with inter-departmental peers and be the go-to accounting source in the Company
  • Continually evaluate and optimize month-end close processes, striving to deliver process automation, improved accuracy, and higher customer service
  • Develop/enhance, implement and enforce accounting policies and procedures that will improve the overall operation and reduce risks of the business
  • Manage insourced and outsourced international accountants for general accounting, payroll, tax, statutory accounts, and compliance
  • Manage the annual consolidated external audit working with independent auditors

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or Business; MBA or Masters in Accounting preferred
  • Active Certified Public Accountant (CPA) License highly preferred
  • Experience with a Big 4 or other national accounting firm preferred
  • Minimum 10 years accounting and finance experience, with a minimum of 8 years in a financial senior leadership position in a public technology company
  • Experience managing international accounting functions at both a corporate and a business unit-level for a global publicly-traded company, including consolidating US and non-US financial statements rolling up to the corporate level
  • Experience presenting to Board of Directors, Audit Committees and other internal and external decision-makers
  • Significant experience in SaaS business models
  • Expert knowledge of financial activities, policies, and processes, including multi-currency consolidations, SEC reporting, and Sarbanes-Oxley
  • Experience meeting SOX requirements and maintaining effective internal controls over financial reporting
  • Must be a proven and effective leader that garners trust and loyalty from team members
  • Demonstrated proficiency in enhancing financial systems to enable efficiency and scalability of the business and accounting functions

SALARY RANGE

Benchling takes a market-based approach to pay.  The candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and work location. For this role the compensation range is $250,000 to $400,000

To help you determine which zone applies to your location, please see this resource. If you have questions regarding a specific location's zone designation, please contact a recruiter for additional information.

Total Compensation includes the following:

  • Competitive salary and equity
  • Broad range of medical, dental, and vision plans for employees and their dependents
  • Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits
  • Four months of fully paid parental leave
  • 401(k) + Employer Match
  • Commuter benefits for in-office employees and a generous home office set up stipend for remote employees
  • Mental health benefits, including therapy and coaching, for employees and their dependents
  • Monthly Wellness stipend
  • Learning and development stipend
  • Generous and flexible vacation
  • Company-wide Summer & Winter holiday shutdown
  • Sabbaticals for 5-year and 10-year anniversaries

#LI-Hybrid #LI-JE1

Benchling welcomes everyone. 

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences. 

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

 

Please be aware that Benchling will never request personal information, payment, or sensitive details outside of Greenhouse or via email. All official communications will come from an @benchling.com email address or from an approved vendor alias. If you are contacted by someone claiming to represent Benchling and are unsure of their legitimacy, please reach out to us at recruiting-fraud-alert@benchling.com to verify the communication.

 

Apply for this Job

* Required

resume chosen  
(File types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf)
cover_letter chosen  
(File types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf)


U.S. Standard Demographic Questions We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process.
How would you describe your gender identity? (mark all that apply)





How would you describe your racial/ethnic background? (mark all that apply)











How would you describe your sexual orientation? (mark all that apply)








Do you identify as transgender? (Select one)




Do you have a disability or chronic condition (physical, visual, auditory, cognitive, mental, emotional, or other) that substantially limits one or more of your major life activities, including mobility, communication (seeing, hearing, speaking), and learning? (Select one)




Are you a veteran or active member of the United States Armed Forces? (Select one)





Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Benchling’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.


Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.


Enter the verification code sent to to confirm you are not a robot, then submit your application.

This application was flagged as potential bot traffic. To resubmit your application, turn off any VPNs, clear the browser's cache and cookies, or try another browser. If you still can't submit it, contact our support team through the help center.