Founding Finance Director (Pre-Series A)

Note: This is one of our most critical early leadership hires, so we’re seeking candidates with proven senior-level experience in finance. You don’t need to have been a CFO, but you must bring a strong track record in fundraising, corporate accounting, and financial leadership in a fast-growth or investment-heavy environment. If you’re looking to shape the financial backbone of a pre-Series A venture, and thrive in building structure from the ground up, this role offers the platform to do it.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead comprehensive funding round management and investor relations including Series A preparation, due diligence coordination, financial model development, and investor presentation support, working directly with venture capital firms and strategic investors who understand the transformative potential of legal-first AI implementation across enterprise organisations

• Design and implement strategic financial planning and analysis frameworks that capture the unique value drivers of our Legal-First AI business model, including multi-year financial projections, scenario planning for EMEA and APAC expansion, and ROI analysis that demonstrates how legal department AI adoption drives enterprise-wide transformation and competitive advantage

• Build scalable financial systems and processes that support rapid international expansion while maintaining the accuracy, compliance, and strategic insight needed for high-growth operations, including multi-currency financial reporting, international tax optimisation, and financial controls that scale with our distributed team structure

• Develop and maintain sophisticated financial models that articulate the business case for legal-first AI implementation, including unit economics analysis, customer lifetime value modeling, and revenue forecasting that supports our expansion from current foundation to hundreds of enterprise clients across multiple geographic markets

• Partner strategically with executive leadership and board members to provide data-driven insights on business performance, growth opportunities, and strategic initiatives, including financial analysis that supports decisions about market expansion, service offerings, and partnership opportunities with GSIs, SIs, and AI studios

• Manage comprehensive budgeting, forecasting, and performance tracking that aligns financial planning with our ambitious growth objectives, including detailed analysis of customer acquisition costs, revenue per client, and the financial impact of our Legal-First AI Framework on client organisations and our own scaling operations

• Oversee all aspects of financial operations and compliance including monthly and quarterly financial reporting, audit coordination, regulatory compliance across EMEA and APAC markets, and the financial controls needed to maintain investor confidence and support our preparation for eventual exit opportunities through acquisition or IPO

Qualifications

• Communication Skills: You excel at translating complex financial concepts into compelling narratives that resonate with venture capital investors, board members, and executive stakeholders. Your communication style adapts seamlessly from presenting detailed financial models to VCs to explaining budget implications to department heads across different time zones and cultures. You understand how to build trust and credibility with sophisticated investors who need to understand both the financial metrics and the strategic vision behind our Legal-First AI approach. Your ability to articulate the financial story of AI transformation makes you a trusted advisor to leadership and a compelling advocate for our funding and growth strategies

• Growth Mindset: You embody the growth mindset principles that drive successful startup finance leaders. You see every financial challenge as an opportunity to innovate, every funding round as a chance to build stronger investor relationships, and every market expansion as a learning experience that strengthens our financial foundation. Your curiosity about emerging fintech tools, willingness to experiment with new approaches to financial modeling and analysis, and passion for continuous learning make you the ideal leader to build financial systems that can adapt and scale with our rapidly evolving business model and market opportunities

• Track Record: You bring proven success in high-growth startup environments, preferably with direct experience in AI, regulatory technology, legal software, or other complex B2B technology companies. Your background includes hands-on involvement in at least one funding round (Series A, B, or C) where you either led the financial aspects or worked closely with a CFO managing the process. What matters most is your demonstrated ability to build financial strategies that support innovation, scale with rapid growth, and create the investor confidence needed to secure funding in competitive markets while maintaining the strategic focus that drives long-term success

• Coaching and Mentoring: You're passionate about building finance teams and developing the next generation of finance professionals who can thrive in high-growth environments. Your approach to talent development goes beyond traditional financial training – you create learning opportunities, provide stretch assignments, and build the analytical culture that enables continuous improvement. You have experience mentoring finance professionals through the unique challenges of startup growth, helping them develop the strategic thinking and investor relations skills needed for senior finance roles. Your commitment to developing others reflects your understanding that S.AI.L's success depends on building a finance team that can grow with our expanding global impact and increasingly sophisticated investor relationships

Compensation

• Equity ownership: ~2% of fully diluted shares at grant

• Vesting period: 4-year with 1-year cliff

• Salary transition upon Series A funding (c.12 months)

• Potential equity value at vesting: c.US$1.5M based on conservative forecast

Ready to build the financial foundation for the AI revolution in legal technology? Join S.AI.L and create the funding strategies, financial models, and investor relationships that will define how legal-first AI implementation scales across global enterprise markets. Be part of a company that's turning legal departments into strategic advantages while building the financial infrastructure that becomes the gold standard for AI-driven business transformation

Disclaimer: Any reference to potential valuation figures for S.AI.L are purely illustrative and should not be interpreted as a promise or guarantee. These forward-looking estimates reflect our aspirations, not certainties. Like any early-stage company, outcomes may vary based on a range of factors beyond our control. We share this information to be transparent, not to mislead. Equity-based compensation will be governed by the final terms outlined in our formal agreements.

A Note to Our Valued Recruitment Partners

We deeply appreciate the incredible work that recruitment professionals do in connecting talent with opportunity. It's a relationship-driven business that requires genuine expertise and market insight. At this particular stage of S.AI.L's journey, we're taking a hands-on approach to building our founding team, working directly with candidates to ensure cultural alignment and shared vision around our legal-first AI methodology.

This isn't about bypassing the recruitment community that we respect and value; it's about the unique requirements of early-stage team building where every conversation shapes not just who joins us, but how we grow together. As we scale and our needs become more specialised, we look forward to partnering with recruitment professionals who understand the nuances of AI transformation.

For now, we're asking candidates to apply directly so we can build those foundational relationships from the start. We're grateful for your understanding and look forward to collaborating as S.AI.L evolves.

The S.AI.L Careers Team