What are the responsibilities and job description for the Strategic Finance & Business Operations position at Listen Labs?
TL;DR: We're hiring our first Strategic Finance & Business Operations hire to help build the finance function from the ground up and drive high-impact projects across the business. This is a foundational role — you'll be equal parts strategic finance leader and operator, splitting time between strategic finance (50%) and project-based business operations (50%).
You'll report directly to the Head of Finance and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the founders and leadership team. We're looking for someone who combines the analytical rigor of investment banking or private equity with the scrappiness and speed of an early-stage operator. You should be the kind of person who can build a three-statement model on Monday and negotiate a vendor contract on Thursday.
This is not a back-office role. You will be in the room where decisions are made, armed with the data and frameworks to shape them.
Background
Listen Labs is an AI-powered research platform that helps teams uncover insights from customer interviews in hours, not months. We help customers analyze conversations, surface themes, and make faster, smarter product decisions.
What You’ll Do
You'll report directly to the Head of Finance and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the founders and leadership team. We're looking for someone who combines the analytical rigor of investment banking or private equity with the scrappiness and speed of an early-stage operator. You should be the kind of person who can build a three-statement model on Monday and negotiate a vendor contract on Thursday.
This is not a back-office role. You will be in the room where decisions are made, armed with the data and frameworks to shape them.
Background
Listen Labs is an AI-powered research platform that helps teams uncover insights from customer interviews in hours, not months. We help customers analyze conversations, surface themes, and make faster, smarter product decisions.
What You’ll Do
- Strategic Finance (50%)
- Build dashboards and reporting that give leadership real-time visibility into revenue, burn, unit economics, and key operating metrics
- Support fundraising, investor relations, and strategic transactions (M&A, partnerships) with data-driven analysis and materials
- Business Operations (50%)
- Take on high-priority, ambiguous projects that move the needle — pricing strategy, market analysis, new market entry, partnership evaluation, sales compensation design, or whatever the business needs most
- Build operational infrastructure and processes as the company scales from Series B to growth stage — the systems, workflows, and playbooks that don't exist yet
- Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Engineering to bring financial and analytical rigor to business decisions
- Drive procurement, vendor evaluation, and cost optimization across the company
- Identify and solve operational bottlenecks before they become problems — you see around corners
- 2-5 years of experience with a strong foundation in investment banking, private equity, or consulting, followed by experience at a high-growth technology company (Series A-D stage preferred)
- You've built financial models in your sleep. Excel and Google Sheets are extensions of your brain
- You thrive in ambiguity. You don't need a playbook — you write the playbook
- High agency, low ego. You'll build a board deck in the morning and chase down a missing invoice in the afternoon. No task is beneath you
- Exceptional judgment and prioritization. You know the difference between what's important and what's urgent
- Strong communicator who can distill complexity into clear, actionable recommendations for founders and leadership
- SQL proficiency required. Python or BI tools are a plus. Bonus if you know vibe coding
- Comfortable operating with incomplete information and making decisions at speed
- You take ownership of outcomes, not just tasks. When you see a problem, you fix it — you don't wait to be asked
- First strategic finance hire — you will define how this function operates and set the foundation for the team you'll eventually build
- Direct access to founders and the leadership team. Your work will directly influence company strategy
- High-trust, low-ego environment where impact matters more than titles
- Join a rocketship: $100M raised, 15x revenue growth, 1M interviews conducted, serving Microsoft, Robinhood, and hundreds more
- Competitive compensation including base salary, equity, and benefits
- Competitive Compensation: We’re backed by world-class investors, including Sequoia Capital, Conviction, AI Grant, and Pear VC, and offer competitive compensation packages with meaningful equity ownership.
- Over $30B in market cap has been created in adjacent industries (Medallia, AlphaSense, GLG, Ipsos, Kantar). Our Sequoia partner, Bryan Schreier, was the first investor in Qualtrics—a $12B company tackling similar problems to ours.
- Benefits that Support You: Comprehensive healthcare and dental coverage, flexible time off to recharge, and an environment that values balance and trust.
- Room to Grow: As an early member of the team, you’ll have the opportunity to take on new responsibilities, shape processes from scratch, and grow alongside the company. We value people who want to stretch beyond their role and build something lasting.