Director, Finance

Established in 2021, Independence Pet Holdings is a corporate holding company that manages a diverse and broad portfolio of modern pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, lost recovery services, and more throughout North America.

We believe pet insurance is more than a financial product and build solutions to simplify the pet parenting journey and help improve the well-being of pets. As a leading authority in the pet category, we operate with a full stack of resources, capital, and services to support pet parents. Our multi-brand and omni-channel approach include our own insurance carrier, insurance brands and partner brands. 

PetPlace, a subsidiary of IPH, is building a digital first pet e-commerce platform with the aim of connecting key market services such as adoption, lost pet and insurance to make pet care easy.

Job Summary:

PetPlace is seeking a Director of Finance responsible for leading the finance department for our growing group of companies.  This role is the strategic partner for the CEO of PetPlace, leading all finance functions including accounting operations, planning and communicating financial performance, and executing business objectives.  This key leadership position is expected to drive value in the organization by ensuring all elements of finance are functioning in accordance with best practices, governance, policies, strategic vision, integrity and transparency. This role will effectively influence and implement process enhancements and ensure a well-managed cadence throughout the fiscal year.

The Director of Finance reports to the CEO.  This role’s responsibilities spans across leading a team of 10, steering processes & procedures, enforcing accounting policies in the U.S. and Canada, facilitating communication streams both internally and externally, while providing accurate & reliable data and reporting to senior leadership.  Strong leadership skills, robust accounting knowledge, advanced analytic skills, strategic mindset, and the drive to deliver timely and effective results in a fast-paced environment are required for this role to be successful.

Location: Remote - must be able to travel to NYC monthly

Main Responsibilities: 

• Steers the annual planning process and recurring re-forecasting processes.

• Provides effective financial management reporting for monthly/quarterly/annual operating results, business reviews, board presentations, as well as various ad-hoc reporting as needed.

• Manages financial statements, tax and treasury practices, and supports audit processes.

• Leads the accounting team, including tax, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.

• Ensures the finance team provides timely and accurate journal entries, reconciliations, government filings and forms, cash receipts, billings, and payments.

• Develops a deep subject matter expertise of the underlying business, our technology, controls and governance supporting accounting, planning and reporting processes.

• Enforces sound documentation of various policies, procedures, and workflows.

• Strengthens tax related processes and mitigation efforts, including assurance of regulatory compliance and ongoing engagements with tax partners.

• Drives continuous improvement, by leveraging technology to design and implement solutions that will enable process re-imagination and changes the way they work.

• Provides framework to evaluate opportunities for growth, expansion, and new revenue streams.

• Designs and develops models for purposes of forecasting, allocating data, and steering decision support for partnerships and investments. 

• Effectively engages in partnerships while working closely with sister portfolio companies as necessary.

• Works closely with parent company’s controllership, delivering consistent application of financials on the Income Statement and Balance Sheet.

• Is a key contributor to ERP enhancement processes.

• Emphasizes development of individuals and challenges others to grow professionally.

• Other duties as assigned

Basic Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree 

• 8+ years corporate accounting and/or finance experience, with exposure to financial planning & analysis

• Technical and operational accounting knowledge, and business acumen

• Experience with sales and indirect taxes

• 4+ years of progressive leadership experience, with demonstrated history of scaling teams and driving a positive culture