Head of Finance

Founded in 2020 by a team of leaders from Braintree, PayPal, and Lending Club, Highnote is an embedded finance company that sets the standard in modern card platform management. As an all-in-one card issuer processor and program management platform, we provide digital-first organizations with the flexibility to seamlessly issue and process payment cards, embed virtual and physical card payments, and integrate ledger and wallet functionalities—empowering businesses to drive growth and profitability.

We’ve raised $145M+ and have grown our team to 140+ employees. Headquartered in San Francisco, we’ve managed to build one of the most advanced payments teams in the industry, with team members in 25+ US states.

Operating through our core values of customer obsession, executional excellence, intentional inclusion, we’re helping businesses grow for the future by creating the payment products demanded by tomorrow, with the ability to solve for use cases that don’t exist yet.

We are fast-moving, hands-on, and strongly believe everyone deserves a seat at the table. We believe we’re unlocking incredible opportunities that can change the future of payments, as long as we have the right people to make it happen.

This is a leadership role for a finance leader who wants to shape the direction of a high-growth payments company. Reporting to the COO and partnering closely with the CEO and the rest of the leadership team, you will be the person who looks ahead, reads what the numbers are telling us, and proactively lays out the financial moves the company should make. You will not wait to be asked for analysis. You will bring it, defend it, and help us act on it.

Payments is a business of fine margins and constant tradeoffs, where economics, mix, and cost all move together. We are looking for a leader who understands those dynamics, sees around corners, forms a clear point of view, and turns it into recommendations the leadership team can act on with confidence. You will also stand behind those numbers when it counts, including with our auditors, where your judgment and the integrity of our reporting matter.

We want someone who is genuinely forward-leaning on technology and AI, and who will use it to transform how our financial operations run. The goal is to take our analysis to the next level, using automation and AI to produce sharper, faster, and deeper insight and to give the team more room for the thinking that moves the business, all while preserving the auditability and control our reporting depends on.

Financial and analytical leadership.

• Proactively analyze the business, spot where we are heading financially, and recommend the steps we should be taking, ahead of being asked.

• Own the strategic financial narrative: what is driving performance, what it means for the plan, and where the risks and opportunities are.

• Run scenario and sensitivity work so leadership can see the financial impact of major decisions, new products, and customer changes before they are made.

• Be a genuine partner to the CEO and COO, translating financial reality into clear, defensible guidance that shapes company decisions.

Planning and reporting.

• Guide the annual operating plan and regular forecasting, working with the team that runs the day-to-day modeling, and hold the overall view of revenue, gross profit, operating expense, and burn.

• Deliver a clean, insightful reporting package to the leadership team and the board that explains what happened, why, and what we should do about it.

Capital, burn, and treasury.

• Manage burn and runway with a clear point of view on where spend earns its keep and where it