---
title: 'Controller at Swayable'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/controller-swayable-new-york-q2ev69ccksrr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Controller at Swayable

- **Company:** Swayable
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Posted:** 2026-05-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/swayable/jobs/5128351007

## Job description

Swayable is in office 3x a week out of our Williamsburg, NY location

About Swayable:

Swayable is a fast-growing AI and automated data science platform that measures public opinion and the impact of messages and advertising content on it. We are a 40-person team backed by top technology and social impact investors, including Y Combinator. Founded in 2018 by physics PhDs, it is led by the former Executive Director for Digital Strategy at the New York Times. Clients include major consumer-facing brands (American Express, Airbnb, Paramount Pictures), technology companies (Anthropic, Meta, Amazon), academic researchers (MIT, Yale, Stanford) and mission-aligned civic advocacy campaigns (e.g. on climate, human rights and elections).

Joining Swayable means being on a team whose work changes the course of history. The technology we develop is at the leading edge of transforming some of the world’s most important campaign organizations and enterprises: combatting disinformation, protecting democracy, and supporting the sustainable growth of consumer-facing brands.

About The Role:

We’re hiring a Controller to own the financial operations of a 50-person, venture-backed SaaS company. You’ll be responsible for the integrity of our books, the accuracy of our financial reporting, and the day-to-day execution of our accounting function.

This role reports to the Head of Finance. We work with an external accounting team that handles AR/AP, sales tax, and portions of month-end close - your role is to own and review their output, prepare adjusting entries and accruals, and ensure everything closes accurately and on time.

This is a hands-on role with real ownership and responsibilities. You’ll be directly responsible for the numbers and continuously building processes to help scale. The right candidate is technically strong, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating with the independence that comes with being the owner of the accounting function.

What You’ll Do:

- Review and oversee the external accounting team (e.g., AR/AP and month-end close functions) - ensuring accuracy and accountability to timelines and quality
- Prepare and post all adjusting journal entries, accruals, and non-routine entries that fall outside the external team’s scope; own general ledger and chart of accounts
- Own the full month-end close process - coordinating with the external team, completing internal entries, and ensuring books are closed accurately and on time
- Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow) and deliver clean reporting packages to leadership
- Maintain SaaS and ARR reporting - tracking subscription revenue, churn, and recurring revenue metrics in line with ASC 606 revenue recognition standards
- Own payroll processing and reconciliation - ensuring timely and accurate payroll runs and proper recording of payroll liabilities
- Manage banking relationships, cash positioning, and daily treasury operations
- Lead the annual audit and tax preparation process, serving as the primary liaison with external auditors and tax advisors
- Own our accounting systems (QuickBooks and integrated tools) - ensuring data integrity, clean integrations, and a well-maintained tech stack
- Identify and implement process improvements that strengthen controls and increase efficiency across the accounting function

Who You Are:

- CPA required
- 5–8 years of accounting experience; a combination of public accounting (Big 4 or mid-size firm) and/or industry experience is a strong plus
- Deep technical accounting knowledge: GL management, accruals, adjusting entries, reconciliations, payroll, and financial statement preparation
- Experience at a high-growth startup or SaaS company, with direct exposure to subscription revenue, ARR/MRR reporting, and ASC 606 is a plus
- Proficiency in QuickBooks (Online or Enterprise); experience optimizing or migrating accounting systems is a bonus
- High attention to detail and strong ownership instincts - you find problems before they surface, and you build the process to prevent them from recurring
- Able to operate independently in a lean environment with support from external accounting vendors / teams
- Clear communicator who can translate financial detail for non-finance stakeholders

Benefits:

- 100% Medical, Dental & Vision Plans - no employee contribution required
- Generous PTO
- Equity Options
- 401k plan, FSA
- Ongoing professional development investments
- Salary: $180-200K, dependent on experience

Swayable is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to promote an organizational environment that values diversity and fosters growth. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other basis prohibited by law. The team especially encourages applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.

## About Swayable

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Swayable provides a causal AI platform that measures how effectively media content changes opinions, using randomized controlled trials to prove advertising and messaging impact.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Public Benefit Corporation)
- **Headquarters**: New York, NY, USA (with offices in San Francisco, CA, USA)
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: James Slezak (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Advertising Technology / Marketing Analytics / Causal AI for Campaigns
- **Target customers**: B2B — major brands, advertising agencies, foundations, and political campaigns
- **Mission**: To dramatically increase the impact of the stories clients tell on the world’s most important issues, operating as a public benefit corporation dedicated to effective truth-telling.

## Products & Services
- **Creative Pre-Testing Platform**: A cloud-based SaaS platform that runs automated experiments with real human respondents to measure the impact of video, image, and concept content on brand perception, purchase intent, and opinion.
- **Brand Tracking**: Tracks consumer opinion and brand equities over time with customized segmentation for granular audience insights.
- **Research Surveys**: Real-time pulse surveys on consumer sentiment and brand perception.
- **Message & Tagline Testing**: Tests language and messaging to find the strongest performing copy.
- **Campaign Comparison**: Enables side-by-side testing of creative routes to quickly identify winning content.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not disclosed; Y Combinator Winter 2018 batch graduate; team size ~30 employees
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator (primary partner: Gustaf Alstromer); clients include New Balance and other major brands, agencies, and foundations
- **Growth Signals**: Currently hiring across multiple departments (data science, engineering, sales, product, client success); expanding enterprise sales with dedicated Sales Director roles; growing AI/ML engineering team

## Competitive Advantages
- **Causal AI methodology**: Uses rigorous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on tens of thousands of verified human respondents, providing stronger evidence than correlational methods.
- **Speed**: Delivers brand lift results in 24 hours.
- **Privacy-first design**: Exceeds GDPR and CCPA standards; built with informed user consent as a core feature.
- **Public Benefit Corporation status**: Mission-driven focus on combating disinformation, protecting democracy, and supporting sustainable brand growth.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling enterprise adoption of systematic creative testing across organizations.
- Deepening AI-native capabilities to model and understand audiences over time.
- Expanding partnerships with brands and agencies to integrate lift measurement into all stages of campaign development.
- Continuing to hire senior AI/ML talent to advance scientific computing and causal inference capabilities.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven**: Work on technology that changes opinions on the world’s most important issues; team’s work is described as "changing the course of history."
- **Culture**: Public Benefit Corporation and equal opportunity employer; actively encourages women and members of underrepresented groups to apply.
- **Remote/hybrid**: Offers remote (US-based) roles alongside offices in San Francisco, New York City, and Washington, DC.
- **Diverse team**: Proud of a diverse team doing cutting-edge work at the intersection of data science, engineering, and social impact.
- **Leadership**: CEO James Slezak brings a unique background — PhD in experimental physics from Cornell, former Executive Director of Digital Strategy at The New York Times, and experience at McKinsey and Purpose.com.

## Sources
1. [swayable.com](https://www.swayable.com/)
2. [swayable.com/about](https://www.swayable.com/about/)
3. [greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/swayable)
4. [ycombinator.com](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/swayable)

## Other roles at Swayable

- [Senior Software Engineer: AI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-ai-swayable-new-york-6a7dvqj0yvjr) — New York, NY
- [Senior Software Engineer: AI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-ai-swayable-san-francisco-k0vemnr5netc) — San Francisco, CA
- [Revenue Operations Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/revenue-operations-lead-swayable-new-york-bv5yh3y0bmh7) — New York, NY
- [Product Marketing & Enablement Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/product-marketing-enablement-manager-swayable-new-york-kz69yh8re4n0) — New York, NY
- [VP, Client Success](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-client-success-swayable-new-york-03r0nwjyrsrh) — New York, NY
- [Account Director](https://feeny.ai/job/account-director-swayable-new-york-p2atbz34jf4c) — New York, NY
- [Account Director](https://feeny.ai/job/account-director-swayable-san-francisco-v18xza842g9e) — San Francisco, CA
- [Director of Demand Generation](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-demand-generation-swayable-new-york-wf6mbr94t7jn) — New York, NY
- [Research Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/research-data-scientist-swayable-remote-mm2pfdy2b3g4)
- [Research Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/research-data-scientist-swayable-san-francisco-wkzgj4bn3f4y) — San Francisco, CA