--- title: 'Financial Operations Manager at Taara' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/financial-operations-manager-taara-sunnyvale-zeppbj18c2g0' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-05' --- # Financial Operations Manager at Taara - **Company:** Taara - **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA - **Compensation:** $140k–$175k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-06-25 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/taaraconnect/78427eb0-cadc-4a20-aebc-413ecd2eb2cf/application **Skills:** QuickBooks, NetSuite, BILL, Procurify, Ramp, Accounts Payable, Procure-to-Pay, Budgeting, Cash Forecasting, Tax Compliance, GAAP, Inventory Accounting, Cost Accounting, ERP Implementation, Inventory Management Systems > The Financial Operations Manager oversees the day-to-day finance function, managing vendor payments, budget vs actuals, cash forecasting, and tax compliance. This role serves as the connection between operations and financial statements, ensuring accurate reporting and process improvements for a venture-backed hard... ## Job description ## About the Team Born at X, Google’s Moonshot Factory, Taara is on a mission to connect billions of people lacking abundant and affordable internet today by pioneering the way we use light to deliver faster, cheaper, more reliable connectivity. Lead the charge in bringing our groundbreaking wireless optical communication and photonics chip technologies to the world. Drive our growth story as we scale innovative solutions across the world. Join us to light the way for bridging the digital divide and illuminating the future. ## About the Role Taara is looking for a hands-on Financial Operations Manager to run the day-to-day engine of its finance function. This is a critical role for a venture-backed hardware startup scaling toward its next phase of growth; you will not just be recording transactions, but actively owning how money moves through the company: who we pay, why we pay it, and whether it matches the plan. From invoice approvals to budget vs actuals, from vendor payments to cash forecasting, and from monthly close to lender reporting, you will serve as the connection point between our operations and our financial statements. You will work hand-in-hand with our accounting partners and our finance leadership, owning the operational cadence and providing the oversight that keeps our books accurate and our reporting on time. You will be responsible for upgrading our processes so that Finance Operations stays ahead of business goals, providing the visibility needed to make the right decisions at speed. ## How you will make 10x impact - Own the Financial Operations: Manage the end-to-end disbursement of payments to vendors and partners, from purchase order verification through approval and payment. You will pressure-test high-ticket spend with our engineering and operations teams before it goes out the door, establishing a framework that drives financial discipline and accountability. - Partner With and Oversee Our Accounting Team: Run the day-to-day relationship with our accounting firm. Review their monthly close output for accuracy, own the customer collections follow-up, and serve as the in-house owner who catches what a remote partner can’t see. You will write the playbook for how Taara’s finance operations run, not just follow it. - Run Budget vs Actuals: Build and operate the monthly budget vs actuals cycle. Compile department-level spend reports, run variance reviews with every department lead, and keep forecasts honest as the business changes. - Keep Cash and Reporting on Track: Track the weekly cash position, maintain a rolling 13-week cash forecast, and assemble the recurring reporting packages for our lender and investors (GAAP P&L, balance sheet, compliance certificate) so those relationships stay strong and on schedule. - Drive Compliance: Own the tax compliance calendar across federal, state, and local obligations, coordinate our external tax firms and our international accounting partner, and drive continuous improvement toward US GAAP compliance, ensuring our books become audit-ready. - Build Controls That Scale: Establish, implement, and enforce company spend policies, corporate card programs, and approval workflows with tools that provide real-time data insights, protecting the company without slowing R&D down. - Grow Into Controller function and Cost Accounting: As the operational core matures, partner with operations to strengthen our cost accounting practice (inventory reconciliation, landed costs, BOM analysis) for accurate unit economics and reliable financial statements. ## What you should have - 4-7 years of experience in finance operations or accounting, ideally within venture-backed or mid-size technology, hardware, or manufacturing companies. - Hands-on ownership of an end-to-end accounts payable or procure-to-pay cycle, including vendor onboarding, approvals, and payment execution. - Experience working alongside accounting providers, or a finance team whose close and books you reviewed and relied on. - Systems Expertise: proficiency with modern accounting and spend management tools (e.g., QuickBooks, NetSuite, BILL, Procurify, Ramp). - Operational Mindset: a track record of delivering operational improvements. You don’t just follow the process; you fix it. - Integrity: high discretion and trustworthiness with sensitive financial data, banking access, and compensation information. - “No task too small” mindset. You are willing to cut the checks, but you also have the strategic vision to improve the process. - Ability to work in the Sunnyvale office at least 3 days per week. It would be great if you also had these - Active CPA (or path to licensure), or prior junior-controller / assistant-controller experience. - Exposure to inventory or cost accounting in a hardware or manufacturing environment. - Experience preparing lender or investor reporting packages for a venture-backed company. - Experience implementing or migrating an ERP (e.g. NetSuite) or an inventory management system. ## LOCATION & COMPENSATION Hybrid or onsite setup in Sunnyvale, CA. Relocation assistance can be provided. The US base salary range for this full-time position is $140,000 – $175,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process. ## About Taara ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Taara uses invisible beams of light to deliver high-speed, low-latency wireless internet connectivity, acting as a fiber alternative for hard-to-reach areas. - **Entity Type**: Private (spun out from X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory in March 2025; backed by Series X Capital, with Alphabet retaining a minority stake) - **Headquarters**: Sunnyvale, California, USA - **Founded**: 2025 (spin-out); predecessor Project Taara began in 2017 - **Founders**: Mahesh Krishnaswamy ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Telecommunications technology / Free-space optical communications - **Target customers**: B2B – mobile operators, wireless ISPs, fiber operators, enterprises, smart city operators, government/emergency response, and innovation partners (satellite operators, photonics companies) - **Mission**: “Bringing high-speed, affordable and abundant connectivity to people everywhere using beams of light.” ## Products & Services - **Taara Lightbridge**: Free-space optical terminal delivering up to 20 Gbps over line-of-sight distances up to 20 km with carrier-grade availability. Used for backhaul, fronthaul, and mesh. - **Taara Lightbridge Pro**: Enhanced version offering “five nines” (99.999%) availability for mission-critical networks. - **Taara Beam**: First product built on Taara's Integrated Photonics Platform, designed for expansion with flexibility in a smaller form factor. - **Integrated Photonics Platform**: Silicon photonics chip that uses light to transmit data through the air, enabling miniaturized terminals and reduced mechanical complexity. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding – undisclosed round led by Series X Capital at spin-out (2025); Alphabet retains minority stake - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Series X Capital, Alphabet (via X Development); strategic partners include T‑Mobile, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Econet Group, Digicomm International - **Growth Signals**: Deployments in over 20 countries across Africa, India, North America, and Southeast Asia; recognized as TIME Best Invention of 2024 and Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award; successful live events connectivity (Coachella, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with T‑Mobile) ## Competitive Advantages - **No trenching or spectrum licensing**: Light beams travel through air, avoiding costly fiber deployment and radio spectrum constraints. - **Rapid deployment**: Can be deployed in hours instead of months – ideal for disaster recovery and temporary capacity. - **Silicon photonics platform**: Proprietary chip technology that shrinks hardware and lowers cost, enabling mass scalability. - **Fiber-class performance**: Delivers symmetrical 20 Gbps+ with ultra-low latency, competing directly with fiber in capacity. ## Strategic Focus - **Expand photonics-based connectivity** beyond telecom into data centers, industrial campuses, and satellite communications. - **Scale manufacturing** of its Integrated Photonics Platform to serve global demand. - **Deepen partnerships** with mobile operators, internet service providers, and government entities to close the digital divide. ## Why Work Here - **Innovation pedigree**: Born inside X (Google’s Moonshot Factory) – a culture of tackling world-scale challenges with ambitious technology. - **Mission-driven impact**: Work directly on bringing affordable internet to underserved communities and disaster zones. - **Cutting-edge tech**: Hands-on with advanced photonics, optical engineering, and system-level hardware/software design. - **Growth phase**: Recently spun out as an independent company – opportunity to shape engineering culture and processes from an early stage. - **Hybrid/office**: Based in Sunnyvale, CA; roles range from hardware engineering (optical, mechanical, FPGA) to software (backend, Linux, cloud) and go-to-market (sales, customer success). Per company careers page: open roles include Principal Optical Engineer, Director of Product Management, Senior Backend Software Engineer, etc. - **Perks & culture**: Described as “a new technological era” with a focus on collaboration, rapid iteration, and global impact. ## Sources 1. [taaraconnect.com](https://www.taaraconnect.com/) – Homepage product details 2. [taaraconnect.com/careers](https://www.taaraconnect.com/careers) – Open roles and engineering focus 3. [taaraconnect.com/about](https://www.taaraconnect.com/about) – Leadership, history, milestones 4. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taara_(company)) – Company overview, spin-out, funding, deployments ## Other roles at Taara - [Coherent Optical Systems Internship](https://feeny.ai/job/coherent-optical-systems-internship-taara-sunnyvale-f09xrc2ex19m) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Senior Technical Escalations Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-escalations-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-ed981hzfns48) — Sunnyvale, CA - [VP of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-finance-taara-sunnyvale-rtqqr2d48xgj) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Principal Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-analog-mixed-signal-asic-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-esst4g51npkn) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Director of Optical and Mechanical](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-optical-and-mechanical-taara-sunnyvale-xrh63xxgm2nd) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Growth Marketing Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/growth-marketing-specialist-taara-sunnyvale-st1es2a22n73) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Mechanical Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-design-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-b452mzmcts4a) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Director of Product Management](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-product-management-taara-sunnyvale-c8wndxcamgwn) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Customer Success Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-success-manager-taara-sunnyvale-f3q87dr9k9ad) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Senior Hardware Program Manager - Manufacturing and Quality](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-hardware-program-manager-manufacturing-and-quality-taara-sunnyvale-bqfw0646aw6b) — Sunnyvale, CA