--- title: 'Senior Accountant at Speak' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-accountant-speak-san-francisco-h4wye00jhcc6' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-06' --- # Senior Accountant at Speak - **Company:** Speak - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $109k–$135k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-07-23 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/speak/e068e335-743a-47ea-a06d-ec907d76a874 ## Job description ## ABOUT US Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language. Learning a language can change a life by opening doors to new cultures, careers, and communities. Two billion people around the world are actively trying to learn a language, but the best way to learn (one-on-one tutoring) is hard to access at scale and hasn’t been meaningfully improved in decades. Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered tutor in your pocket: a conversation-first experience that lets learners actually speak, get instant feedback, and progress through carefully designed lessons. The result is a complete path from beginner to confident speaker across multiple languages. Speak first launched in South Korea in 2019, where Speak has now become the number one language learning app, and we now serve learners across many markets and 15+ languages. Speak is one of the world’s leading AI companies, with over $150m raised in venture investment from OpenAI, Accel, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and more, with a distributed team across San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana. ## ABOUT THIS ROLE We're looking for a Senior Accountant to become the operational core of the Finance team in San Francisco. You'll own the day-to-day accounting while continuously improving how we work. This is a hands-on role with an unusually broad scope: we're a small team, so you'll have real impact — from systems redesign to technical accounting questions. You'll start by mastering the transactional core; from there, the role grows as fast as you do. We’re especially excited about candidates who are AI-native and fluent in frontier tech environments. You proactively explore new tools, can quickly learn unfamiliar systems, and enjoy tightening integrations and automations to make workflows faster, cleaner, and more scalable. This role is a great fit if you'd rather build tomorrow's workflow than run yesterday's. You see every process as a draft to keep improving, and you're excited for your job to look different every six months as Speak grows. ## WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING - Run key parts of our 5-business-day close in Campfire (revenue recognition, recons, variance analysis, tool-to-ERP integrations) - Build and improve workflows with an AI-native mindset (automations, tighter integrations, better controls) - Own P2P and T&E end to end. You’re responsible for vendor management, transaction review, policy enforcement, and the judgment calls that don't fit the happy path. You set the quality bar and stay close to the details without doing every keystroke yourself. - Manage global contractor and creator payments - Maintain transaction integrity across the finance stack - Support the external audit with clear schedules and process documentation - Drive the execution of cost-of-revenue and internal AI initiatives — track the impact of cost optimizations and product launches, and enable AI tooling with the right guardrails and controls - Partner with internal and external stakeholders on projects with real business impact — from supporting market expansion to systems implementations and close acceleration ## WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR ## Minimum requirements - 3–5 years in accounting or audit — whether at a high-growth startup or coming from Big 4 (or similar) and ready to go in-house - Fluency with modern finance tools. You don't need experience with our exact stack; you need to be someone who learns a new system in a week - Able to own the full-cycle P2P process - Solid understanding of US GAAP - Able to manage multiple workflows simultaneously without things falling through the cracks - Experience preparing reconciliation schedules and flux analyses - Ability to quickly understand workflows end-to-end and grasp how systems integrate with each other Nice to haves - Experience working in a globally distributed team and multi-entity environment - Experience with global creator payment management - Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance; CPA or actively pursuing CPA preferred - Experience supporting or conducting external (Big 4) audits ## WHY WORK AT SPEAK 1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company. 2. Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with: we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply. 3. Global in nature: We're live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel. 4. Impact people's lives in a major way: Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives. Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. ## About Speak ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Speak is an AI-powered language learning app that focuses on teaching conversational fluency through real-time speaking practice and instant feedback, without needing a human tutor. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C; $1B valuation as of December 2024) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (with offices in Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana) - **Founded**: 2016 - **Founders**: Connor Zwick (CEO) and Andrew Hsu (CTO) ## Core Business - **Industry**: Language learning / EdTech - **Target Customers**: B2C (individual language learners) and B2B (Speak for Business – over 200 enterprise customers) - **Mission/Purpose**: “To reinvent the way people learn, starting with language.” The goal is to make conversational practice radically accessible so that hundreds of millions of people can gain fluency. ## Products & Services - **Speak App**: A subscription-based mobile and web application (iOS, Android, Web) that uses a proprietary “Speak Method” – learn useful phrases, practice them out loud with AI-driven drills, then apply them in simulated real-world conversations. Supports English learning from eight source languages; plans to add Spanish and French. - **Speak for Business**: A B2B tier for companies that want to provide English conversation training to their employees, currently serving 200+ corporate clients. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: $1 billion (December 2024, Series C led by Accel) - **Key Metric**: Total funding of $171.3 million across six rounds; annual revenue estimated at $7.0 million (LinkedIn data) - **Notable Investors**: Accel, OpenAI Startup Fund, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Lachy Groom, Buckley Ventures; individual angels include Sam Altman and Peter Thiel. - **Growth Signals**: - 10M+ app downloads, #1 English learning app in South Korea - Available in over 30 countries - Headcount grew 30.9% YoY to 166 employees (LinkedIn, May 2026) - B2B segment has 200+ customers - Average user engagement of 10–20 minutes per day ## Competitive Advantages - **Conversation-first approach**: Unlike grammar/vocab apps, Speak teaches by making users speak out loud, using proprietary speech recognition and generative AI to provide immediate feedback. - **AI tutor that scales**: Replicates natural conversation without needing a live human, making high-quality practice affordable ($20/month or $99/year). - **Deep OpenAI partnership**: Early access to the latest speech AI from OpenAI (also an investor), giving a technological edge in voice interaction. - **Strong product-market fit in Asia**: Proven adoption in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and expanding to other markets. ## Strategic Focus - Expand target languages (Spanish and French are next) - Scale Speak for Business globally - Develop a standardized, accurate English fluency assessment (an AI-powered test) - Continue to invest in AI research and engineering to improve tutoring effectiveness ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Mission-driven team passionate about language learning and AI; values efficacy over gamification. - **Team & talent**: 166 people from companies like Meta, Google, DoorDash, Block, Dropbox, and Duolingo. Engineering office in Ljubljana, product and design hubs in San Francisco, operations in Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei. - **Flexibility**: Hybrid/office-based across locations; employees encouraged to travel between offices; annual company offsite. - **Perks**: Competitive salary and equity, comprehensive medical/dental/vision, unlimited PTO, parental leave, 401(k), monthly wellness and language learning stipends, pet-friendly office (official company dog). - **Growth**: Rapidly scaling headcount (+30% YoY) with active roles in engineering, product, marketing, sales, and design. ## Sources 1. [speak.com/careers](https://www.speak.com/careers) 2. [speak.com](https://speak.com/) 3. [linkedin.com/company/usespeak](https://www.linkedin.com/company/usespeak) 4. [TechCrunch: OpenAI-backed Speak raises $78M at $1B valuation](https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/10/openai-backed-speak-raises-78m-at-1b-valuation-to-help-users-learn-languages-by-talking-out-loud/) 5. [Y Combinator: Speak](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/speak) ## Other roles at Speak - [Product Lead, Enterprise](https://feeny.ai/job/product-lead-enterprise-speak-san-francisco-pv45a3bsw3js) — San Francisco, CA - [Content Localization Specialist (Chinese - Traditional / Japanese)](https://feeny.ai/job/content-localization-specialist-chinese-traditional-japanese-speak-south-korea-9c7ckjwm39cd) — South Korea - [Sales Development Representative - Japan](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-development-representative-japan-speak-tokyo-e3rp43s4gb2v) — Tokyo, Japan - [Assessment Design Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/assessment-design-lead-speak-united-states-w55yxvzn27x2) — United States - [Full-stack Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-engineer-speak-san-francisco-z8ecxdk1xw63) — San Francisco, CA - [B2B Sales Lead - Korea](https://feeny.ai/job/b2b-sales-lead-korea-speak-seoul-k7qx1kfghnya) — Seoul, South Korea - [People Ops Specialist (Contract) - Korea](https://feeny.ai/job/people-ops-specialist-contract-korea-speak-seoul-wrbbd36m9z8c) — Seoul, South Korea - [Content Localization Specialist (Japanese / Korean)](https://feeny.ai/job/content-localization-specialist-japanese-korean-speak-south-korea-kenmfgqkdwrf) — South Korea - [Content Localization Specialist (Korean / Chinese - Simplified)](https://feeny.ai/job/content-localization-specialist-korean-chinese-simplified-speak-south-korea-9qvr499kdcq7) — South Korea - [Lead Business Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-business-analyst-speak-san-francisco-dzkeyxkp1096) — San Francisco, CA