---
title: 'VP, Finance at Inertia'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/vp-finance-inertia-livermore-8kdtp92993xg'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# VP, Finance at Inertia

- **Company:** Inertia
- **Location:** Livermore
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/inertia/f8a2d225-34f4-440b-89f4-a88528b05eb0

## Job description

## Overview

Inertia is seeking a VP, Finance to lead the company’s finance function and build the financial foundation for our next phase of growth. This is a ground-floor opportunity to shape the systems, processes, team, and financial strategy that will support Inertia on its path toward commercializing fusion energy.

Reporting to the Head of Business, you’ll work closely with the executive team and leaders across the company, bringing financial rigor and insight to the strategic and operating decisions that matter most. You’ll be both a strategic partner and a hands-on builder, creating a finance organization designed to scale alongside the company.

This is a hybrid position, with regular in-office collaboration expected.

## What You’ll Get to Do

- Own financial planning and forecasting, including annual budgeting, long-range capital planning, and rolling forecasts that connect Inertia’s financial resources to its strategic priorities.
- Build the finance function from the ground up, establishing the systems, processes, team, controls, and reporting rhythms needed to support a rapidly scaling company.
- Turn financial data into actionable insight, leading monthly and quarterly reporting and helping leadership understand performance, key business drivers, opportunities, and tradeoffs.
- Lead accounting and financial reporting, overseeing outsourced accounting partners across the general ledger, close, financial statements, tax, and audit activities.
- Build and continuously strengthen financial systems, processes, and internal controls to support Inertia's growth.
- Manage cash flow forecasting, treasury operations, and capital planning to support Inertia's long-term R&D and commercialization roadmap.
- Partner cross-functionally with Science, Engineering, Operations, and Talent Acquisition teams, providing financial guidance on hiring plans, capital expenditures, and vendor and contract decisions.
- Evaluate and implement financial systems and tools, including ERP and FP&A platforms, to support Inertia’s evolving needs.

## What You Bring to Inertia

- 15+ years of finance and accounting experience, including meaningful leadership experience in a high-growth technology, energy, deep-tech, or similarly complex environment.
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or a related field.
- A strong foundation of U.S. GAAP, financial reporting, and technical accounting, with the ability to establish a rigorous financial foundation.
- Proven track record building and scaling FP&A processes, including budgeting, forecasting, and board-level reporting, in a fast-growing or capital-intensive environment.
- Experience managing external audit, tax compliance, and relationships with outside accounting and advisory firms.
- Exceptional analytical, communication, and cross-functional partnership skills, with the ability to operate as a hands-on leader with a 0->1 mindset.
- High integrity, discretion, and sound judgment when handling sensitive financial and strategic information.

Bonus Points

- CPA.
- MBA or other relevant advanced degree.
- Experience at a VC backed, capital intensive startup, particularly in fusion, energy, hard tech, advanced manufacturing, or hardware.
- Experience supporting fundraising and investor relations.

Salary & Benefits:

- The base salary range for this role is $250,000 - $280,000; The pay range provided is an estimated base range for this role. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and education.
- We offer market-competitive compensation and an excellent benefits program, including Medical, Dental, and Vision plans, company-paid holidays, matching 401k, and more!

About Inertia:

Inertia is taking the most direct, scientifically-proven path to commercializing fusion, leveraging the only successful achievement of fusion ignition, using a process that was pioneered at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). With groundbreaking innovation, transformative technology, and multi-year investment, Inertia is committed to commercializing fusion energy in the next decade.

This position requires access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls, security classification and/or designation as Controlled Unclassified Information. Employment in this position is conditioned on the candidate’s eligibility for, obtaining and maintaining appropriate government authorization to access technology or information, to the extent required, including without limitation a security clearance, export license, or other documentation required to establish authorization to receive access to such items technology or information.

## About Inertia

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Inertia is a commercial fusion energy company developing laser-based inertial fusion power plants based on proven physics from the National Ignition Facility.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A – raised $450M in February 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Livermore, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Jeff Lawson (CEO), Mike Dunne (Co-Founder, CTO & SVP Fusion Power), Annie Kritcher (Co-Founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Renewable energy, fusion power generation
- **Target customers**: Utility-scale electricity providers and grid operators (B2B, enterprise)
- **Mission**: Create limitless clean energy by commercializing the only proven approach to fusion – laser-driven inertial fusion – and delivering gigawatt-scale, dispatchable power.

## Products & Services
- **Fusion Power Plant**: A grid-scale, 1.5GW baseload plant that uses a 10MJ laser firing ten times per second at mass-produced fuel targets, generating electricity via steam turbines. First plant expected in the 2030s.
- **Fusion Fuel Targets**: Peppercorn-sized capsules of fusion fuel mass-manufactured for less than $1 each, enabling continuous, low-cost operation.
- **Modular Laser System**: The world’s most powerful laser (by average power), built from thousands of modular, replaceable beamlines (shipping-container-sized), 20x more efficient than NIF and 1/10th the footprint.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Total Funding**: $450M (Series A, February 2026) from leading venture investors
- **Key Metric**: 23 employees as of mid-2026; 16 active job postings; monthly headcount growth of +46.4% [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/inertia-fusion)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Backed by a group of leading visionaries and investors (names not disclosed in public materials). Public-private partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) signed April 2026 [inertia.com](https://inertia.com/press/)
- **Growth Signals**: Proven physics (first net-energy-gain fusion experiment at NIF in 2022); $450M Series A; partnership with LLNL to commercialize fusion; rapid hiring across engineering, laser science, and manufacturing roles.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proven physics basis**: Only company commercializing the laser-driven inertial fusion approach that has already achieved net-positive ignition (NIF 2022, repeated multiple times). Avoids scientific risk.
- **Modular laser architecture**: Thousands of identical, manufacturable laser units allow rapid scaling, redundancy, and cost reduction through mass production.
- **Low-cost fuel targets**: Mass-manufacturing targets for under $1 each eliminates the hand-crafted, expensive targets used in research labs.
- **Integrated power plant design**: Leverages existing turbine and grid infrastructure; breeds its own fuel and recycles components.

## Strategic Focus
- **Immediate priorities**: Build the world’s first assembly line for fusion fuel targets; construct the prototype modular laser beamline in Livermore; complete an integrated, fully consistent power plant design.
- **Next phase**: Scale both laser and target production into a gigawatt, utility-scale fusion power plant during the 2030s, demonstrating end-to-end energy generation.
- **Long-term**: Drive down cost for subsequent commercial facilities, targeting grid-scale, zero-emission baseload power.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven culture**: "Building big" to solve climate change with limitless clean energy. The team emphasizes engineering over scientific risk, using known physics to commercialize rapidly.
- **Early-stage impact**: Small team (~23 employees) means each hire can have outsized influence across laser physics, target manufacturing, plant design, and business operations.
- **Work environment**: On-site in Livermore, CA (facilities for laser and target prototyping). Roles span mechanical engineering, controls, laser science, manufacturing, and content/storytelling.
- **Notable perks/benefits**: Not explicitly detailed, but the company offers competitive compensation in a high-growth, venture-backed startup. Open positions include senior engineers, scientists, and a Head of Content & Storytelling [inertia.com](https://inertia.com/jobs/).
- **Leadership**: Founded by proven entrepreneurs (Jeff Lawson, former Twilio CEO) and world-class fusion scientists (Mike Dunne led the US government fusion power plant program; Annie Kritcher designed the first net-positive ignition experiment).

## Sources
1. [inertia.com – Homepage](https://www.inertia.com/)
2. [inertia.com – Founders Message](https://inertia.com/press/founders-message/)
3. [inertia.com – Press Releases](https://inertia.com/press/)
4. [linkedin.com – Inertia Fusion](https://www.linkedin.com/company/inertia-fusion)
5. [inertia.com – Jobs Page](https://inertia.com/jobs/)

## Other roles at Inertia

- [Facilities Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-technician-inertia-livermore-kewb6gs52rav) — Livermore
- [Compliance Manager / Director / Counsel](https://feeny.ai/job/compliance-manager-director-counsel-inertia-livermore-md8d7dn6a2dj) — Livermore
- [Desktop Support Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/desktop-support-technician-inertia-livermore-cdb8b5m1zm47) — Livermore
- [Optics Manufacturing Development Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/optics-manufacturing-development-engineer-inertia-livermore-sats46ed86kk) — Livermore
- [Project Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/project-manager-inertia-livermore-qwrhbaa67b5d) — Livermore
- [Senior Mechanical Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-design-engineer-inertia-livermore-bey7f6xvm1p4) — Livermore
- [Mechanical Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-technician-inertia-livermore-qmf2aas8y4kn) — Livermore
- [Senior Mechanical Engineer - Fusion Engine Design and Analysis](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-fusion-engine-design-and-analysis-inertia-livermore-1z56gm4hyd60) — Livermore
- [VP, Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-finance-patch-san-francisco-694gapvmfce4) — San Francisco, CA
- [VP, Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-finance-exa-san-francisco-a05kh4mg2x3n) — San Francisco, CA