Finance & Operations Associate

Finance & Operations Associate, Pocket Type: Full time Location: San Francisco (preferred) or remote to start. Candidates are expected to be in San Francisco approximately two out of every three months. Timezone: Must work in PST / EST Start: ASAP Compensation: $70K–$90K base (depending on experience) + optional equity (ESOP). Reports to: Head of Finance & Operations About the role We're hiring a Finance & Operations to work at the intersection of finance, operations, and logistics: building the model behind a real spending decision one day, chasing partners on a delivery timeline the next, and reconciling month-end closing numbers by the end of the week. It's a broad, hands-on role on a lean team, which means your work shows up directly in how well the company runs - and there's room to grow into more ownership as you prove yourself. Financial acumen is non-negotiable: a big part of this job is finance, and you need to be genuinely comfortable with numbers. What you’ll do • Build financial models and run analyses to support key decisions - pricing, unit economics, margin, and cash • Own a big part of the monthly close - reconciliations, journal entries, and getting the books closed accurately and on time with our accountants • Keep reporting and dashboards on the metrics that matter clean and up to date • Manage vendor and manufacturer relationships day to day - be a point of contact for suppliers and our manufacturing partners, tracking orders, timelines, terms, and follow-ups • Flag bottlenecks across finance and operations, and help fix them • Help build process where there is none, and keep it running What we’re looking for Must-haves • Strong financial acumen - you can build a model, read a P&L, and reason about unit economics, margin, and cash • You are comfortable owning the accuracy of your numbers, and you double-check them because you know decisions ride on them • You are highly organized and keep your work clean in a fast-moving environment • You can look at data and quickly identify what's working and what's not • You move fast and ship without overthinking • You take ownership of your work and don't wait to be told every step • You are the kind of person who just figures things out • Comfort with tools like Excel/Sheets, QuickBooks / Xero, Carta, Shopify, or RevenueCat Strong plus • Background in investment banking, consulting, FP&A, or startup finance/ops • Exposure to high-growth DTC, SaaS, or consumer hardware • Exposure to supply chain, inventory, or vendor and manufacturer management Who this is NOT for • You need detailed onboarding and step-by-step instructions • You want to stay narrowly in one lane • You prefer planning over execution • You are not comfortable being accountable for the accuracy of your work Who you are • Self-directed - you don't wait to be told what to do next • Fast - you ship, learn, and iterate without overthinking • Rigorous - you sweat the numbers because you know what rides on them • Commercially minded - your work ties back to the health of the business • Switched on and enthusiastic about what we're building • Clear communicator - short updates, no noise, no excuses • Comfortable working in a lean, fast-moving startup environment What we offer • Direct impact on a fast-growing YC company with strong early revenue traction • Work directly with senior team and founders who care about quality and move fast, with room to grow into more ownership • High trust, high ownership environment How to apply Apply through Y Combinator's job board. Include: • 5 sentences on why you and why this role • You get a dashboard with exactly 5 KPIs for Pocket — you see it every morning, and nothing else. What's on it, and why those five?