Director of Accounting

Camunda is looking for a Senior Director, Accounting & Controlling to lead and evolve our global Accounting function as we scale toward €500M ARR. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who combines solid technical accounting depth with a genuine drive to build, automate, and improve; a leader who approaches complexity with a “I can figure this out” and “bias for action” mindset rather than defaulting to caution. You will be accountable for the full accounting engine: close, reporting, controls, and policy. But equally important is your ability to move at pace, partner credibly with Sales, RevOps, and the broader business, and exercise practical judgment that enables growth rather than slowing it down. This is not a role for someone who over-indexes on risk at the expense of momentum. A central part of this role is transformation. Camunda has an Enterprise Agentic Automation Team and a genuine appetite to modernize how Finance operates. We’re looking for someone who is energized by that opportunity, who sees AI-enabled automation not as a buzzword but as a lever they personally want to pull, in partnership with the teams around them. Camunda operates as a German GmbH consolidating under IFRS, with subsidiaries in the U.S., UK, and Singapore. Our core ERP is NetSuite. This role reports directly to the CFO and is a key member of the Finance leadership team. Team scope (15 FTE): Accounting Operations, Revenue Accounting, Group Reporting, Tax & Treasury, Global Payroll What You Will Do Lead the Global Accounting Function: - Own the end-to-end accounting engine, including close, reporting, controls, and policy. - Ensure accurate, timely IFRS reporting and strong audit outcomes. - Build a scalable operating model across people, process, systems, and global footprint; own global payroll and treasury operations and controls Drive Practical Technical Accounting Judgment: - Serve as the in-house expert on complex accounting topics: revenue recognition, commissions, equity, payroll, intercompany, FX, treasury, and policy interpretation. - Partner with Sales and RevOps to shape accounting treatment during deal design, commission structuring, pricing decisions, and global entity strategy - Translate accounting requirements into workable business solutions that balance growth, margin, and appropriate risk. Build and Develop a High-Performing Team: - Hire, develop, and retain strong managers and individual contributors across a distributed organization. - Create clear ownership, accountability, and succession depth across the team. - Bring empathy and intentionality to how you lead—building a team culture where people grow and do their best work. Lead Automation and Systems Transformation: - Champion and drive automation across accounting workflows in close partnership with Camunda’s Enterprise Agentic Automation Team. - Leverage AI-enabled tools to reduce manual effort, improve insight quality, and scale accounting capacity without scaling headcount proportionally. - Mature the control environment progressively toward SOX readiness, with an eye toward future capital events. Manage External Workstreams: - Lead auditors, tax advisors, payroll providers, and key external partners. - Support major milestones including fundraising, M&A, or IPO readiness workstreams What You Bring Leadership & Scope: - Meaningful experience leading an Accounting or Controller function in a complex, multi-entity, distributed environment—ideally at a high-growth, recurring-revenue software company of comparable scale and complexity to Camunda. - Proven ability to lead through others while staying close enough to the work to exercise sound technical judgment. - A track record of building teams with real depth, not just coverage—people who grow under your leadership. Technical Expertise: - Strong technical accounting judgment with heavy experience in revenue transactions, commissions, equity, payroll, and intercompany structures. - Meaningful exposure to fundraising rounds, M&A activity, and managing through external audits. - IFRS experience is a plus but not a hard requirement—what matters most is strong accounting fundamentals and the ability to learn quickly. - Familiarity with global payroll and multi-jurisdiction operations. Systems & Automation Orientation: - Genuinely excited about automation and AI as tools for transforming how accounting teams operate—not just familiar with them in theory. - Experience using modern tools to modernize workflows, reduce manual effort, and surface better insights. - NetSuite experience is preferred; strong systems instincts matter more than any specific platform. Mindset & Business Partnership: - An “I can figure it out” and “bias for action” orientation—someone who leans into ambiguity rather than waiting for perfect conditions. - Practical judgment that allows you to be a real partner to Sales and the business—calibrating risk appropriately without defaulting to no. - Comfortable with transformation: ideally, you’ve been part of a meaningful operational change and know what it takes to bring people along. - Available to start your workday at 7am ET to support effective collaboration across distributed global teams; comfortable with asynch-first, Slack-first communication Qualifications: - 6+ years of people leadership experience in an Accounting or Controller function. - CPA, ACA, ACCA, or equivalent professional accounting qualification strongly preferred. - Enterprise SaaS or software industry experience. - Prior experience in remote-first or highly distributed organizations. - Big 4 background, IPO experience, or M&A exposure are valued but not required.