Job Description

About Watershed

Watershed is the enterprise sustainability platform. Companies like Airbnb, Carlyle Group, FedEx, Visa, and Dr. Martens use Watershed to manage climate and ESG data, produce audit-ready metrics for voluntary and regulatory reporting including CSRD, and drive real decarbonization. We are looking for team members who love product-building, want to work hard at a mission-oriented startup, and will collaborate with us in shaping the culture of a growing team.

We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Denver, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Mexico City, and remote team members across the US and Europe. We hope that you'll be interested in joining us!

The role

We are looking for a sharp, operationally-minded Accounting Manager to own the day-to-day execution across three core pillars of our financial landscape: Revenue Accounting (ASC 606), Internally Developed Software / IDS (ASC 350-40), and Capitalized Commissions (ASC 340-40).

In this role, you will be the operational engine connecting technical accounting policies to daily GL execution. While our Technical Accounting Team sets our overarching GAAP policies, operational know-how is essential in this role to translate those conclusions into daily billing, close execution, systems, and controls.

You will play a key role in establishing a clean, standardized baseline by helping formalize early-stage workflows into scalable close procedures, reconciliations, and reviewer-ready evidence

We are on a mission to modernize and automate routine accounting workflows. You will partner with our team to evaluate, implement, and operationalize modern contract ingestion tools and AI workflows to eliminate manual mechanics, allowing you to focus on key accounting judgments and complex deal structure.

You will work closely with our AR team, Deal Desk, and Technical Accounting ****to ensure our financial reporting is accurate, scalable, and audit-ready.

What you will do

1. Process Standardization, Systems & Audit Readiness

• 0-to-1 Standardization: Build and harden processes into standardized, structured workflows across contracts, revenue schedules, IDS logs, and commission tracking to establish an audit-ready foundation.
• Automation Roadmap: Partner with Accounting Systems and cross-functional accounting peers to evaluate, test, and deploy modern contract ingestion software and AI workflows.
• Audit Ownership: Serve as the primary owner for external audit deliverables across your assigned accounts, providing reviewer-ready documentation, audit evidence, and supporting schedules

1. Core Revenue Operations & Lifecycle Management — ASC 606

• Day-to-Day Contract Ingestion & Schedule Execution: Ingest customer contracts, review commercial terms, apply necessary manual schedule adjustments, run monthly revenue recognition subledgers, and post core revenue entries during month-end close.
• Contract Lifecycle & Amendments: Own the operational accounting for post-signature contract events, including renewals, upsells, terminations and amendments under ASC 606.
• Non-Standard Deals: Maintain hands-on ownership of technical deal nuances that fall outside standard automated workflows, including material rights, SSP allocations, variable consideration, and custom commercial terms, partnering with Technical Accounting to keep policies aligned.
• GL Close & Flux: Reconcile revenue, deferred revenue, unbilled AR, and AR allowance accounts while managing reserve calculations and conducting period-over-period flux analysis to explain key business drivers.
• AR & Billing Alignment: Partner closely with the AR team and Deal Desk to resolve billing holdbacks, unbilled receivables, and contract modifications cleanly.
• FP&A Collaboration: Partner with FP&A to explain GAAP revenue trends and support future ARR-to-GAAP bridge analysis and revenue forecasting models as the business scales.

1. Internally Developed Software (ASC 350-40) & Capitalized Commissions (ASC 340-40)

• IDS Operations: . Collaborate with Product and Engineering to track project roadmaps, evaluate development milestones against capitalization criteria in partnership with Technical Accounting, run amortization schedules, and post GL entries.
• Commission Amortization: Work with Revenue Operations to ingest commission data, maintain amortization schedules based on customer life estimates, and execute monthly GL entries.
• Capitalization Workflows: Continuously identify opportunities to streamline and automate capitalized cost tracking to accelerate close cycle times.

Requirements

• Experience: 5+ years of progressive accounting experience spanning Big 4/public accounting and high-growth SaaS or tech environments.
• Builder & Automation Mindset:. Excited by the opportunity to build foundational processes, implement modern contract ingestion software, and apply AI tools to streamline mechanics like contract review, schedule building, and reconciliations.
• Technical & Operational Mastery: Strong working knowledge of US GAAP across ASC 606, ASC 350-40, and ASC 340-40, with direct experience managing contract modifications (renewals, terminations, amendments) and executing month-end close revenue schedules.
• Problem-Solving Drive: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, standardizing data, and enjoying complex accounting questions that require practical business execution.
• Cross-Functional Skills: Ability to collaborate seamlessly with AR/Billing, Deal Desk, Engineering, and Technical Accounting.
• Systems Skills: Proficiency in NetSuite (or similar enterprise ERPs), Excel, and modern finance tools.
• Credentials: CPA or CPC candidate preferred.

Must be willing to work from an office 4 days per week (except for remote roles)

Watershed has hub offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Mexico City and satellite offices in Denver, Sydney, Paris, and Berlin. Where we have offices, employees are expected to be in office for 4 days per week. Certain jobs are open to being remote and will be specifically noted on the jobs page and in the job description if so.

What’s the interview process like?

It starts the same for every candidate: getting to know the team members through 1 to 2 conversations about Watershed, your experience, and your interests. Next steps can vary by role, but usual next steps are a skill or experience interview (e.g. a coding interview for an engineer, a portfolio review for a designer, deeper experience call for other roles) which leads to a virtual or in person interview panel. We prioritize transparency and lack of surprise throughout the process.

What if I need accommodations for my interview?

At Watershed, we are dedicated to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. We provide reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health needs, religious observances, neurodivergence, or pregnancy-related support requirements. If you need assistance during your process, please contact your recruiter.