Senior Accountant, Accounting Operations

About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

Our staff have worked at organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Tesla, Apple, Virgin Orbit, Astra, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, New Relic, Bridgewater, Raytheon, Disney Imagineering, and the US Army and Air Force, as well as research universities, startups, and small companies across a range of industries.

About the Job

Our core technology is the node, a device that produces energy in the ocean’s harshest conditions for years at a time without human maintenance or intervention.

Panthalassa continues to expand and strengthen its internal finance and accounting capabilities as the company scales from R&D toward manufacturing and deployment. We are looking for a hands-on senior accountant to own the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of our books.

This is a high-ownership role at the center of our accounting function. You will own the month-end close from start to finish. That means making sure balance sheet accounts are reconciled and supported, accruals and prepaids are complete, capital projects and fixed assets are accounted for correctly, and the monthly financial statements are accurate and tie out. You will also oversee how transactions flow into the ERP, making sure invoices are routed cleanly, payments move through the right process, and spend is coded consistently.

You will work across finance, engineering, manufacturing, procurement, and our external accounting partners to understand the business context behind the numbers and turn it into sound, well-documented accounting treatment. As the company grows, your scope will grow too, into areas like audit readiness, fixed asset and inventory accounting, and building the controls and processes that a scaling hardware company needs.

Mastery of accounting fundamentals is critical. We also want someone who is technology-forward and excited to use AI and modern productivity tools to make the close faster, cleaner, more auditable, and more scalable without sacrificing accuracy or judgment.

Candidates should have strong interpersonal skills and be able to thrive in a creative, scrappy, and collaborative environment in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

Responsibilities

• Execute key month-end close tasks on schedule, including journal entries, accruals, prepaids, supporting schedules, and month-over-month flux analysis, to deliver accurate, reliable, and timely financial statements.
• Own balance sheet reconciliations, ensuring every account is reconciled, supported, and reviewed monthly, and resolve variances before they carry forward.
• Account for fixed assets and capital projects, including CIP, capitalization vs. expense decisions, and depreciation, as the company moves from R&D toward manufacturing.
• Oversee the flow of transactions into NetSuite, ensuring invoices, bills, expenses, and payments are routed correctly and coded accurately by department, project, vendor, and spend category.
• Partner with engineering, manufacturing, and procurement to understand the business context behind spend and turn it into repeatable coding and accounting rules.
• Resolve payment and invoice issues, including discrepancies, missing payments, and payment timing, working with internal teams and vendors.
• Identify manual or error-prone workflows and improve them through automation, AI tools, better spreadsheet design, or ERP configuration, and document the result.
• Build and maintain controls and documentation that make the books auditable and scalable.
• Lead audit, tax, and compliance deliverables for the accounting areas you own.
• Maintain an extremely high bar for accuracy, confidentiality, responsiveness, and ownership.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of accounting experience, including at least 3 years in an industry role owning general ledger and month-end close work.
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting.
• Strong understanding of U.S. GAAP, including accruals, prepaids, capitalization, and how the three financial statements connect.
• Experience independently preparing journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations, and supporting schedules.
• Strong number sense: you can tell when something looks off, whether it's an unusual invoice, an unexpected balance, or a variance that doesn't make sense, and you have the curiosity and know-how to dig in and find the cause.
• Sound judgment on accounting treatment, with the ability to research questions and bring a recommendation, not just the issue.
• Technology-forward, with real experience using AI and automation to improve accounting work while preserving accuracy and controls.
• Ability to understand business context and turn it into clear, repeatable accounting treatment.
• Experience with NetSuite or another ERP and a modern spend platform.
• Advanced Excel skills.
• Clear communication with internal teams and external partners.
• A hands-on, ownership-oriented mindset and comfort building processes in a fast-moving, lean environment.

Desired Qualifications

• CPA or active progress toward licensure.
• Experience in a startup, manufacturing, hardware, energy, infrastructure, or project-based environment.
• Experience supporting at least two annual financial statement audits in an industry role, ideally with a Big 4 or other top-10 firm, including preparing PBC schedules and responding to auditor requests.

The above qualifications are desired, not required. We encourage you to apply if you are a strong candidate with only some of the desired skills and experience listed.

Additional Requirements

• Travel to vendors and test sites as needed
• Intermittently able to work longer hours and weekends to support critical needs. While we expect a lot of each other, we also offer a high degree of autonomy and work-life balance, including flexible PTO and flexible working hours.

Compensation and Benefits

If hired for this full-time role, you will receive:

• Cash compensation of $125,000 - $180,000.
• Equity in the company. We’re all owners and if we’re successful, this equity should be far and away the most valuable component of your compensation.
• A benefits package that helps you take care of yourself and your family, including:
  • Flexible paid time off
  • Health insurance (the company pays 100% of gold-level PPO plan for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Dental insurance (the company pays 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Vision insurance (the company pays 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Disability insurance (the company pays 100% for a policy to provide long-term financial support if you become disabled)
  • Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA
• Relocation assistance to facilitate your move to Portland (if needed).

Location

This is an on-site position. Our offices, lab, and shop are located in Portland, Oregon.