Director of Finance

Lydian is developing the lowest cost sustainable fuels from waste CO2, water, and renewable electricity to decarbonize the aviation industry. Our breakthrough technology replaces oil and gas refining with fully electrified, modular, and flexible reactor systems that produce fuel with 95% lower emissions than traditional jet fuel.

Since our founding in 2021, Lydian has achieved key milestones in record time, including the production of our first liquid fuel from our pilot system, capable of producing ~10,000 gallons of fuel per year for a fraction of the capital and time of alternative approaches. Lydian is backed by top climate investors including Congruent Ventures, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Union Square Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Grok Ventures, and Overture. We are building a motivated, diverse, and collaborative team that is passionate about addressing the growing climate crisis and is committed to excellence in their work. In particular, we look for tenacious people who are energized by solving the hardest, highest impact problems that come their way.

Position overview

You will be the first finance hire and will shape how we plan, forecast, allocate resources, and measure performance across the company. You will create discipline, clarity, and forward visibility as the company makes major engineering, manufacturing, and commercialization decisions. You will report to the CEO.

Key responsibilities

• Financial Planning, Forecasting & Modeling
  • Own the company-wide financial model, including P&L, cash flow, balance sheet, capex plans, and scenario simulations.
  • Build dynamic forecasting tools that incorporate R&D burn, manufacturing scale-up costs, module-level cost trajectories, and project deployment timelines.
  • Develop sensitivity and scenario models for technology decisions, supply chain choices, and site selection.
• Treasury & Capital Strategy
  • Work with leadership on capital strategy: equity raises, project finance, debt facilities, venture vs. infrastructure capital, and timing. Advise leadership on optimal financing structures for pilot, demo, and commercial plants.
  • Build and maintain long-range cash runway models and risk buffers tied to engineering and manufacturing schedules.
  • Support treasury operations: cash management, banking relationships, cash flow forecasting, and liquidity planning.
• Budgeting & Reporting
  • Lead annual and quarterly budgeting cycles, working with functional leaders to set targets and track performance.
  • Build processes that ensure spending aligns with strategic priorities and runway expectations.
  • Bring financial discipline to a fast-moving engineering organization without creating unnecessary friction.
  • Establish the company's financial reporting cadence: monthly performance reviews, variance analysis, KPIs.
  • Build dashboards that give leadership real-time visibility into spend, burn rate, unit cost trends, and operational performance.
  • Translate complex data into clear insights for non-financial leaders.

Who You Are

• Analytical, structured, and rigorous.
• Able to zoom between high-level strategy and detailed spreadsheets without losing coherence.
• A builder who can quickly create and implement mature financial processes in a startup environment.
• Comfortable evaluating technical decisions through an economic lens.
• Someone who can say no when the company needs it, and articulate the tradeoff clearly.
• Calm under time pressure and persistent when driving cross-functional alignment.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10-15+ years of experience in FP&A, strategic finance, corporate development, or similar analytical roles, with at least 3+ years in a hard-tech, industrial, energy, manufacturing, or deep-tech environment.
• Exceptional modeling skills - able to build, maintain, and stress-test financial models that drive real decisions.
• Strong understanding of capex-heavy businesses, cost-of-goods modeling, supply chain dynamics, and long development cycles.
• Experience working directly with founders/CTOs/CEOs and presenting financial insights in clear, concise narratives.
• Ability to operate in ambiguity and build processes, tools, and systems from scratch.
• High integrity and flawless ownership of numbers - you are the source of truth.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Background in investment banking, private equity, or management consulting with heavy financial modeling.
• Alignment with our mission, vision, and virtues.

Company culture and benefits

• Challenging, collaborative, and meaningful work and an important voice in company development.
• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• Meaningful equity compensation.
• Generous PTO and expectation that all employees take significant time off to rest, recharge, and enjoy life outside work.
• Excellent health insurance with 100% of healthcare, vision and dental premiums covered.
• 401(k) with company match.