Manager, Payables & Spend Operations

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules.Vardas W-Series vehicles are built designed and operated by Varda in-house including the pharmaceutical processing payloads the capsules the C-PICA heat shields and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX Blue Origin major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures Lux Capital Founders Fund Caffeinated Capital General Catalyst and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo California where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles equipment and materials are built integrated and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington DC and Huntsville AL.

Join Varda and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

The Manager Payables & Spend Operations owns how Varda pays for things. You will run and rebuild accounts payable own the corporate card program and stand up expense and travel operationsthen lead the small team that operates them.

This role is deeply hands-on. You will sit at the intersection of Finance Supply Chain Engineering and Pharma Operations and you will be the person people call when a vendor needs to get paid or a card needs to get coded. You will partner closely with Supply Chain on procure-to-pay understand direct hardware and lab spend well enough to code it correctly and help evolve the processes behind a spend footprint that is growing fast.

This is a full-time exempt position in El Segundo CA.

Responsibilities

Accounts Payable

• Own end-to-end AP: invoice intake coding PO matching approval routing and posting in Business Central.
• Run the payment cycle (ACH wire check) with dual-approval controls and own month-end close accruals and subledger reconciliation.
• Manage CIP tracking balance sheet coding and fixed asset handoffs for capital and engineering spend.
• Maintain vendor master data 1099 readiness and the open invoice and receiver queues.

Supply Chain Partnership

• Serve as Finances counterpart to Supply Chain on the procure-to-pay flow: PO structure receiving inspection holds and three-way match.
• Understand hardware and pharma R&D spend well enough to code it correctlyspacecraft components machined parts lab reagents blanket POswithout asking.
• Bring aging and exception data to Supply Chain so fixes are driven by evidence.

Corporate Card T&E & Travel

• Own the corporate card program: provisioning limits policy compliance and month-end GL coding.
• Operate employee expense reimbursement and lead the future stand-up of a formal travel program.

Controls Systems & Team

• Write and maintain AP card and T&E policies; own audit support and cost pool accuracy across pharma and defense.
• Build spend visibility and automate coding matching and exception handling to reduce manual work.
• Lead and develop a small AP team with clear ownership cross-training and documented workflows.

Basic Qualifications

• 7 years in accounts payable or procure-to-pay; 2 years managing people.
• Bachelors degree in Accounting Finance or related field or equivalent experience.
• At least one full-cycle implementation of an AP spend or expense platform (Ramp Coupa Concur Navan or similar).
• Hands-on experience with CIP capital projects and fixed asset handoffs in a manufacturing or hardware environment.
• Working knowledge of PO-based purchasing three-way match and an ERP (Business Central NetSuite SAP or similar).
• Solid understanding of AP-adjacent accounting: accruals prepaids inventory receipts and project cost tracking.
• Proven ability to run a high-volume operation accurately while rebuilding it.
• Strong cross-functional communicator comfortable in a lean fast-moving environment.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Aerospace defense hardware or pharmaceutical/life sciences backgroundexperience across both is especially valued.
• Familiarity with U.S. Government contracting requirements (FAR/DFARS DCAA cost pools).
• Ramp administration and ERP integration experience.
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
• Experience standing up a corporate travel program.
• Startup or high-growth environment experience.

Compensation

• Manager Payables & Spend Operations: $130000 $170000
• Base salary is determined by skills experience and performance. Eligible for stock options long-term cash awards and the Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Varda like all employers must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items our policy is to only hire U.S. persons who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

US person means: U.S. citizen U.S. lawful permanent resident or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e. individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).