Finance and Business Systems Director in Redlands, California at Hangar 24 Craft Brewery LLC

Why This Role Exists

Hangar 24 is building a more modern, automated, AI-enabled finance function. We are not looking for a traditional accountant whose primary value is producing financial statements or keying in transactions. Routine bookkeeping and transaction processing will be handled through external partners and AI-enabled accounting platforms so this role can focus on higher-impact work: financial intelligence, business systems, automation, profitability, vendor accountability, and executive decision support.

This role owns Hangar 24’s financial operating system. The right person will help leadership understand what is financially true, where the business is making or losing money, where costs are drifting, and which systems, processes, vendors, or tools need to be improved, automated, renegotiated, delegated, or stopped.

Hangar 24 operates across multiple connected business lines, including taproom and restaurant operations, brewery manufacturing, wholesale/distributor sales, and administrative operations. This role connects those worlds through stronger systems, cleaner data, better reporting, and practical AI-enabled workflows.

What You Will Build

In this role, you will build the financial and business systems foundation Hangar 24 needs to scale, including:

• A more connected finance operating system across QBO, Ekos, Toast, MarginEdge, Paylocity, Sling, Bill.com, banking platforms, spreadsheets, AI bookkeeping tools, and future reporting platforms.
• Practical AI and automation workflows that reduce manual work, improve accuracy, summarize trends, identify anomalies, draft reporting narratives, and accelerate decision-making.
• A recurring executive reporting rhythm that gives leadership visibility into cash, sales, labor, COGS, Prime Cost, inventory, AR/AP, EBITDA trends, brewery production costs, wholesale/distributor performance, freight, and controllable expenses.
• A disciplined month-end close process managed through external bookkeeping/accounting partners with clear deadlines, review standards, and accountability.
• A scalable administrative and vendor-management structure that reduces friction, duplication, unnecessary manual work, and dependence on individual heroics.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Truth & Executive Reporting

• Provide clear, timely, and actionable financial insight to the CEO and leadership team.
• Build reporting that helps leadership understand cash, sales, margins, labor, COGS, Prime Cost, inventory, receivables, payables, EBITDA trends, wholesale performance, and location-level results.
• Translate financial and operational data into practical recommendations, including what is changing, what is concerning, where margins are leaking, where to invest, and what to stop doing.
• Prepare recurring CEO-ready financial reporting with clear variance explanations, trends, risks, and recommended actions.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, scenario planning, budget-vs-actual reporting, pricing decisions, purchasing controls, and margin optimization.

AI-Enabled Finance Operations

• Build and manage an AI-enabled finance function that reduces manual processes while improving financial accuracy, visibility, and decision speed.
• Evaluate and help implement AI bookkeeping, automation, reporting, and workflow tools that support the company’s finance infrastructure.
• Continuously identify manual processes, duplicate work, obsolete software, unnecessary spreadsheets, and repetitive tasks that can be automated, simplified, or eliminated.
• Use AI tools responsibly to support analysis, reporting narratives, data review, documentation, anomaly detection, workflow efficiency, and executive communication.
• Ensure AI-supported outputs are reviewed with appropriate financial judgment, data privacy, and human oversight.

Systems, Data & Process Ownership

• Serve as the business-side owner for the company’s key financial and operational systems, including QBO, Ekos, Toast, MarginEdge, Paylocity, Sling, Bill.com, banking platforms, spreadsheets, and related tools.
• Improve data accuracy and reporting consistency across POS, payroll, labor, inventory, production, distributor sales, receivables, payables, and accounting systems.
• Create cleaner system structures for locations, departments, classes, chart of accounts, payroll mapping, inventory reporting, production reporting, distributor reporting, and management reporting.
• Build documented, repeatable processes that reduce dependence on tribal knowledge, manual workarounds, and unnecessary administrative effort.
• Develop a practical roadmap for improved reporting, automation, integrations, and dashboard visibility over time.

Operational Finance & Profitability

• Partner with leadership and operators to improve visibility into profitability across taproom, restaurant, brewery, wholesale, and administrative operations.
• Support reporting related to brewery production, inventory, wholesale/distributor sales, taproom transfers, freight, receivables, production costs, and margin performance.
• Help identify cost drift, margin leakage, stale inventory, underperforming products or categories, vendor issues, pricing opportunities, and process gaps.
• Build financial visibility into labor, food cost, beer cost, beverage cost, inventory, production costs, distributor economics, Prime Cost, and controllable expenses.
• Spend time in the business — taprooms, brewery, kitchen, receiving, and inventory workflows — to understand how financial data is created in the real world.

Vendor Management & Administrative Infrastructure

• Manage external partners, including AI bookkeeping platforms, outsourced bookkeeping, CPA/tax advisors, IT, insurance, payroll, banking, benefits, software vendors, and other administrative partners.
• Hold vendors accountable to clear expectations around accuracy, deadlines, communication, documentation, and service quality.
• Review spend, identify savings, and improve controls around vendors, software, subscriptions, insurance, freight, and recurring services.
• Direct routine administrative workflows through the Operations Coordinator, including records, renewals, licenses, insurance documents, vendor information, mail, and administrative calendars.
• Build organized, repeatable processes that support growth and reduce administrative friction.

What We’re Looking For

Leadership Expectations

• Lead with data and provide objective, clear financial truth to the CEO and leadership team.
• Think like a builder, not a scorekeeper.
• Act as a vigilant steward of company resources, constantly looking for savings, efficiencies, and better ways to operate.
• Build systems that reduce dependence on manual human effort.
• Use AI, automation, and data tools responsibly to improve visibility, reduce friction, and help the business make faster, better decisions.
• Model Hangar 24 values, including “The Hands Know” and “What is the Truth?”, in system design, reporting, and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Be comfortable operating in the messy middle, where systems, processes, reporting, and workflows are still being built.

Experience and Qualifications

• 7+ years of finance, business systems, accounting, operations, or finance transformation experience, preferably in food and beverage, hospitality, restaurant, brewery, manufacturing, wholesale, or multi-location environments.
• Strong financial intelligence, including understanding of margin, cash, inventory, pricing, Prime Cost, forecasting, working capital, contribution margin, and operational profitability.
• Experience working with financial and operational systems such as QuickBooks Online, Ekos, Toast, MarginEdge, Paylocity, Sling, Bill.com, AI bookkeeping platforms, or similar tools.
• Advanced Excel/Google Sheets skills and comfort working across reporting exports, spreadsheets, integrations, and system data.
• Strong curiosity around AI, automation, and business systems, with a demonstrated ability to learn and apply new tools quickly.
• Experience managing outsourced bookkeeping, accounting, tax, insurance, IT, payroll, banking, benefits, software, or other external business partners.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate messy financial and operational data into clear, practical insights for executives and operators.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, resourceful, and comfortable building processes in a growing business.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field preferred.
• Experience with dashboard tools, automation platforms, system integrations, or AI-enabled reporting tools is a plus, but not required.

Work Environment

This role requires a combination of financial analysis, systems work, vendor management, executive partnership, and cross-functional collaboration. While much of the role involves screen time, reporting, and deep systems work, the Director of Finance & Business Systems must also understand how the business operates in the real world.

This role will spend time in the taprooms, brewery, kitchen, receiving, and inventory environments to understand how POS, labor, payroll, inventory, production, distributor, and financial systems function outside the spreadsheet.

Occasional travel to Hangar 24 locations, including Riverside, Irvine, Redlands, and Lake Havasu, may be required.

The Fine Print

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery is an equal opportunity employer. This role may evolve as the business grows, and additional duties may be assigned along the way. Employee Signature