VP of Finance

Culdesac is a real estate and technology startup that builds cities for people, not cars. Our goal is to create the first car-free city in the US. We started by creating the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US - Culdesac Tempe, a $200 million mixed-use neighborhood development for 1,000 residents, which opened in 2023. The neighborhood covers 17 acres and features 55% open space, shared courtyards, and abundant bookable spaces. Culdesac is the co-developer and tech-enabled property manager.

Read more about our vision, our product, and how we are changing how people live, work, and move:

Introducing Culdesac: Building car-free neighborhoods from scratch by Ryan Johnson (CEO & Founder)

The Capital of Sprawl Gets a Radically Car-Free Neighborhood by The New York Times

Watch New Car-Free Neighborhood in Arizona - NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt

Paying Rent Will Get You Wheels in New Car-Free Complex by Bloomberg

Listen to the conversation about designed environments to improve healthspan, mobility, and positive habits - Ryan Johnson and hall-of-fame basketball player Steve Nash on the Good Traffic podcast

11 rules for buying an ebike. Ebikes are about to change the world. By Ryan Johnson (CEO & Founder)

We’re headquartered in Tempe, AZ and were founded in 2018. CEO Ryan Johnson was previously on the founding team of Opendoor. Our investors include top VCs like Khosla Ventures, Lennar (LenX), Founders Fund, Zigg Capital, Initialized Capital, and Y Combinator.

As a VP of Finance at Culdesac, you will help drive data-driven decisions by maintaining and building upon our financial infrastructure. Your work will be highly interdisciplinary across real estate, finance, investor relations, and resident experience. This role will report to the CEO and work closely with other members of our team, including the CIO.

Directly supervise finance team, including hiring and training, oversight of team workflow, reviewing work, and ongoing coaching.

Execute Culdesac’s annual budgeting and forecasting processes: develop budget processes and procedures; determine budget drivers and performance goals; coordinate execution across the organization, in collaboration with cross-functional teams and external operating partners; prepare summary reports and communications.

Assess financial and operational performance to identify underlying drivers and develop actionable insights for asset management and executive leadership teams. Proactively present findings and track KPIs.

Create complex ad-hoc financial models, analyses, and reports to support business decision-making as needed.

Depending on the qualifications of the candidate, there is potential for the role to expand to oversee operations.

While this list represents what we are ideally looking for, we encourage you to apply even if your resume includes strengths and experiences that don’t match everything listed here. We expect most to need at least 6 years of finance experience. An understanding of multifamily real estate is a bonus.

Experience in creating and maintaining a company operating budget and monthly reporting.

Experience building and scaling financial processes and infrastructure to drive growth while continuously improving accuracy and efficiency.

Experience in preparing board materials and investor updates on company performance.

Experience with financial modeling, have excellent analytical skills, and are familiar with corporate finance concepts.

Comfortable establishing and meeting critical timelines and deadlines for tasks and activities related to capital raise or transactions.

We are headquartered in Tempe, AZ, and our office is located in the heart of downtown Tempe. We encourage employees to visit and work in our beautiful Tempe office and offer relocation assistance to those who’d like to move to Tempe. We also have remote positions, and we work hard to create a first-class, remote-friendly environment.

🏥 Benefits Package - Includes options for medical, dental, and vision.

🥚 Family Planning Benefits

🐣 Parental Leave - Up to 12 weeks paid time off for qualifying events.

🏦 401K Savings

🖥️ Work From Home Stipend - Up to $500 for equipment paid by the company.

🌎 Co-Working Stipend - $100 per month paid by Culdesac for space intended for work productivity directly related to Culdesac business (e.g., co-working space pass for the day). Remote employees only.

🚲 Mobility Stipend - Up to $500 to invest in employee micro-mobility setup (e.g., e-bike, e-scooter, micro-mobility accessories).

🛴 Car-Free Commuter Benefit - $200 per month paid by Culdesac. Tempe employees only.

🏡 On-Site Living Discount - 25% discount on base rent for 1 unit at a Culdesac managed property.

As sprawl became commonplace in our cities, we felt less connected to each other. We normalized hour-long commutes, even as private vehicle ownership became the largest source of carbon emission pollution. Private vehicles and roads limited and dictated development decisions and urbanism. Our cities thus blend technology, real estate, and culture to reimagine our daily lives. Come help us make our residents happier, healthier, and more productive in the years they spend with us and the moments they spend together.

Be inclusive, drawing on the strengths of people who bring a different perspective.

Find ways to work together that overcome disciplinary and geographic separations.

Be output oriented. When we see a problem, we roll up our sleeves and fix it.

Don’t let blockers stop you from seeing your work through to the end.

Don’t start from scratch: learn from our own and others’ previous attempts.

Before mass private car ownership, all cities were models of walkability. We learn from the designs of the past and make them beautiful and relevant to today.

Then, we learn from our own designs to continually improve.

Ask people for feedback and observe behavior. Only users know if we’re creating value for them.

Human paradoxes and contradictions are our opportunity to create joy.

Respect the limits of what we can know and plan. In the complex organism of a city, emergent behavior rules.

Focus on what our residents value: profitability is essential for sustainability and allows us to scale.

Great places create positive externalities for ourselves and our neighbors, unlike the negative externalities of cars.

We build value by executing on the fundamentals and excelling at mobility, community, and open space.

If you think Culdesac might be a good fit, we encourage you to apply! You have nothing to lose, and we'll respond to you within a week. If we move forward, here's our typical process:

1. A 30-minute video call with our Head of People.

2. A 30-minute video call with our CEO.

3. A 30-minute video call with our Financial Controller.

4. A 30-minute video call with our CIO.

At each step, we leave time for you to ask us questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

As required by pay transparency laws in California, Colorado, New York, and Washington, Culdesac provides a reasonable range of compensation for roles that may be hired in these locations. Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $145k - $185k. Final offer is determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and skillset. An overview of benefits is provided on our careers page.

Culdesac is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.