Director, Technical Accounting – M&A and Investments

Job Application for Director, Technical Accounting – M&A and Investments at Anthropic

Director, Technical Accounting – M&A and Investments San Francisco, CA

About Anthropic

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the role:

We are seeking a Director of Technical Accounting – M&A and Investments to join our Finance team at Anthropic. In this role, you will serve as the company’s principal accounting authority for mergers, acquisitions, strategic investments, and other complex capital transactions. You will own the technical accounting lifecycle for every deal — from term-sheet diligence through purchase accounting, opening balance sheet, and post-close measurement-period adjustments — and you will build the function, playbooks, and team required to execute these transactions with public-company rigor.

As Anthropic continues to scale rapidly and deploy capital into acquisitions, minority investments, joint ventures, and novel commercial structures, you will be the decisive voice on structuring alternatives, consolidation outcomes, and financial statement impact. You will partner directly with Corporate Development, Legal, Tax, Treasury, FP&A, and executive leadership to ensure that deal economics are accurately reflected under US GAAP and that positions are defensible to external auditors, valuation specialists, and future regulators.

This is a builder-leader role: you will establish the M&A and investments accounting function largely from the ground up, recruit and develop a high-performing team, and stand up the controls, valuation governance, and close-ready documentation expected of a large accelerated filer. If you thrive on being in the room when deals are shaped — and then making the accounting land cleanly — we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities:

Serve as the company’s principal technical accounting authority for business combinations, asset acquisitions, strategic equity investments, joint ventures, divestitures, and related financing and equity structures

Lead accounting due diligence on prospective transactions; evaluate structuring alternatives and advise Corporate Development and executive leadership on GAAP, control, and earnings implications before terms are finalized

Own end-to-end purchase accounting: identification of the acquirer, determination of the acquisition date, measurement of consideration transferred (including contingent consideration, rollover equity, and replacement awards), recognition and measurement of identifiable assets and liabilities, and goodwill

Direct the consolidation assessment for every investee and structured arrangement, including VIE identification, primary-beneficiary analysis, and ongoing reconsideration events

Oversee the investment portfolio accounting model — determining and monitoring classification across consolidation, equity method, the measurement alternative, and fair value through earnings — and govern observable-price-change and impairment reviews

Manage third-party valuation specialists; review and challenge purchase price allocations, intangible asset valuations, contingent consideration fair values, and impairment analyses

Author and defend technical accounting memoranda for each transaction; serve as the primary point of contact with external auditors on M&A, investment, and consolidation matters

Build and lead the M&A and Investments Accounting team — define roles, hire, mentor, and set the operating cadence — while remaining a hands-on reviewer on the most judgmental areas

Design and implement the deal-accounting operating model: diligence checklists, Day-1 close playbooks, opening balance sheet procedures, measurement-period tracking, integration accounting workplans, and SOX-ready controls over non-routine transactions

Drive post-close integration accounting, including conforming accounting policies, system/ledger onboarding, working capital true-ups, earn-out remeasurement, and push-down considerations

Prepare and review transaction-related disclosures for quarterly and annual financial statements, including pro forma financial information and significance testing where applicable

Partner with Tax on deal structuring, inside/outside basis differences, and ASC 740 impacts of acquisitions and investments; partner with Treasury and Legal on equity, SAFE/convertible, and complex financing instruments embedded in deals

Present transaction accounting conclusions and financial statement impacts to the Controller, CFO, and Audit Committee in clear, decision-ready terms

Monitor standard-setting and SEC developments affecting business combinations, consolidation, and investments; lead adoption and cross-functional education

You may be a good fit if you:

Have 15+ years of progressive accounting experience, including 6+ years leading teams and owning the accounting for M&A and strategic investment transactions end-to-end

Hold an active CPA license

Bring significant Big 4 experience — ideally including time in a National Office, Transaction/Deal Advisory, or Capital Markets/Accounting Advisory group — paired with in-house experience at a high-growth or public technology company

Have personally led the technical accounting for multiple closed acquisitions and a portfolio of minority/strategic investments, including at least one transaction of meaningful scale or complexity

Possess deep command of US GAAP for business combinations, consolidation, equity method and other investments, fair value measurement, and related areas, with a track record of authoring positions that withstand auditor and regulator scrutiny

Are fluent in valuation concepts and can credibly direct and challenge third-party specialists on PPA, contingent consideration, and impairment models

Have built or materially scaled a deal-accounting or investments-accounting function, including hiring, playbook creation, and controls design

Operate with executive presence — able to influence Corporate Development, Legal, and the C-suite on structuring trade-offs, and to present to the Audit Committee

Demonstrate exceptional written and verbal communication, translating complex deal accounting into clear business implications for non-accountants…