VP, Finance

Location: Remote (United States), with occasional travel

Reports To: President

Department: Finance

Direct Reports: None today. This seat owns the finance agent stack (AI agents that handle bookkeeping, AP, AR, and routine FP&A), our outside tax and accounting firm, and the bookkeeping partner that supports our franchise owners. As the function grows, you will make the case for the people it needs.

About French Florist: French Florist is a floral boutique reimagining what it means to give and receive flowers. Our handcrafted arrangements are designed by expert floral designers using the highest-quality blooms from the best farms around the world. With thriving corporate boutiques in Los Angeles and a rapidly expanding franchise network nationwide, we are on a mission to create a more loving and compassionate world through flowers.

Role Summary: The VP, Finance owns the Finance seat on our accountability chart and is accountable for the financial health of the entire French Florist system: our corporate boutiques, our franchisor, and the franchise owners who run their own businesses under our brand. This is a leadership team seat. You will sit in our weekly Level 10 meetings and quarterly planning, have a real voice in how we invest, and be the person who tells us when a decision does not make financial sense. Finance ownership here has been spread across too many people. Our books are in better shape than most franchisors at our stage, but we are adding locations quickly, and we need one leader who owns the controls, reporting rhythm, margin, and financial infrastructure the next stage of growth will run on. Finance here has a dual mandate: our franchise owners have to hit their profit goals, and so do we. When those do not move together, holding both is the job. This is not a reporting role or a capital markets role. Capital structure, fundraising, and investor relationships sit with our CEO. Your job is to find, protect, and grow margin, and to build a finance function that stays ahead of our growth. Being AI-native is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. Our finance function already runs on AI agents for bookkeeping, payables, receivables, and routine FP&A, and we intend to push that further. We need a leader who uses AI every day, knows how to design and supervise agents that do real accounting work, and holds that work to the same standard of accuracy and control as work done by people.

Key Responsibilities: Finance Seat Ownership & Leadership

• Own the Finance seat on the leadership team: set the finance strategy, own the Finance scorecard, and propose the quarterly Rocks.
• Partner with the President on resource allocation, annual planning, and operating priorities.
• Build an investment decision framework (ROI, payback, risk) and apply it to every major investment.
• Design, build, and supervise the AI agents that run bookkeeping, payables, receivables, and routine FP&A; set review and control standards; and manage our outside partners.
• Every quarter, move the next piece of manual work to an agent and document the controls so the work stays accurate and auditable. Controls, Close & Compliance
• Own the monthly close across all three entities: corporate boutiques, the franchisor, and the reporting relationship with franchise owners.
• Finalize and enforce a Delegation of Authority and ensure spend is coded correctly to our standard chart of accounts.
• Document and run AP and AR, including collections on past-due franchise owner balances.
• Run the finance side of our compensation plan: merit budget, bonus accruals, and quarterly bonus gate confirmation.
• Own tax and regulatory compliance: sales tax, 1099s, state and federal filings, local business taxes, and new state requirements.
• Own the franchisor financial statements and annual audit for our Franchise Disclosure Document. Margin & Revenue Growth
• Own the margin lines that do not come from selling flowers: vendor rebates and commissions, payment processing revenue share, and other system-wide programs.
• Get every vendor program onto signed written terms, claim every rebate we are owed, and keep franchisor receivables separate from boutique balances.
• Identify new supplier programs and partnerships that create value for owners and the franchisor.
• Own the accuracy of royalty and brand fund calculations, including true-ups.
• Model the impact of system changes, such as pricing or product margins, separately for the franchisor and franchise owners. Planning, Reporting & Visibility
• Build the annual budget and quarterly reforecast, and deliver a monthly budget versus actual package with clear variance explanations.
• Embed rebate, royalty, and margin tracking into standard reporting.
• Define the franchise owner financial dashboard and benchmarks, including net operating income targets by months open.
• Recommend build, buy, or hybrid for our reporting architecture, and keep internal and owner-facing reporting clearly separated. Franchise Owner Financial Health
• Treat franchise owner unit economics as part of your job. The system is only as strong as its weakest location.
• Partner with Franchise Success to give owners the tools and benchmarks to run profitable businesses, and spot struggling locations early.
• Hold our corporate boutiques to the same financial standards as any franchise location, and set standards an owner can actually follow. Where This Seat Ends
• The CEO owns capital structure, fundraising, and investor relations. You supply the analysis.
• Procurement and Product own vendor selection and cost of goods. Finance owns rebate integrity and margin targets.
• Franchise Success owns the franchise owner relationship. Finance owns the numbers it runs on. What Success Looks Like in 6 to 12 Months
• The monthly close lands on a fixed business day, every month.
• A budget versus actual package with variance commentary reaches leadership monthly without anyone asking.
• Zero missed filing deadlines and zero penalties.
• The franchisor audit and FDD financials are delivered on schedule.
• The recurring work of the close, reconciliations, and standard reporting runs through AI agents with documented human review.
• Every vendor program has a signed agreement, and rebate income grows year over year.
• Royalty and brand fund billings reconcile every month, and true-ups stop being a surprise.
• The franchise owner dashboard is live, and the share of locations meeting their NOI target trends up.