Axial is an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of small businesses. We connect exit-ready business owners — on their terms and timeline — with vetted, reputable, and competent M&A advisors and professional acquirers.
Founded in 2009, Axial has built a pioneering transaction platform that radically improves the speed, confidentiality, and success rate of small business M&A. The platform facilitates over $1B in annual transaction volume, serving thousands of professional acquirers, advisors, and business owners in the lower middle market.
Axial is a founder-led, profitable company based in New York City with a hybrid office culture. We’ve been profitable since 2020 and are the category leader in our market. We’re long-term oriented, values-driven, and focused on building a lasting company committed to member trust, operational excellence, and profitable long-term growth.
Role Overview: Vice President of FinanceAxial is hiring a Vice President of Finance to lead and mature the company’s finance function and provide executive oversight of the People team. Reporting to the CEO, this role is responsible for owning the strategic direction and day-to-day execution of our:
- Financial systems
- Accounting & monthly reporting
- Forecasting and FP&A
- Capital allocation
- Team development
- Compensation and HR strategy
This role manages a small but high-impact team: two finance contractors and one People Operations Manager. It's a hands-on, high-leverage leadership position for someone aligned with Axial’s long-term mission and values.
- Reports to: CEO
- Initial Direct Reports:
- 1 Full-Time Finance Contractor
- 1 Part-Time Finance Contractor
- 1 Full-Time Senior People Operations Manager
- Lead all financial planning and reporting, including annual budgets, forecasting, and scenario modeling
- Manage monthly close, financial statements, and system reconciliations
- Own capital allocation strategy, cash management, and expense governance
- Oversee tax strategy, planning, insurance, and compliance (with external vendors)
- Support investor reporting, due diligence, and board-level discussions
- Lead revenue forecasting and collections; coordinate with Legal on contract terms
- Maintain and administer Axial’s capitalization table, option pool, and employee equity programs
- Provide executive oversight of People Ops via the People Operations Manager
- Support hiring, onboarding, and employee development initiatives
- Own Axial’s compensation strategy, equity planning, and benefits program
- Ensure HR compliance, maintain HR tech stack, and collaborate with Legal on policy and employee matters
- Multiple finance leadership roles, including 5+ years at the VP level or equivalent
- Proven experience leading teams and strategic workstreams in a growth-stage tech company
- Strong financial operator: fluency in accounting, forecasting, tax, and capital strategy
- Excellent strategic thinking and financial judgment
- Exceptional communication skills — clear, concise, and effective in both written and verbal forms
- Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, and lead high-performing teams
- Strong coaching instincts and openness to giving/receiving feedback
- Cultural champion: committed to excellence, candor, curiosity, and continuous improvement
- Highly organized and detail-oriented
- Location: New York City
- Travel: Occasional
- Schedule: Full-time
The posted salary range represents the total On-Target Earnings (OTE) for this role, which includes both base salary and target incentive compensation. A candidate’s final package will be determined based on their location, skills, experience and market benchmarks.
Top Skills
What We Do
Axial (axial.net) operates the largest marketplace on the internet for buying, selling, and financing American small businesses (businesses with $5M-$100M in revenues).
Over 20,000 professional investors, M&A advisors and CEOs use Axial's tools, data, and marketplace to source, manage and execute small business M&A transactions. Axial members have closed over 2,500 deals since 2010, amounting to more than $25 Billion in closed transaction volume.
Market Overview
At the core of the US economy are "lower middle market" businesses - businesses generating $5M to $100M in revenue. In the US alone, there are over 350,000 companies in this size range. These small businesses are neither large enough to go public, nor are they able to attract great advice from national or global investment banks. In addition, the wholesale absence of reliable data on transactions and market participants has made this the most broken underperforming segment of private capital markets.
Axial is transforming the status quo in this capital market, providing companies, their trusted advisors, and their capital partners with high quality purpose-built tools, unique data, and marketplace infrastructure.
Below are the values we subscribe to as a company:
-- Obsess Over Member Trust: Your daily choices reflect your awareness that we facilitate vital life-altering transactions. You take this responsibility seriously and it’s top of mind.
-- Expect and Deliver Excellence: You demonstrate consistency so that your colleagues feel confident partnering and relying on you. You demonstrate a personal commitment to continuous improvement.
-- Communication Matters: You are concise and articulate in your communication, external or internal. You listen well and genuinely.
-- Invent and Simplify: You are open-minded, looking for great new ideas that can elevate and even transform the member experience. You find novel ways to simplify complex status quos.
-- Be an Owner: You think about the long-term effects of your decisions. You invest real time in building relationships with your colleagues.
Why Work With Us
We are a small and tight-knit team (currently 25 employees), and you’ll have the opportunity to have a direct impact on the the company.
At Axial you will also enjoy:
-- Robust medical, dental and vision insurance, paid for by Axial
-- 401k program
-- Unlimited vacation
-- Health & Wellness reimbursement program
-- Pre-tax commuter program
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