Engineering / Manufacturing Finance and Business Operations

Job description

ABOUT BASE Base is America’s next-generation power company. We’re rebuilding the foundation of modern civilization–electricity–by deploying a vast network of distributed batteries that is transforming today’s fragile, centralized grid into a resilient and abundant system. We are engineers, operators, and creatives solving some of the most complex, interdisciplinary challenges of our time. ABOUT THE ROLE This is the single finance partner for the people who design and build the Base battery. You own the economics of the hardware end-to-end — BOM trajectories, production cost per unit as the line scales from hundreds to thousands of batteries a month, the capex program standing up the factories behind that ramp, and the cost-readiness of every NPI program from first prototype through volume. Forecast accuracy on this surface is one of the most consequential numbers in Base's plan. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Own the forecast and BvA for engineering R&D, manufacturing capex, production cost, and BOM — at a level of accuracy that survives the scrutiny of the operators and the corporate model. - Build the unit-cost model for each generation of hardware — learning-curve assumptions, scale effects, supplier cost trajectories, geography and variant flex — and pressure-test it against what the line is actually producing. - Partner with engineering and manufacturing leadership on the cost-down roadmap — translate early concepts and NPI programs into defensible financial cases, then hold the program to them. - Own the capex pipeline and ROI framework for production capacity — sequencing line investments against the volume ramp, with a clear payback story for each dollar. - Sit at the intersection of engineering, supply chain, ops, and accounting — feed clean, defensible inputs into the consolidated corporate model and translate the model back into language the operators can act on. - Use AI tooling aggressively to compress forecasting and analysis cycle time — automate the rebuild of cost models from ERP and BOM data, so your time goes to judgment and partnership, not stitching spreadsheets. WHAT YOU’LL BRING - 3-7 years in finance or operations at a hardware, manufacturing, or industrial business at meaningful scale — Tesla, SpaceX, Anduril, Rivian, Lucid, Joby, or comparable. - Track record of building production cost and BOM models that drove real cost-down programs — not just maintaining a model someone else built. - Strong cost-accounting and BOM fluency — can read a bill of materials and spot what's wrong with a unit-cost number before the engineer does. - Comfortable on the factory floor and at the whiteboard — holds technical conversations with engineers and ops leaders, and translates them into financial outcomes without losing either audience. - First-principles instincts on hardware economics — learning curves, capex utilization, NRE vs. recurring, make-vs-buy — and strong opinions about which levers actually move unit cost as a program scales. - Excel and SQL as native tools; comfort getting into ERP (NetSuite) and BI directly rather than waiting on a request queue. - Thrives in ambiguity — structures the work, reaches defensible conclusions, documents clearly, and moves at Base Pace. ABOUT THE TEAM The Base Finance & Business Operations team is responsible for providing clear visibility on past and future performance across the business, financing our growth, capital allocation decisions, and supporting the broader Base team on key performance drivers. To succeed, Base must raise and deploy tens of billions of dollars, maintain sustainable unit economics, exercise extreme operating leverage, and balance supply/demand and growth/profitability in a complex and high-pace environment. The Finance team enables these by (i) building toward omniscience with sharp analytics and tools for observability, (ii) integrating with the business to support operational decisions, (iii) establishing tight controls and processes to cull complexity, and (iv) presenting Base to investors effectively. Please note: Base is a startup, which means priorities shift and evolve quickly. Your role may expand or change based on the needs of the business at any given time, so the responsibilities listed may not be exhaustive. OUR VALUES - First Principles Thinking: Question assumptions. Principles > rules. - Operate at Base Pace: Focus on what matters, act quickly, and learn by doing. - Give & Get Feedback: Be direct, be humble, and maintain a growth mindset. - Everyone’s an Owner: Follow through on commitments and own results. - Strong Opinions, Loosely Held: Drive clarity and make calls with imperfect information. - Committed to the Mission: Rebuilding the grid is a big challenge. We work hard because we care deeply about the impact we’re creating. We work in-person. It’s not a 9-to-5. We are all-in. - Fun & Optimism Coexist with Grit: Collaboration and celebration coincide with the intensity of building real things. DO THE BEST WORK OF YOUR LIFE AT BASE.