About Lucid Bots
Lucid Bots is an AI robotics company building the world’s most productive and responsible robots. Our mission is simple: extend human reach. We design intelligent machines that take on dangerous, demanding, and repetitive work—so people don’t have to.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, we design, engineer, manufacture, and support our products in the United States. Our production-ready robots are deployed by customers around the world to improve safety, increase productivity, and elevate operational standards.
We are one of the fastest-growing manufacturing companies in the United States, recently ranked fourth nationally. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator (S19), Cubit Capital, Idea Fund Partners, Danu Ventures, and others, we are scaling quickly at the intersection of AI, hardware, and real-world impact.
We’re building more than robots—we’re building the future of physical AI.
Our Core Values And How We Work Together
At Lucid Bots, we’re building something extraordinary - and how we work matters just as much as what we build. These values guide how we hire, grow, and show up for one another.
- Expedition Behavior - We climb as one. No silos, no “that’s not my job.” We protect the team and share the load.
- Grow with Humility - We’re relentless learners. We seek feedback, own mistakes, and get better every day.
- Lift People Up - Humans come first. We care fiercely, speak honestly, and design for real people in real conditions.
- Build the Extraordinary - We take ownership, reject the ordinary, and run toward hard problems.
We live
Above the Line: we take responsibility, create solutions, and shape the future.
If these values energize you, you’ll thrive here. If they feel like too much, this may not be the right climb - and that’s okay.
Position Summary
The Chief Financial Officer is one of the most important hires Lucid Bots will make. This person will take a financial foundation that is already in place and scale it into the infrastructure required to carry a high-growth manufacturing robotics company from low 8-figures toward 9-figure revenue and, eventually, the public markets.
This is not a maintenance role, and it is not an advisory role. We are not looking for someone who comes in with a deck full of recommendations and waits for someone else to act on them. The CFO at Lucid Bots gets into the weeds. They take what is working, make it better, and execute alongside the team with radical ownership of the company's financial health.
The right person has been inside a manufacturing startup at this stage before and helped it grow through the next phase. They know the difference between a company that is ready for institutional capital and one that just thinks it is. They have been in the trenches and they thrived there. They are startup-minded, operationally sharp, and genuinely excited about what AI tooling can do for a finance team that wants to punch above its weight without just scaling headcount.
If you are looking for a caretaker role, this is not it. We are building something, and we need a CFO who wants to build it with us.
How You'll Win
- Own the financial narrative. Build the models, forecasts, and reporting that give leadership and investors complete confidence in the numbers.
- Make manufacturing financials a competitive advantage. Bring mastery of cost accounting, COGS structure, and unit economics to drive margin improvement and smarter operational decisions.
- Lead the capital strategy. Partner with the CEO on private fundraising, venture debt, equipment financing, and long-term capital structure. Be investor-ready at all times, and have a credible point of view on what a path to the public markets looks like.
- Scale what is working, fast. Take the financial systems and processes already in place and mature them to support rapid growth without creating financial risk.
- Bring AI into the finance function. Use AI tooling to drive leverage across forecasting, reporting, and close automation so the team can do more without proportional headcount growth.
- Elevate the Finance team. Develop a high-performing team that owns execution while you focus on strategy, partnership, and capital.
What You'll Do
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- Own annual budgeting, rolling forecasts, and long-range financial modeling.
- Build scenario models that support strategic decisions including product expansion, capacity investment, and international growth.
- Deliver board-ready financial packages, investor updates, and executive reporting with clarity and precision.
- Partner with the CEO on financial storytelling for external stakeholders.
Manufacturing & Operational Finance
- Lead cost accounting, standard costing, and COGS analysis across hardware product lines.
- Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, and Engineering on unit economics, margin improvement, and capital efficiency.
- Provide financial leadership on make-vs-buy decisions, product cost modeling, and manufacturing investment.
- Drive working capital optimization: inventory, payables, receivables, and cash conversion.
Accounting, Controls & Reporting
- Oversee monthly and quarterly close, consolidations, and internal reporting with high accuracy and speed.
- Establish and maintain strong internal controls, GAAP compliance, and audit readiness.
- Manage relationships with auditors, tax partners, banks, and financial institutions.
- Ensure financial systems and reporting meet investor and board-level standards at all times.
Capital Strategy, Fundraising & Financing
- Lead private market fundraising processes including financial modeling, data room preparation, due diligence management, and investor communications.
- Evaluate and manage the full capital structure: equity, venture debt, credit facilities, equipment financing, and strategic capital partnerships.
- Build and maintain relationships with lenders, private equity and venture investors, and strategic financial partners.
- Develop and execute a capital strategy that supports growth while managing dilution and risk.
- Own the financial architecture of Lucid Refresh, our robots-as-a-service model. Structure, model, and finance recurring revenue contracts in a way that supports both growth and unit economics.
- Bring fluency with hardware-specific financing vehicles: equipment financing, asset-backed lending, lease structures, and recurring revenue facilities. Know which instrument fits which situation and when to use them.
- Build the financial infrastructure, governance, and reporting standards required for a future public market process. Familiarity with IPO readiness, S-1 preparation, or pre-IPO audit requirements is a meaningful advantage.
AI & Financial Systems Innovation
- Lead the adoption of AI tooling across the finance function to drive leverage without proportional headcount growth.
- Evaluate and implement AI-assisted workflows for forecasting, reporting, close automation, and anomaly detection.
- Set the standard for what a modern, AI-augmented finance team looks like at a hardware company.
- Own the company's financial systems stack and scale it with the business. Deep competency in ERP environments required. Acumatica strongly preferred.
- Identify where existing workflows can be automated or improved and drive those changes with urgency.
- Build scalable, repeatable financial processes and operating cadences on top of the foundation already in place.
Executive Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership
- Serve as a key member of the executive leadership team and contribute to company strategy beyond finance.
- Partner closely with the CEO, VP of Operations, VP of Product & Engineering, and People Operations on resource allocation, headcount planning, and strategic investment decisions.
- Lead, coach, and grow the Finance & Accounting team. Set high standards and develop future leaders.
- Foster a culture of ownership, accuracy, and continuous improvement within the finance function.
Core Competencies
- Manufacturing Financial Mastery — Deep expertise in cost accounting, COGS structure, gross margin analysis, and operational finance in a product-driven manufacturing environment.
- Capital Strategy & Investor Relations — Proven experience raising significant private capital, structuring debt, and managing investor relationships. Understands hardware-specific financing vehicles including equipment financing, asset-backed lending, and recurring revenue facilities. Has structured or financed a subscription or as-a-service model in a hardware context. Understands what it takes to set a private company up for a public market future and can communicate that path credibly to a board.
- AI Fluency — Actively uses AI tooling in their work and knows how to apply it to a finance function. Not watching from the sidelines. Has a concrete point of view on how AI changes what a lean, high-performing finance team can do.
- Strategic Thinking & Business Partnership — Connects financial insights to long-term strategy. Sees the full business, not just the numbers. A true partner to the CEO and operational leaders.
- Execution at Pace — Comfortable in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment. Does not wait for perfect conditions. Moves quickly, makes good decisions, and follows through.
- Operational Rigor — Builds systems and controls that scale. Creates clarity, not complexity. Makes the finance function a driver of company performance, not a bottleneck.
- Communication & Storytelling — Translates complex financial information into clear, actionable narratives for executives, operators, and investors.
- Leadership & Culture — Leads with high standards and deep care. Gives direct feedback, lifts the team, and models the Lucid Bots values, especially Expedition Behavior and Build the Extraordinary.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.
- 12–18+ years of progressive finance experience, with significant time in manufacturing, hardware, or physical-product environments.
- Direct experience with cost accounting, standard costing, and COGS in a manufacturing or product-driven company.
- Demonstrated experience leading or co-leading a private fundraising process (equity and/or debt) of meaningful scale.
- ERP experience required. Acumatica strongly preferred.
- Track record of scaling financial operations in a high-growth, resource-constrained environment.
- Strong command of GAAP, financial modeling, and financial systems architecture.
Strongly Preferred
- Experience scaling a manufacturing company from low 8-figures to 9-figures in revenue.
- Private market fundraising experience (primary). Public market experience, IPO readiness, or S-1 familiarity is a meaningful advantage.
- Familiarity with hardware financing vehicles: equipment financing, asset-backed lending, lease structures, and recurring revenue facilities.
- Experience structuring or financing a subscription or as-a-service model in a hardware or physical-product context.
- Active use of AI tools in financial operations: forecasting, reporting automation, or data analysis.
- MBA or CPA.
- Startup or growth-stage company experience. Comfortable being a player-coach and operating without large team infrastructure.
Who You Are
- You have been inside a manufacturing business at this stage before, and you helped it grow through the next phase. You know how to take a financial foundation that is already functioning and scale it into something that can carry a company through 9-figure revenue, institutional rounds, and eventually a public market process. You have made hard calls about capital and cost with incomplete information and you have been right more often than not.
- You do not make slide decks about what someone else should build. You build it. You have raised significant capital, both equity and debt, and you understand what it takes to set a private company up for a public market future. You know what IPO readiness actually looks like from the inside.
- You know how AI is reshaping the finance function and you are already using it, not watching from the sidelines. You see a lean finance team with the right tooling as a competitive advantage, and you know how to build one.
- You do not hide behind process. You do not wait to be told what to do. You take ownership of the company's financial health like it is yours, because at Lucid Bots, it is.
- You are not looking for a caretaker role. You are looking to build something.
Why Join Lucid Bots?
- Work directly with the founder of a fast-growing, venture-backed robotics startup.
- Be part of a team solving real-world problems with frontier technology.
- Get a front-row seat to fundraising, company building, and startup strategy at scale.
- Learn more in one year than most people do in five—this is a career accelerant.
- Help support the culture, pace, and systems of a company scaling fast and building things that matter.
Benefits
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 3% retirement match
- 15 days of paid time off (PTO)
- 3 sick days
- 11 paid holidays, with 3 of those being floating holidays
- Employee stock option plan
We Want to Meet You!
Don't just apply. Stand out.
The Reality: On paper, many resumes look the same. We don’t hire paper; we hire people. While a video is technically optional, it is the single best way to separate yourself from the stack.
The Promise: This is not a black hole. If you take the time to record it, we will take the time to watch it.
What to Send (2 mins max) Please do not read a script. Do not worry about editing or production value. Just open your camera and talk to us.
- Why here? Why are you excited about Lucid Bots specifically?
- Why you? What is the one thing about you that a resume can’t capture?
If you want the highest probability of an interview, send a video. If you’re not sure where to record, you can use a tool like Loom.
