Financial Accountant

Alkemics is a B2B business platform enabling retailers to discover, negotiate and launch new products from their thousands of suppliers.

In Europe alone, millions of products are launched every year, each with up to 500 attributes and made by one of 300,000+ manufacturers. Prior to Alkemics, establishing a commercial relationship required numerous back-and-forths between retailers and brands, physically (in trade shows, for instance) or pseudo-digitally (fax, email, XLS templates...) and between various teams (procurement, category management, quality, CSR, e-commerce, marketing...). Because of this painful process, it often took more than 60 days to launch a product. This situation is unsustainable at a time where consumers are demanding a broader product choice, more local products, where Amazon and Alibaba are raising the bar of omnichannel efficiency, and at a time where Lidl and Aldi are setting a standard for productivity.

Alkemics disrupted the space with a fully digital platform where brands create and share their product catalog. Retailers can explore those catalogs and run business workflows, searches or reportings to select, negotiate and list those products in their assortment. Once a retailer is on-boarded, invites are sent to that retailer’s suppliers to join the platform on a freemium basis, enabling quick network growth.

Alkemics was founded in Paris in 2012. With 98 out of the top 100 CPG manufacturers (Nestlé, Unilever, L’Oréal), the 7 largest retailers in France (E. Leclerc, Carrefour, Casino, Auchan, U-Enseigne, Cora, Metro…) and 4 of the largest UK retailers (Tesco, Ocado, Waitrose, Sainsbury) using the platform, Alkemics now holds a very strong and unchallenged position in the French and UK market. The business is now expanding internationally, starting with DACH and BENELUX. Along with international growth, the focus of the business is to leverage its platform and client relationships to build an end-to-end B2B marketplace with the ultimate vision of ordering directly within the platform.

Alkemics raised a total of $50M from tier-1 investors Index Ventures, Partech Ventures, Serena Capital and Cathay Innovation. Its latest funding round took place in April 2020, bringing in Highland Europe, a leading Growth VC.

In May 2021, Alkemics was acquired by Salsify Inc in order to combine the capabilities of their two platforms. The combined solution will power open collaboration and content exchange between suppliers and retailers, facilitating superior product experiences everywhere consumers shop. The business is made of almost 150 employees and is growing extremely rapidly.

The role:

In this role, you will be responsible for the management and statutory accounting for Alkemics’s operations as we scale up our finance function and reporting processes. More specifically, you will:

• Prepare monthly management accounting reports (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, bank reconciliations, etc.);
• Participate in month-end close activities, which includes preparation of journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations, and month-end accruals in accordance with US GAAP
• Liaise with our external accountants on the preparation of the French statutory accounts and tax returns;
• Coordinate our annual statutory audit with our auditor;
• Manage Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable (operations and analysis);
• Work closely with the EMEA Finance Manager, the Salsify finance team and consultants to determine appropriate accounting treatments;
• Work on improving internal accounting processes;
• Assess the needs for new tools, and lead the implementation of new accounting systems identified (ERP, invoicing and revenue recognition automation,...);
• Assist with ad-hoc projects for the EMEA Finance Manager and Corporate Controller as they arise

• Qualified accountant
• 3+ years of qualified experience in an accounting role (accountant, auditor, etc.)
• Working knowledge of IFRS or US GAAP a requirement, French GAAP a bonus
• Strong English and French language skills
• Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain accounting concepts to non-experts
• Proven attention to detail
• Eager to learn
• Process-oriented and keen to implement new systems and procedures
• Problem-solving mindset
• Teamwork-oriented but also able to work autonomously
• Bonus: Prior experience of accounting for a SaaS company
• Bonus: Prior experience of implementation of an accounting system (e.g. ERP)

• A true startup experience in one of the fastest growing startups in France
• Low bureaucracy and daily successes that have a real impact on the business
• You will participate to the team's growth and the revolution of the Retail industry
• A fast learning-curve with growing responsibilities
• Working with smart people, hungry to change the retail world and passionate for success
• Extras: weekly sport sessions, team offsites (post Covid ;)) , etc.