Finance Ops Specialist - Korea

About us

Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language. We begin by teaching the next billion people English, Spanish, and French.

English is the global language of business, culture, and communication, and over 1.5 billion people around the world are actively trying to learn right now. Others dream of communicating with the half-billion native Spanish speakers across the globe. The problem is that it's nearly impossible to learn to speak a language without constant access to a speaking partner. Grammar and vocab apps don't really help – you need to actually converse with someone.

Speak is on a journey to fix this. We're creating an AI-powered experience that replicates the flow of a conversation, without needing a human on the other end. The goal is to make it radically more accessible to be able to have conversations in a foreign language and eventually help hundreds of millions of people gain fluency who otherwise wouldn't be able to.

We started on this journey over five years ago and we've still got a long ways to go. We're thoughtfully adding new team members only when we think they can truly play a big role in our mission.

Speak launched first in South Korea where we have quickly grown to become the top grossing education app in the country. We have now delivered this winning product to more than 40 countries globally and are continuing to expand to more markets in the coming months. The company is well funded, and as of December 2024, we've reached a $1B valuation with our Series C round, through key partners like Accel, OpenAI, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Lachy Groom, Josh Buckley, and more. We’re a team of more than 90 based throughout San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana.

About this role

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Finance Ops Specialist to join our finance team in South Korea. As the first finance hire in APAC, this role will be pivotal in shaping and managing finance ops for our growing APAC operations. This role will support monthly financial close, vendor payouts, B2B customer payments, and treasury, in conjunction with our global B2B and US finance team. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams and external clients, helping to support and strengthen our financial operations and play a key role in maintaining a healthy cash flow.

What you’ll be doing

• Monthly financial close
  • Coordinate month end financial close tasks in conjunction with our third party finance manager, including journal entries and reconciliations
  • Attend daily syncs to ensure timely coordination with global team
  • Ensure complete and accurate financial reporting
• Vendor payouts and corporate card management
  • Act as the main point of contact for our APAC vendors’ finance queries
  • Coordinate twice monthly vendor payouts with budget owners and third party payment processor
  • Manage internal requests, track payout statuses, and follow up as needed
  • Review corporate card usage, guide employees through the corporate card policy, and flag issues if needed
• B2B customer payments
  • Act as the main point of contact for our APAC B2B customers’ finance queries
  • Generate, issue, track, and collect customer invoices and customer payments in a timely and accurate manner
  • Ensure the customer invoices align to the CRM database, our internal licensing system, and the signed customer contract
  • Post all invoices to both the National Tax System and our ERP
  • Prepare, monitor, and present key customer payments reporting for success cash flow management
• Collaboration
  • Work alongside our finance, people and workplace teams to provide a seamless employee and vendor experience
  • Work alongside our sales, customer success, and revenue ops teams to provide a seamless customer experience
• Automations and scaling solutions
  • Propose and present process improvements, automations, and scalable solutions for our APAC finance operations
  • Lean in to collaborative work streams to enable cross functional teams to run most efficiently

What we’re looking for

• Minimum 4-5 years of experience in finance ops, accounts receivable, accounting, or a similar finance role based in South Korea
• Familiarity with local tax rules and invoicing standards (e.g., VAT, e-tax invoices), understanding accounting principles
• Working knowledge of South Korea’s National Tax System and CRM/finance tools such as HubSpot and NetSuite
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Korean; working verbal and written communication skills in English
• Experience in transforming finance ops processes
• High attention to detail, problem-solving ability, and organizational skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in multinational or fast-growing tech companies
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment

Why work at Speak

1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.
2. Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with: we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.
3. Global in nature: We're live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, and Tokyo, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.
4. Impact people's lives in a major way: Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.

Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.