Senior Manager, Finance & Accounting

Why Thunderbird?

Thunderbird is one of the world’s most trusted open-source email applications, empowering more than 20 million people globally. At MZLA, the team behind Thunderbird, we build privacy-respecting communication and productivity tools that help people manage their digital lives while staying in control of their data.

We are open source by design. Our products are developed transparently and in collaboration with a global community of contributors, and that same spirit shapes how we work: collaboratively, inclusively, and with a shared commitment to putting users first.

We are a small but growing company of 70+ people distributed across seven countries. As Thunderbird evolves beyond a single desktop application, we are expanding across desktop, mobile, paid services, and new product experiences that help people and organizations work more effectively without giving up control to big tech ecosystems.

Our revenue model combines user donations, which help keep Thunderbird’s apps freely available, with paid services that cover the costs of hosted offerings while supporting long-term sustainability and continued innovation.

A note about MZLA and Mozilla: MZLA Technologies Corporation is the nonprofit-owned company behind Thunderbird and part of the Mozilla family. MZLA is separate from Mozilla Corporation and has its own compensation programs, benefits, and employment policies.

To learn more, visit www.thunderbird.net

The opportunity

We are looking for a finance leader with a strong accounting or controllership foundation and the breadth to lead financial planning and analysis, finance operations, and organization-level decision support.

As MZLA grows across donations, subscription services, enterprise offerings, and international operations, our financial needs are becoming more complex. We need stronger integration across accounting and FP&A, experienced oversight of emerging revenue models and tax obligations, and clear financial analysis that helps leadership understand performance, risks, tradeoffs, and decisions.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Senior Manager will serve as MZLA’s most senior finance professional and directly manage our Senior Staff Accountant and Senior FP&A Analyst. This is a hands-on functional leadership role for someone who can provide experienced financial judgment, develop an established team, and remain close to the details while helping build the systems, controls, reporting, and finance practices the organization needs for its next stage of growth.

This role requires regular working-hour overlap with the COO, finance team, and other colleagues across North American time zones. Candidates based in Eastern or Central time zones are preferred; candidates elsewhere in the United States should be comfortable maintaining substantial overlap with those working hours. Flexibility for meetings with colleagues, advisers, and affiliated organizations in Europe is also expected.

What you’ll do

- Lead MZLA’s finance function, with overall responsibility for accounting, financial planning and analysis, tax, treasury, and finance operations.

- Manage and develop MZLA’s finance team, establishing clear priorities, responsibilities, review practices, and accountability .

- Oversee monthly and annual close, financial reporting, reconciliations, accounting policies, and internal controls.

- Oversee accounting and revenue recognition across donations, subscriptions, enterprise arrangements, partnerships, and other revenue streams.

- Lead annual budgeting, forecasting, longer-range financial planning, and scenario analysis.

- Develop clear management reporting and visualizations that highlight important trends, risks, tradeoffs, and decisions.

- Oversee tax, audit, indirect tax, VAT/GST, corporate filings, and related work with external advisers.

- Evaluate the financial, tax, accounting, and operational implications of entering new jurisdiction