3+ years in public accounting, firm operations, client accounting services, tax, audit, or a related area.
Deep understanding of accounting firm operations and workflows.
Strong teaching abilities, capable of conveying complex workflows simply.
Detail-oriented with experience in tax returns and workflows.
Proven track record of project management and follow-through with clients.
Familiarity with accounting software and tools such as CCH Axcess or QuickBooks.
Willingness to travel occasionally for customer engagements.
Responsibilities
Own the onboarding process for new accounting-firm customers.
Map workflow processes across various accounting functions to optimize Cranston's usability.
Lead live training sessions for diverse accounting staff.
Define rollout plans and ensure customers stay on track during busy periods.
Diagnose and resolve workflow issues in real-time with customers.
Create training materials and playbooks based on repeatable implementation lessons.
Advocate for the accounting user's perspective in product development decisions.
Build trusted relationships to promote customer retention and referrals.
Travel to customer locations and industry events as necessary.
Benefits
Opportunity to directly impact customer operations and success.
Dynamic work environment with varied responsibilities.
Collaboration with cross-functional teams including product and engineering.
Hands-on experience with cutting-edge accounting software.
Ability to build relationships across the accounting industry.
Full Job Description
About the role
As a Forward Deployed Accountant, you will own the customer journey from signed contract through confident daily use. The role combines implementation, training, accounting judgment, and product work.
You will sit with firm owners and their teams, learn how work moves through the firm, configure Cranston around that process, and train people to use it well. During tax season or month-end close, you will see where a workflow holds up and where it falls apart. You will fix the immediate problem with the customer, then work with our product and engineering team so the next firm has a better experience.
The work is hands-on. One day you might lead a kickoff for a 40-person CPA firm. The next, you could review a tax package, rebuild a training plan, record a short walkthrough, or work with an engineer on an edge case in tax software.
What you'll do
Own onboarding for new accounting-firm customers, from discovery and configuration through launch and adoption.
Map each firm's tax, bookkeeping, document, review, and client-service workflows in enough detail to make Cranston useful in real work.
Lead live training for partners, managers, preparers, bookkeepers, and administrative staff.
Set clear rollout plans, define success measures, and keep customers moving when schedules get busy.
Work inside the product with customers. Diagnose issues, find practical workarounds, and stay on the problem until the workflow is reliable.
Turn repeatable lessons into implementation playbooks, training materials, product changes, and better defaults.
Represent the accounting user's point of view in product decisions. Be specific about what firms need, what creates risk, and what saves time.
Build trusted relationships that lead to deeper adoption, renewals, referrals, and expansion.
Travel to customer offices and accounting-industry events when being in the room will make the work better.
Your first 90 days
Learn Cranston deeply enough to run a customer workflow yourself, from source documents through review and delivery.
Shadow current onboarding work, then take ownership of new firm launches.
Build a practical training program for the roles that use Cranston day to day.
Create a clear feedback loop between customers and the product team, with examples that engineers can reproduce.
Help several firms reach confident, repeatable use of Cranston in live client work.
Who we're looking for
You have 3+ years in public accounting, firm operations, client accounting services, tax, audit, or a closely related role.
You understand how accounting firms operate and can speak credibly with a partner, a preparer, and an operations lead.
You can teach. You explain a new workflow plainly, notice when someone is lost, and adjust without making them feel behind.
You are comfortable getting into the details of a return, close, reconciliation, document request, or review process.
You keep projects moving. Customers trust your follow-through, and teammates know you will surface a problem early.
You like working with software and can learn unfamiliar systems quickly. Experience with tools such as CCH Axcess, Drake, Lacerte, QuickBooks, or common practice-management systems is useful.
You can travel (rarely) when customer work calls for it.
Bonus points
CPA license or progress toward one.
Experience implementing accounting or tax software.
Experience leading internal training, change management, or process improvement inside a firm.
Experience at an early-stage company or in a role where you built the playbook while doing the work.
