Full-Time

Accounting Manager

Salient Motion

Salient Motion

11-50 employees

Hardware and software electric propulsion systems

No salary listed

No H1B Sponsorship

Carson, CA, USA + 1 more

More locations: West Athens, CA, USA

In Person

Currently in Torrance, CA; moving to Hawthorne, CA in summer.

Bachelor's

Category
Accounting
Required Skills
NetSuite
QuickBooks
Forecasting
Excel/Numbers/Sheets

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Requirements
  • Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to meet customer and regulatory requirements
  • Education: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline. CPA strongly preferred
  • Experience: 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, including at least 2 years in a management or lead capacity
  • Government Contracting: Solid working knowledge of FAR/DFARS cost accounting standards, indirect rate structures, and DCAA audit processes
  • Cost Accounting: Hands-on experience with standard costing and inventory accounting in a manufacturing environment
  • Technical Accounting: Strong command of GAAP; ability to research and apply guidance to non-routine transactions
  • Systems Proficiency: Experience with ERP systems (QuickBooks, NetSuite, or similar); advanced Excel skills
  • Communication: Ability to translate complex financial information clearly for engineering and operations stakeholders
  • Grit: A builder's mindset — you are comfortable owning processes end-to-end and rolling up your sleeves in a lean, high-growth environment
Responsibilities
  • Month-End Close & Financial Reporting: Own the full monthly close cycle — journal entries, account reconciliations, and timely preparation of accurate financial statements in accordance with GAAP
  • Cost Accounting: Develop and maintain a robust cost accounting system, including standard costing, variance analysis, and inventory valuation for manufactured electromechanical components
  • Government Contract Compliance: Ensure full compliance with FAR/DFARS cost accounting requirements; support DCAA audit readiness and maintain appropriate cost pools and indirect rate structures
  • AP/AR & Cash Management: Oversee accounts payable and accounts receivable functions, ensuring timely vendor payments, customer invoicing, and proactive cash flow monitoring
  • Budgeting & Forecasting Support: Partner with the CFO to support annual budgeting, rolling forecasts, and ad hoc financial analysis to inform operational and strategic decisions
  • Internal Controls: Design, implement, and maintain internal controls and accounting policies appropriate for a scaling aerospace company with government customers
  • Audit & Tax Coordination: Serve as the primary point of contact for external auditors and tax advisors; manage year-end close and support preparation of required filings
  • Systems & Process Improvement: Identify and drive improvements to accounting systems, tools, and workflows to support the company's growth trajectory
Desired Qualifications
  • Industry Background: Prior experience in aerospace, defense, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments
  • Equity & Cap Table Familiarity: Exposure to stock option accounting, 409A valuations, and QSBS considerations
  • Multi-Entity Experience: Experience managing accounting across multiple legal entities or facilities
  • ERP Implementation: Involvement in selecting or implementing an ERP system at a growing company

Salient Motion builds advanced electric propulsion and actuation systems for aerospace, robotics, drones, and mobility. It combines hardware and software to simplify and improve propulsion performance, with products like motor controllers and propulsion systems that are easy to integrate and come with user-friendly validation software. The company uses proprietary motor control schemes that minimize debugging, and it manufactures using exclusively domestic parts and PCB fabrication in California to ensure fast delivery and high quality. This differentiates Salient Motion from competitors by offering an end-to-end, domestically produced solution with straightforward software tools and reliable performance. The goal is to help engineers and developers deploy dependable, efficient propulsion systems quickly and with less integration effort.

Company Size

11-50

Company Stage

Early VC

Total Funding

$12M

Headquarters

Irvine, California

Founded

2022

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Reuters reported Salient Motion won its first production contract on February 25, 2026.
  • Aviointeriors plans qualification-ready seat actuation in roughly one year, validating Salient Motion's platform.
  • The company raised $12 million by 2024, funding factory buildout and certification work.

What critics are saying

  • Reuters said the Aviointeriors deal covers only several hundred seats starting late 2026.
  • Anduril sued Salient Motion in 2023 over trade secrets; settlement in 2024 damaged credibility.
  • If Boeing certification slips in 2026, Salient Motion loses its entire commercialization narrative.

What makes Salient Motion unique

  • Salient Motion reuses certified hardware and software, compressing aerospace certification from years to months.
  • Boeing partnered in January 2026 to certify modular actuators for commercial airliners.
  • The company manufactures in California, promising domestic supply chain control and faster delivery.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Hybrid Work Options

401(k) Retirement Plan

Company Equity

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-6%

1 year growth

-2%

2 year growth

-13%
D2P Magazine
Mar 31st, 2026
By collaborating with OEM partners, Salient Motion aims to transform aircraft systems manufacturing.

By collaborating with OEM partners, Salient Motion aims to transform aircraft systems manufacturing. The startup's focus is on building rapidly certifiable systems to redefine the economics of aerospace manufacturing. TORRANCE, Calif. - Aerospace and defense component supplier Salient Motion is an aerospace technology company focused on developing modular, software-driven motion control systems that power critical actuation and power electronics across commercial and defense platforms. The company's stated mission is to modernize aerospace manufacturing by reducing certification barriers, increasing reliability, and enabling faster deployment of advanced technologies. Recently, Salient Motion reported that it developed motion control systems for commercial aircraft that can achieve certification in months rather than years. The development marks "a significant departure from traditional aerospace development timelines," the company said in a release. Salient Motion develops modular, software-driven motion control systems that reuse certified hardware and software to cut costs, simplify integration and speed aerospace certification. (Image: Salient Motion/Business Wire) Salient Motion is working with Boeing to advance actuation systems - the mechanisms behind aircraft functions ranging from passenger seating to cargo handling - using a modular platform that reuses certified components across programs. The company's technology replaces decades-old, single-use hardware architectures with a reconfigurable platform that's built more like a modern software stack - reusable, upgradable, and fast to certify. Founded in 2022, the company said it is moving through the certification process at a pace unusual for the aerospace industry. "In aerospace, certification costs and timelines have always been the biggest drag on innovation," said Vishaal Mali, Salient Motion's co-founder and CEO, in the release. "By modularizing hardware and reusing certified software across systems, we're compressing development timelines and cutting those costs dramatically." The company's approach has attracted investment from AE Ventures, reflecting growing market interest in startups that can accelerate aerospace digital transformation. Unlike conventional supplier relationships, Salient Motion's model treats OEMs as development partners - sharing R&D investment and aftermarket revenue while reducing non-recurring engineering costs for each new program. "Our modular platform lets aerospace evolve the way software does," Mali said. "Certify once, deploy everywhere. That's the leverage modern aviation has been missing." New economics of innovation According to Salient Motion, the aerospace industry has long been trapped by single-source suppliers and certification cycles that push costs to the breaking point. The company's modular platform breaks that pattern. By reusing previously certified hardware and software across aircraft programs, the company stated that it can develop and qualify new systems in a fraction of the time, dramatically lowering the cost of getting components to market. Standardized digital interfaces further simplify integration, reducing engineering overhead and shortening production timelines. "The result is a new era in aerospace manufacturing - one where certification accelerates, costs decline, and innovation breaks free from the limits of legacy suppliers," the release said. "We are focused on components where we can drive meaningful performance and cost improvements with our motion control technology," said Mali. "By focusing on building cost-effective, certifiable systems for our OEM and airline partners, we're able to provide a second source more efficiently than ever before." Beyond actuation: the road ahead Salient Motion's broader mission is to replace legacy components across commercial aviation, defense, and space applications. The company's modular, software-driven platform is designed to extend beyond actuation into a wide range of aircraft systems. According to Salient Motion, this positions the company as "a comprehensive technology partner capable of transforming multiple aspects of the aerospace industry."

Business Wire
Feb 25th, 2026
Salient Motion partners with Aviointeriors to deliver certifiable seat actuation for Allegra business class in under a year

Salient Motion has partnered with Italian aircraft cabin interiors manufacturer Aviointeriors to supply seat actuation control systems for the Allegra business class seating programme. The collaboration aims to deliver a qualification-ready actuation system in approximately one year using Salient Motion's rapid certification process. The partnership addresses supply constraints in the aircraft seating market, where limited legacy suppliers and lengthy development cycles have delayed deliveries. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg previously cited seat certification delays as a bottleneck for 787 Dreamliner deliveries. Founded in 2022, Salient Motion developed the system from concept to qualification-ready in under 12 months using modular, software-driven architecture. The system will support Aviointeriors' Allegra platform across multiple aircraft types including Airbus A330, Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A321, offering airlines faster deployment and reduced development risk.

Silicon Legal Strategy
Oct 2nd, 2024
SLS Client Hummingbird Ventures Joins Salient Motion's $4M Seed Round

SLS client Hummingbird Ventures joins Salient Motion's $4M seed round.

FinSMEs
Oct 1st, 2024
Salient Motion Raises $12M in Total Funding

Salient Motion, a Culver City, CA-based aerospace and defense component supplier, raised $12M in total funding.

Citybiz
Oct 1st, 2024
Salient Motion Raises $12 Million Led by Cantos Ventures

CULVER CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Salient Motion, an aerospace and defense component supplier, today announced it has closed $12 million in total... Read More