Director of Strategic Finance

Nift, a profitable company with $50M+ annual revenue and 60 employees, is hiring its first Director of Strategic Finance to lead planning, forecasting, and finance systems modernization.

Core Responsibilities:

The role focuses on three key areas:

1. Planning and Forecasting, End-to-End

• Run the annual operating plan, including OpEx and headcount templates, consolidating inputs into a driver-based plan.
• Own the operating model: revenue, gross profit, OpEx, headcount, EBITDA, working capital, and cash flow, plus a 3–5-year long-range plan.
• Reforecast regularly and conduct monthly budget-vs-actual reviews with department heads to track performance.
• Manage short- and long-term cash flow forecasting, including collections and payment timing.
• Develop the monthly reporting package and Board materials with the Head of Finance, ensuring clarity on metrics like R&D spend variances.

2. Finance Systems, Automation, and Process

• Lead the transition from spreadsheet-driven finance to automated, system-to-system workflows (e.g., database-to-invoicing API integration).
• Collaborate with an engineering partner to define requirements, logic, and user acceptance testing for finance tools.
• Structure the general ledger for granular cost visibility (by team, function, and initiative) and partner with accounting for cleanup.
• Evaluate and select finance tools (e.g., planning platforms) and leverage AI for efficiency (e.g., variance commentary, data validation).

3. Analysis That Drives Decisions

• Measure payback on sales investment (in months) by team (enterprise/mid-market) with data-driven insights.
• Build advertiser/partner cohort, retention, and spend-distribution analysis by segment.
• Turn open-ended questions into clear, data-backed recommendations (e.g., campaign performance, business line modeling).
• Write SQL queries against production data and finance schemas independently, without relying on a data team.

First-Year Milestones:

First 90 days: Own the operating model, annual plan, first monthly close review, and reporting package.

By month 6: Implement a driver-based plan and rolling forecast, establish predictable close timelines, and automate at least one manual workflow.

By month 12: Achieve trusted cash forecasting, a structured ledger for cost transparency, regular sales payback/cohort analysis, and a self-sufficient finance function.

Requirements:

Must-Haves:

• 7+ years in FP&A or strategic finance (or transaction advisory with operational planning experience).
• Proficient in SQL (querying, joining, reconciling messy data) and understanding of three financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow).
• Full ownership of a P&L’s planning (small company or division-level) with end-to-end responsibility.
• Track record of building finance processes/models (e.g., reporting pipelines, automations) from scratch.
• Ability to translate analysis into clear recommendations for CEOs/Boards.

Nice-to-Haves:

• Experience in performance marketing, adtech, martech, ecommerce, or SaaS with variable-cost structures.
• Familiarity with cohort analysis, retention, LTV, and unit economics.
• Exposure to finance systems projects (e.g., invoicing, payables, ERP rollouts) and engineering collaboration (UAT).
• Experience with Board reporting or investor materials.

What Doesn’t Matter: Degree or alma mater. A philosophy major with strong FP&A experience is a competitive candidate.

Role Fit:

Ideal for: Candidates who thrive on fixing messy, manual processes, enjoy building from a blank page, and are excited by foundational finance work.

Not a fit if: You prefer directing teams or see this as a lateral move.