Senior Analyst, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

InStride is seeking a Senior Analyst, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) to join a high-performing FP&A practice that can scale with their emerging, high-growth company. This role involves performing financial analysis, preparing reports, and contributing to budgeting, forecasting, and operational close processes.

The ideal candidate will partner with leaders and team members to provide financial and analytical guidance, influencing key decisions that enable the company to achieve its core mission and improve enterprise value. This candidate will be a dynamic individual who can objectively research and analyze sophisticated issues and present recommendations clearly and simply to gain support from other team members.

This is a hands-on seat on a small team. You will own recurring deliverables end-to-end: the model, the tie-out, the commentary, and the slide—targeting audiences like the executive team, board, sponsors, and lenders.

Key Skills and Qualifications:

• Financial Analysis: Expertise in modeling, variance analysis, and budgeting to drive informed decisions.
• Collaborative Problem-Solving: Skilled in partnering across teams to shape strategy and drive business results.
• Systems Proficiency: Experienced with tools like NetSuite, Cube, and Tableau, focusing on automation and process improvement.
• AI Fluency: Comfortable using AI tools for analysis, drafting, and quality checks, with a clear understanding of their limitations and where human verification is still required.
• Presentation & Communication: Ability to translate complex data into clear insights for leaders and stakeholders.
• Attention to Detail: Instinct to tie numbers out across files and systems before they go to a CFO, board, or auditor, and to flag variances rather than quietly bridging them.
• Curiosity & Learning: Passion for understanding trends and continuously developing skills.
• Analytical Thinking: Capable of identifying problems and offering innovative growth solutions.
• Adaptability: Thrives in fast-paced settings, managing priorities with a high standard of work.
• Cultural Awareness: Strong in navigating diverse environments, fostering inclusion, and building relationships.

Who You Are:

• You believe in the power of education to transform lives and are motivated by the impact InStride makes.
• You enjoy working closely with others and believe diverse perspectives yield the best solutions.
• You are naturally curious and constantly seek new knowledge about market trends, financial systems, AI tooling, and teamwork.
• You are proactive, take initiative, and thrive in fast-paced environments with shifting priorities.
• You are dependable in unglamorous moments, ensuring tasks are completed without being chased.
• You understand that people are at the core of InStride’s mission and can navigate different personality types and work styles.
• You are passionate about making a difference, not just for business but for society.

Experience Requirements:

• 4+ years of finance experience, preferably in a high-growth technology company or consulting firm.
• Prior experience working for a private-equity backed company, including the reporting cadence for sponsors and lenders.
• Proven track record of achievement and delivering impactful results.
• Strong background in financial analysis with strong problem-solving skills.
• Consistent track record of distilling issues into simple, structured frameworks for clear communication to key leaders and partners.
• Experience partnering with leaders across sales, marketing, R&D, operations, etc.
• Curiosity and ability to thoroughly analyze issues and provide clear recommendations.
• Strong communication skills for all levels of the organization.
• Proven ability in fast-paced environments and motivated by challenges.
• Experience working in key systems to improve and automate the finance function (ERP, FP&A, Analytics, CRM, etc.).
• Prior experience with NetSuite, Cube, and Tableau is a plus.
• Hands-on use of AI tools in finance or analytical workflows is a plus.
• Ability to collaborate across teams internally and with partners (universities, corporate clients, etc.).

Impact Areas:

Planning & Forecasting:

• Assist in updating the long-range financial forecast model and ensure modeling assumptions are reasonable and current.
• Drive the annual budgeting process for functional areas, maintaining budget templates and scenarios.
• Own headcount and contractor cost forecasting, including roster-level detail, burden rates, and role-by-role phasing, reconciling it back to the plan each cycle.

Close, Reporting & Audit:

• Assist in creating, consolidating, and distributing monthly reports and critical metrics to key partners.
• Support the monthly financial close process and annual financial audit.
• Prepare recurring YTD and full-year reporting packages for external auditors, lenders, and sponsors, ensuring tie-outs between the model, general ledger, and reported figures.
• Perform detailed budget vs. actual variance reports for functional leaders and support in presenting/distributing them.

Business Partnering & Decision Support:

• Build and manage relationships across the business, serving as the point of contact for analytical support for assigned teams.
• Build decks and presentations for executives, the board of directors, and partners/clients, including P&L commentary, revenue bridges, and KPI pages.
• Provide decision support (ROI, NPV, benchmarking, etc.) on company decisions (partnerships, customer contracts, M&A activities, etc.).
• Analyze vendor, cloud, and other significant spend categories, identifying cost-efficiency opportunities.

Systems, Automation & AI:

• Research, select, implement, and refine processes and systems to optimize FP&A team efficiency and performance.
• Work in the FP&A platform (Cube) and ERP (NetSuite) to maintain scenarios, data fetches, and mappings, ensuring the plan and actuals stay connected without manual rebuilds.
• Use AI for repeatable tasks like first-draft variance commentary, reconciliation checks, deck production, and summarizing source documents, applying judgment where human verification is required.
• Develop an understanding of markets, customers, and products to provide substantial financial and analytical support.
• Perform ad-hoc research, analysis, and reporting as required.