Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. InStride is hiring a Senior Analyst, Financial Planning & Analysis to support its financial planning, forecasting, close, and reporting processes. The role partners across the business and prepares analysis and reporting for functional leaders, executives, the board, lenders, and sponsors.
Responsibilities
- Assist in updating the long-range financial forecast model and partner with other teams across the organization to ensure that the modeling assumptions are reasonable and current
- Help drive the annual budgeting process for functional areas, maintaining the budget templates and scenarios that functional leaders build from
- Own headcount and contractor cost forecasting - roster-level detail, burden rates and role-by-role phasing — and reconcile it back to the plan each cycle
- Assist in the creation, consolidation and distribution of monthly reports and critical metrics to key partners
- Support the monthly financial close process and the annual financial audit as required
- Prepare the recurring YTD and full-year reporting packages requested by our external auditors, lenders and sponsor, and stand behind the tie-outs between the model, the general ledger and the reported figures
- Perform detailed budget vs. actual variance reports to each functional leader within the organization and support in presenting/distributing
- Build and manage relationships across the business and be the POC 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 segment or KPI pages that hold up to line-by-line scrutiny
- Provide decision support (return on investment, NPV, benchmarking, etc.) on company decisions (partnerships, customer contracts, M&A activities, etc.)
- Analyze vendor, cloud and other significant spend categories, separating what scales with the business from what does not, and bring cost-efficiency opportunities forward
- Help research, select, implement, and refine processes and systems to optimize the efficiency and performance of the FP&A team
- Work in our FP&A platform (Cube) and ERP (NetSuite) to maintain scenarios, data fetches and mappings, so the plan and the actuals stay connected without manual rebuilds
- Put AI to work on the parts of the job that are repeatable — first-draft variance commentary, reconciliation checks, deck production, summarizing source documents — and apply judgment about where a human tie-out is still required before anything reaches an executive audience
- Develop an understanding of the markets, customers, and products to provide more substantial financial and analytical support to the organization
- Perform ad required hoc research, analysis, and reporting
Skills
- Candidates must be located in one of the following states to be considered eligible for employment: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI
- Expertise in modeling, variance analysis, and budgeting to drive informed decisions
- Skilled in partnering across teams to shape strategy and drive business results
- Experienced with tools like NetSuite, Cube and Tableau, focusing on automation and process improvement
- Comfortable using AI tools to move faster on analysis, drafting and quality checks — and clear-eyed about where they help, where they don't, and what still has to be verified by hand
- Ability to translate complex data into clear insights for leaders and stakeholders
- Instinct to tie numbers out across files and systems before they go to a CFO, a board or an auditor, and to flag a variance rather than quietly bridge it
- Capable of identifying problems and offering innovative growth solutions
- 4+ years of finance experience
- Prior experience working for a private-equity backed company, including the reporting cadence that comes with a sponsor and lenders
- Proven track record of achievement and delivering impactful results
- Strong background in financial analysis with strong problem-solving skills
- Consistent track record to distill issues into simple, structured frameworks that can be clearly communicated to key leaders and partners inside and outside of the company
- Experience partnering with leaders across sales, marketing, R&D, operations, etc
- A curiosity and aim to thoroughly analyze issues and to come forward with clear recommendations for moving forward
- Strong communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with individuals at all levels of the organization
- Proven ability in a fast-paced environment and motivated by the challenge
- Experience working in key systems to help improve and automate the finance function (ERP, FP&A, Analytics, CRM, etc.)
- Ability to collaborate across teams internally and with partners e.g. with universities, corporate clients and the team
- 4+ years of finance experience, preferably in a high-growth technology company or consulting firm
- Prior experience with NetSuite, Cube and Tableau is a plus
- Hands-on use of AI tools in finance or analytical workflow is a plus — we care more about judgment in applying them than about any tool
Benefits
- Eligible employees can enroll in 2,800+ online certificate and degree programs through the Step Forward program; tuition is covered upfront regardless of course of study, degree type, or school, for employees eligible starting Day 1.
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Flexible vacation policy
- Paid family leave
- Best-in-class health care benefits
Company Overview