Business & Financial Operations Analyst - AIML

Apple • Cupertino, CA

2d

About The Position

The SWE Ops Infrastructure & Planning team is seeking an analytical, proactive, and collaborative Business & Financial Operations Analyst to maintain operational rigor and drive standardization across the AI team within the SWE organization. The analyst will manage requisitions, guide quarterly fiscal planning, and partner with engineering, research, finance, EPMs, and cross-functional leadership. As an operational partner in budget forecasting and vendor procurement, the role delivers insights, processes, and frameworks that help leaders optimize resource allocation, make informed decisions, and execute against priorities.

The team fosters technical excellence and operational discipline as research and engineering initiatives grow in scale and complexity. The analyst will bring structure to ambiguity, connect strategic objectives to operational execution, and provide decision-ready insights to leaders. The role calls for strong project management and analytical capabilities, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to align machine learning scientists, engineering DRIs, finance, and other partners. The analyst will promote clarity, accountability, continuous improvement, disciplined resource stewardship, proactive forecasting, and vendor management.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of business operations, financial planning and analysis, or strategy and operations experience in a high-tech or software engineering environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in an analytical or quantitative discipline, such as Business, Finance, Operations, or Supply Chain, or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven experience managing the end-to-end Purchase Requisition (PR) to Purchase Order (PO) lifecycle, including vendor onboarding, scoping alignment, and proactive cross-functional follow-up.
• Solid understanding of financial treatment principles, including CapEx vs. OpEx, prepaid assets, accruals, amortization schedules, and milestone-based billing.
• Demonstrated ability to track, analyze, and reconcile budget actuals against forecasts, identify variances, and drive corrective actions before quarter-end.
• Exceptional executive communication skills, including the ability to distill complex procurement timelines and financial figures into concise, high-level narratives and executive summaries.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn complex technical and operational information into clear, executive-ready presentations and memos.

Nice To Haves

• CPA or MBA.
• Experience with data licensing or technical vendor contracts.
• Direct experience partnering with or supporting Machine Learning, AI, or R&D research teams.
• Familiarity with data analysis, querying, and visualization tools such as SQL, Excel, and Tableau for evaluating organizational metrics and building automated reporting.
• Curiosity about AI/ML technologies and how strategic investments support model development.

Responsibilities

• Manage the end-to-end Purchase Requisition (PR) to Purchase Order (PO) lifecycle, including vendor onboarding, scoping alignment, and cross-functional follow-up.
• Steer quarterly fiscal planning activities and support budget forecasting.
• Track, analyze, and reconcile budget actuals against forecasts; identify variances and drive corrective actions before quarter-end.
• Partner with engineering, research, finance, EPMs, and cross-functional leadership on operational planning and execution.
• Support vendor procurement and disciplined stewardship of resources.
• Provide decision-ready insights, processes, and frameworks to support resource allocation and leadership decisions.
• Communicate procurement timelines and financial information through executive summaries, presentations, and memos.
• Drive alignment, accountability, standardization, and continuous improvement across partners.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level