Director, Client Finance

Vaniam Group

4d•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Client Finance serves as the primary financial liaison between finance and operations, ensuring real-time alignment between project execution and revenue and profitability targets across all clients and service lines. This role is fully AI-enabled — leveraging AI tools, including Claude, to drive efficient, elevated financial delivery across forecasting, reporting, and analysis workflows. The Director brings deep systems expertise and a continuous improvement mindset, serving as Vaniam’s internal authority on the intersection of its operational and financial platforms.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Finance and/or Accounting
8–12 years of progressive experience in financial/project analysis, FP&A, or operations finance within an agency, CRO, professional services firm, or other project-based environment
Minimum 3 years of direct people leadership with a demonstrated track record of developing analysts into high-performing contributors
Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex financial and operational data into clear, compelling narratives for non-financial audiences
Proven success improving forecast accuracy and building repeatable, scalable forecasting processes in a multi-service-line or multi-entity environment
Demonstrated change management expertise requiring organizational buy-in, training, and sustained adoption
Expert-level proficiency with Power BI (building dashboards, DAX, data modeling) and advanced Excel (financial modeling, complex formulas, pivot tables, macros)
Demonstrated fluency with AI-enabled tools, specifically Claude AI, for analysis, reporting automation, and workflow acceleration — candidates should be active, confident AI users, not beginners
Strong understanding of project-based revenue recognition, utilization/realization metrics, and professional services financial dynamics
High comfort level with AI tools and a growth mindset toward adopting new technologies as they evolve
Ability to operate with autonomy and strong judgment in a fully remote, distributed environment
Strong analytical instincts with a bias toward action and continuous improvement
Collaborative by nature, with the ability to build trust quickly across finance, operations, and executive stakeholders
Effective communicator who can present complex financial information clearly to non-financial audiences

Nice To Haves

CPA, MBA, or CMA designation
Strong working knowledge of Vena (or comparable FP&A/CPM platforms), Workfront (or comparable project management systems), Salesforce, and Sage Intacct (or comparable ERP/GL systems)
Experience in life sciences, pharma/biotech services, or medical communications environments
Familiarity with retainer/subscription-based revenue models and associated metrics
Background in building or significantly improving analytics and reporting infrastructure from a fragmented starting point

Responsibilities

Own and continuously improve the end-to-end project forecasting process, partnering with operations to validate assumptions, challenge outliers, and ensure accurate forecasting
Develop forward-looking indicators that give leadership earlier signals on revenue trends and risk
Produce monthly variance analysis that explains the “why” behind actual-to-budget and actual-to-forecast variances in order to drive corrective action
Oversee monthly revenue recognition, invoicing, and project reconciliation process to ensure timely close and project closeout
Partner with operations in pricing builds and strategy, as well as portfolio profitability analysis
Support the CFO in strategic deliverables required for executive reporting and various other ad hoc reporting requests from leadership
Own the Power BI reporting layer for project analysis, building and maintaining dashboards that deliver self-service insights to operations, finance, and executive leadership
Apply AI-enabled tools, including Claude, to accelerate variance analysis, automate recurring reports, and surface financial insights faster — this is a core expectation of the role
Evaluate and recommend system improvements, integrations, or new tools that close gaps in Vaniam’s reporting and analytics infrastructure
Serve as the go-to financial partner for operations, embedding financial discipline into project planning, staffing decisions, and scope management
Translate operational metrics into easy-to-digest information to improve and drive growth outcomes
Drive alignment between project management systems (Workfront), CRM (Salesforce), and financial systems (Sage Intacct/Vena) to eliminate reconciliation friction and ensure a single source of truth
Lead cross-functional reviews of project performance with client and service line leaders, bringing data-driven insights that inform strategy, pricing, and resourcing
Use AI tools to model scenarios, stress-test financial assumptions, and prepare leadership-ready outputs more efficiently
Assess project needs and challenges; identify and implement solutions to meet productivity, quality, and financial goals
Assess, redesign, and implement project analysis workflows that are scalable, repeatable, and audit-ready
Lead organizational adoption of new tools and processes, including AI-enabled platforms
Establish and maintain SOPs for project forecast updates and financial reporting, ensuring consistency as the organization evolves
Serve as Vaniam’s subject matter expert on how project, financial, and CRM systems interconnect, understanding the data architecture well enough to diagnose issues, design solutions, and advise on system enhancements
Lead, mentor, and develop a team of project analysts, setting clear performance expectations and creating pathways for professional growth
Build a high-accountability team culture rooted in intellectual curiosity, analytical precision, proactive problem-solving, and AI enablement
Manage team capacity and priorities to balance recurring deliverables with strategic projects and ad hoc leadership requests
Model and promote AI fluency across the team, embedding AI tools into day-to-day workflows and establishing best practices for their use
Leverage Claude and other AI-enabled tools to accelerate analysis, automate repetitive reporting tasks, and enhance insights
Ensure that financial work is of the highest quality and instills confidence across leadership and operational stakeholders
Partner with operations and service line leaders to identify opportunities for margin improvement, pricing optimization, and revenue growth
Contribute analytical rigor to new business proposals, renewals, and client profitability strategy
Champion a culture of continuous improvement, with an eye toward AI integration at every stage of the financial workflow
Other duties may be assigned to help drive deliverables within this role.