Director of Strategic Finance

Nift

About The Position

Nift is hiring its first Director of Strategic Finance to take end-to-end ownership of planning and forecasting and modernize the company’s finance processes. This is a hands-on director role designed for a strong senior manager or director who wants broad ownership rather than a large team to delegate to. The role partners with the Head of Finance and a product-team engineer, with budget for finance tools. The position leads the annual operating plan, driver-based operating model, regular reforecasts, monthly budget-versus-actual reviews, short- and long-term cash forecasting, monthly reporting, and Board materials. It also leads finance automation and systems improvements, including system-to-system workflows, general-ledger structure and coding visibility, finance-tool evaluation, and practical use of AI. In addition, the Director conducts decision-oriented analysis such as sales payback, partner and advertiser cohorts, retention, and spend distribution, using SQL against production data and the finance schema. The first-year goals include taking ownership of the operating model and annual plan, delivering reporting and Board materials, establishing a useful rolling forecast and monthly review cadence, automating at least one manual workflow, improving cash forecasting and ledger visibility, and putting sales-payback and cohort analysis on a regular rhythm. The accounting team retains responsibility for the close, AP/AR, payroll, and the audit relationship; this role partners with accounting on reviews, audit schedules, and data quality. The role has no team reporting to it on day one.

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience in FP&A or strategic finance; investment banking or transaction advisory experience is acceptable if followed by ownership of planning and forecasting in an operating company.
Strong, hands-on SQL skills, including querying, joining, and reconciling messy data.
Full ownership of P&L planning at a smaller company or for a division operating like its own business.
Mastery of the three financial statements and how the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow connect.
A track record of building a new finance process, model, reporting pipeline, or automation.
Ability to turn analysis into a clear recommendation for a CEO or Board.
Willingness and ability to build and run the work hands-on, without a team reporting to the role initially.

Nice To Haves

Experience in performance marketing, adtech, martech, ecommerce, consumer, SaaS, or another data-heavy, variable-cost business.
Experience with cohort, retention, lifetime value, and unit-economics analysis.
Exposure to finance systems projects such as invoicing, payables, planning tools, or an ERP rollout, including work with engineers and user acceptance testing.
Experience preparing Board reporting or investor materials.

Responsibilities

Own and run the annual operating plan, including departmental OpEx and headcount templates and coordination with department leaders.
Own the operating model covering revenue, gross profit, OpEx, headcount, EBITDA, working capital, cash, and a 3-to-5-year long-range plan.
Reforecast regularly and lead monthly budget-versus-actual reviews with department heads.
Own short- and long-term cash flow forecasting, including collections and payment timing.
Build monthly reporting packages and Board materials with the Head of Finance.
Lead the transition from spreadsheet-driven finance operations to automated, system-to-system workflows.
Partner with a product-team engineer to write requirements, define logic, validate figures, and conduct user acceptance testing.
Define the general-ledger structure needed for cost visibility by team, function, and initiative; partner with accounting on cleanup and accurate coding of new entries.
Evaluate and select finance tools, including planning platforms, where useful.
Apply AI to tasks such as variance commentary, data validation, and recurring reporting when it saves time.
Measure sales-investment payback by team, including enterprise and mid-market.
Build advertiser and partner cohort, retention, and spend-distribution analyses by segment.
Develop and document methodologies for open-ended business analyses, form recommendations, and communicate conclusions supported by data.
Write SQL queries against production data and the finance schema without relying on a data team for pulls.
Partner with accounting on close reviews, audit schedules, and data quality.
Establish a driver-based plan and rolling forecast, a predictable monthly review cadence, automated workflows, reliable cash forecasting, useful ledger visibility, and recurring sales-payback and cohort analysis.