Director, Strategic Finance

Merlin Labs•Boston, MA

12d•Onsite

About The Position

Merlin is a venture-backed aerospace startup building a non-human pilot to enable both reduced crew and uncrewed flight. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, Merlin is scaling alongside our customers to begin leveraging autonomy today to solve some of aviation’s biggest challenges. This role is a rare two-phase opportunity. Near-term, you will build the financial infrastructure for Merlin's Programs and Engineering organizations from the ground up. Long-term, that build converts into full P&L ownership of a product line, offering a genuine path from builder to business owner. The ideal candidate is a finance leader with 12+ years of progressive senior FP&A or strategic finance experience, ideally with real exposure to program-based finance (Estimate At Completion, cost-type contracts, and rate structures). They should have a track record of designing cost-tracking frameworks, financial models, and process workflows. This individual will be equally comfortable in a spreadsheet and in a room full of engineers or program managers, able to translate an ambiguous technical roadmap into actionable plans. They are a builder who creates, tests, and iterates on processes.

Requirements

12+ years of progressive finance experience in FP&A, Strategic Finance, or finance business partner roles
Fluent in program finance concepts: EAC, cost-type contracts, and rate structures
Track record of influencing technical leaders through clear financial storytelling
Hands-on builder: has designed and implemented processes and models from scratch
BA/BS in Accounting, Finance, or related field required
Must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

Background at a defense, aerospace, SaaS, or hardware-intensive technology company
Costpoint experience
MBA or CPA

Responsibilities

Design and implement FP&A processes for engineering headcount, program costs, R&D spend, and capital allocation
Build financial models that translate engineering roadmaps into resource plans, hiring forecasts, budget commitments, and strategic scenarios
Partner with Engineering and Program Management to enhance our program cost accounting framework: cost tracking and reporting, cost-to-complete reporting, etc.
Define chart-of-accounts conventions, cost center structures, and reporting hierarchies that support program-level visibility
Create the monthly/quarterly operating cadence: actuals reviews, variance analysis, and re-forecast processes for the Programs and Engineering organizations
Deliver reporting and analytics that give leadership real-time insight into burn, capacity, and program financial health
Support the implementation of financial planning tools and systems in partnership with Finance and IT
Support the build and delivery of the annual operating plan and budget
Assume full P&L ownership for an assigned product line, including revenue, gross margin, and operating expense (long-term)
Drive pricing strategy, make-vs.-buy decisions, and resource allocation in partnership with the product line GM (long-term)