Financial Analyst – Venue & Production Cost Budgeting & Forecasting

DanceOne

6d

About The Position

DanceOne is the industry leader in live events, dance conventions, and large-scale touring productions. We partner with hundreds of venues annually and execute complex, high-volume productions that require best-in-class financial planning, tight cost controls, and consistent forecasting accuracy. We are seeking a Financial Analyst who will own budgeting, forecasting, and financial oversight for venue and production costs across our nationwide event portfolio. Position Summary The Financial Analyst – Venue & Production Cost Budgeting & Forecasting will be responsible for building and maintaining event-level budgets, analyzing venue and production contracts, forecasting cash needs, and partnering with Operations, Production, and Venue teams to ensure cost discipline and financial accuracy. This role sits within FP&A and is directly responsible for enhancing financial visibility into event profitability, production margins, and cash flow timing associated with live event execution.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field.
• 2–4+ years of experience in FP&A, event finance, production finance, or cost analysis.
• Strong financial modeling skills (Excel required; FP&A tools preferred).
• Experience analyzing contracts and converting terms into budgets and forecasts.
• Ability to interpret complex financial data with strong attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills and comfort working cross-functionally.
• Proven ability to manage multiple deadlines in a fast-paced live-event or entertainment environment.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in the live-event, touring, entertainment, venue operations, or production industries.
• Knowledge of NetSuite, Ramp, or similar ERP/finance systems.
• Experience with Planful or similar FP&A tools
• Prior experience in budgeting for labor-intensive and variable-cost environments.
• Familiarity with union labor rules, production schedules, and venue cost structures.

Responsibilities

• Build event-level budgets for venue rental, A/V, staging, labor, freight, décor, security, hotel blocks, F&B minimums, and other production-related costs.
• Forecast event-level and portfolio-level venue & production spend by week, month, and season.
• Maintain forecasting models ensuring accurate timing of payments and accruals.
• Develop annual budget inputs in partnership with Event Planning, Production Management, and Finance leadership.
• Incorporate historical comps, contractual terms, and trends to improve forecasting accuracy.
• Review venue, production, and supplier contracts to identify: rental rates, discounts, rebates labor obligations (union and non-union) service charges, minimums, and penalties cancellation/attrition clauses
• Summarize key financial terms and provide decision-ready insights to leadership.
• Validate that vendor/venue invoices match contractual terms.
• Track all venue and production invoices against approved budgets.
• Own actual-vs-budget reporting at the event, brand, and portfolio level.
• Build and maintain dashboards for event cost performance, highlighting drivers of variance.
• Partner with Accounting to support timely accruals and month-end close for venue/production costs.
• Forecast cash outflows related to venue deposits, production advances, and supplier payments.
• Build monthly and seasonal cash flow projections for Production & Venue spend.
• Partner with vendors and venues to align on payment schedules and ensure timely disbursement.
• Prepare and deliver recurring financial reports for senior leadership.
• Produce executive-level presentations summarizing cost trends, risk areas, and recommendations.
• Conduct scenario analysis to support decisions on event routing, venue selection, and production investments.
• Recommend improvements to budgeting templates, forecasting logic, and reporting tools.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities across vendors, venues, and production workflows.
• Support development of standardized financial playbooks for venue and production management.
• Support special projects such as pricing analysis, production cost benchmarking, and vendor evaluation.
• Conduct deep-dive financial studies on cost categories, margin impacts, or operational efficiency.

What This Job Offers

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