FP&A Manager (R&D)

Restaurant365•Irvine, CA

1d•$96,400 - $144,600•Hybrid

About The Position

Restaurant365 is seeking a highly motivated FP&A Manager with strong critical thinking and a passion for partnering with the business. This role will be the key finance partner to the R&D organization — Engineering, Product, and DevOps driving meaningful analysis and recommendations on R&D spend, hosting and product COGS, and AI tooling costs. As part of the FP&A team, this role will analyze financial and operational performance, develop actionable insights, and present recommendations to R&D leadership and the executive team. The ideal candidate is a self-starter, takes initiative, works well under pressure, and excels at handling ambiguity. This is an individual contributor role: the candidate will work independently and as part of a team to drive annual planning, budgeting, and forecasting across the R&D organization. A well-qualified candidate will have strong business partnering skills, comfort working with technical stakeholders, and an analytical mindset to assist in solving complex business problems.

Requirements

8+ years of FP&A, Finance, Business Analysis, or related experience, including experience supporting an R&D, Engineering, or Product organization
Bachelor’s degree in finance/accounting or related field, or equivalent work experience
Experience with financial planning, ERP, CRM, and spend management systems (e.g., Aleph, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Ramp) preferred
Ability to interpret financial statements and convey key recommendations to the business
Experience in leveraging AI tools to build and manage complex financial models (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT)
Strong attention to detail, with the ability to self-review work and consistently deliver accurate, polished outputs
Advanced knowledge of Excel including modeling, and experience preparing executive-level presentations
Knowledge and experience in the SaaS/software industry
Familiarity with cloud infrastructure billing and cost management (e.g., Azure Cost Management, AWS Cost Explorer) and FinOps concepts preferred
Comfort partnering with technical stakeholders (Engineering, Product) and translating technical concepts into financial terms
Ability to solve complex business challenges and work with company executives to understand business needs and strategy, delivering accurate and timely financial models, analysis, and recommendations that have a proven impact on the business (e.g., financial savings, operational improvements, or customer benefits), backed by excellent written and verbal communication skills

Responsibilities

Serve as the key FP&A business partner to R&D leadership (Engineering, Product, and DevOps), supporting all planning, budgeting, and forecasting for the organization
Build and maintain R&D headcount and opex models, including hiring plans, contractors, and capitalized software costs
Build scenario and sensitivity analyses to evaluate investment trade-offs — hiring plans, infrastructure commitments, technology, and other strategic R&D initiatives — and partner with R&D leadership on prioritization
Own monthly R&D budget-to-actual and forecast variance analysis, partnering with functional leaders to identify anomalies, trends, and key drivers behind variances in R&D spend and hosting costs, and incorporate opportunities for optimization into future forecasts
Partner with Engineering and DevOps to forecast and manage Azure and AWS hosting costs, including usage trends, contract terms, capacity requirements, and committed spend, and provide financial analysis to support cost optimization initiatives such as reserved instance/savings plan commitments and vendor contract negotiations
Own the COGS model for our multi-tenant SaaS platform — hosting, cloud infrastructure, third-party services, and support costs — and build and maintain unit economics (cost per customer, per location, per transaction) tied to gross margin trends and pricing
Build business cases with Product that connect technology investment to payback period, margin impact, and revenue or retention upside, and establish a cost allocation and tagging approach so spend is attributable to products, features, and customers
Forecast and evaluate AI tooling and infrastructure spend (e.g., Claude, agentic workloads) across R&D and other teams, and recommend cost-effective usage and licensing strategies
Ensure the timely delivery of accurate R&D financial reporting, forecasts, and management analyses — including dashboards and a regular operating cadence for near real-time visibility into cost and margin impact — and support board- and executive-level reporting on gross margin, R&D efficiency, and capital allocation
Applies AI tools to accelerate R&D financial analysis and reporting, validates the accuracy of AI-generated outputs, and incorporates AI-driven insights into forecasts and recommendations