GVP, Strategic Finance Product

ServiceNow•Santa Clara, CA

1d•Remote

About The Position

The GVP, Strategic Finance Product, is a critical leadership role for ServiceNow. It serves as a strategic financial partner to the President/COO/Chief Product Officer and his directs. The scope is to be the Finance Partner for the Product organization of a S&P500 software company, growing revenues at 20% at ~15B of scale. The job is not just to track budgets. It is to help engineering leaders make tradeoffs between speed, quality, scale, and cost, while keeping the business aligned to growth and profitability goals. Operationally, it means owning planning, forecasting, cost management, and decision support for engineering and related technology functions. You own financials for the product organization, leading capital allocation, strategic planning, infrastructure economics (public cloud and datacenters) as well as Open management. You help shape strategic analysis enabling long-term financial decisions that drive the outlook of the business. Reporting to the SVP, Global Strategic Finance, this person will lead a business-critical team providing financial visibility and business insights to ServiceNow leadership.

Requirements

15+ years of extensive Finance experience, ideally both in companies with scale (revenue of $1Bn+) and rapid growth (25%+) with a focus on software preferred
A strong candidate combines financial rigor with real curiosity about how software is built and scaled.
You should be able to challenge assumptions, influence senior engineers without overstepping, and explain complex financial topics in plain language to a non-Finance audience.
Understanding the tech stack and a deep passion for technology is critical in this role.
Proactive rather than reactive: you think around the corner and evaluate 2nd order consequences as part of your operating mode.
Appetite to become a CFO in the tech space: this role is a steppingstone for ambitious leaders.
Strategically oriented with deep knowledge/interest in ServiceNow platform, services, and competitive landscape or can ramp quickly and add value to driving growth and priorities
Leadership and strategic thinking: you think beyond Finance and can articulate your thinking as an Enterprise Leader.
Ability to influence investment decisions using data, not just reporting
You are decisive and drive outcome: a strong track record of leading major strategic initiatives, focusing on the core business issues, defining challenges and goals, and setting strategic direction, not just fiscally oriented to accomplish corporate objectives.
It is essential that the candidate take a holistic view of forecasting, planning, and analysis
5+ years of experience managing large teams of high performers; ability to recruit, train and retain top talent.
This role is scoped around a large Finance org. With 2-3 layers of depth.
High agency: Familiarity with engineering cost drivers such as cloud infrastructure, software licensing, contractor spend, and headcount planning.
Strong financial analysis capabilities: ability to interpret financial reports and data to understand business performance and identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
Ability to thrive, lead, and inspire in dynamic and demanding situations.
The ideal candidate will need to demonstrate the ability to create loyalty, trust, and following.
One who can energize people and teams and make cross-functional cooperation happen.
This individual must be highly respected by team members at all levels.
A compelling leadership style that includes technology expertise with a style that inspires confidence in ServiceNow and its products/services.
The intellect and the executive presence to become a true business partner across the corporate and field functions – someone who can contribute to broader business conversations beyond their functional expertise.
Strategic mindsight paired with strong communication/presentation skills (verbal and written) with demonstrated ability to articulate high-level plans; comfortable interacting and communicating with all levels.
Deep understanding of the company’s strategic objectives and execution plans.

Nice To Haves

SaaS company experience/background and relevant cloud experience preferred.
MBA or relevant graduate degree from top-tier institution or similar academic experience is a plus.
Technical academic background or early in career in IT or as a Software engineer a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Work in lockstep with the President/COO/Chief Product Officer and his team.
Partner with the SVP of Global Strategic Finance, CFO, and President/COO/Chief Product Officer to develop solutions and execute against all aspects of global finance strategies, initiatives, and key investments as they relate to technology and roadmap.
Manage, inspire, and develop a growing and high performing global FP&A team that collaborates with existing organizations including but not limited to Corporate Strategy, Corporate Development, Line of Business Strategic Finance, Corp Strategic Finance, and Finance leadership.
Own all aspects of the annual financial planning process for the Product organization – revenue, Opex and Capex.
Partner with engineering leadership on strategic planning, annual planning, quarterly re-forecasting, and scenario modeling.
Own regular reforecasts and financial review meetings.
Structure and execute ad-hoc analyses such as evaluating new product and investment proposals.
Identify and communicate opportunities and risks impacting business performance.
Identify cost optimization opportunities without harming delivery quality or engineering velocity.
Create decision-ready analysis for executives, showing tradeoffs, risks, and recommended actions.
Create and implement a vision for how to scale the FP&A team (org structure, systems, and processes) to manage significant company growth over the next five years.
Develop cross functional relationships and develop and prepare executive materials.