Manager, Strategic Finance

Serve Robotics•Los Angeles, CA

7d•$160,000 - $180,000

About The Position

The Manager, Strategic Finance leads financial analysis and planning to guide investment, growth, and resource-allocation decisions. Working directly with Diligent Robotics’ CEO and COO as their principal business partner, this role evaluates strategic priorities, market opportunities, valuations, capital investments, new markets, partnerships, and M&A. Recommendations should reflect a detailed understanding of Diligent Robotics’ operational drivers—including fleet deployment, utilization, unit economics, hospital customer dynamics, and cost structure—as well as Serve Robotics’ business and the combined company’s operations. The role owns the operating budget, rolling forecasts, long-range plan, KPI and unit-economics framework, and the company’s Pigment planning environment. It also develops executive-ready financial narratives and presentations for leadership, board, and investor discussions. The position may begin as an individual contributor, with the possibility of building and leading a team as the function grows. The company strongly prefers someone based in Austin, Texas. Travel is required 2–4 times per year, approximately 4–5 business days per trip.

Requirements

6–8+ years of progressive experience in strategic finance, corporate finance, investment banking, corporate development, or FP&A with significant strategic scope; experience in tech, robotics, or a high-growth environment is preferred.
Demonstrated ownership of strategic finance work, including capital budgeting (NPV/IRR), target or market sizing, sum-of-the-parts or valuation analysis, and M&A or partnership modeling, with examples of recommendations that changed a decision.
Experience building and defending multi-year financial models and investment cases before executives, boards, or investors.
Proven ability to partner directly with C-level executives, including CEOs and COOs, and influence senior leadership through analysis and executive presence.
Demonstrated curiosity and ability to learn an operating business from the ground up, engage with operations and customers, and apply that understanding to forecasts and decisions.
Proven ownership of a company-wide budget, forecast, and long-range planning cycle.
Expert-level proficiency in Google Sheets and Excel, including complex modeling and automation techniques.
Hands-on experience with Pigment or a comparable enterprise planning platform; Pigment is strongly preferred.
Solid understanding of accounting principles and financial statements.
Strong business acumen and excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Comfort operating amid ambiguity and evolving priorities in a fast-scaling organization.

Nice To Haves

Investment banking, management consulting, venture capital/private equity, or corporate development experience.
Experience in robotics, hardware, healthcare technology, or other capital-intensive operating businesses.
Prior people-management experience or demonstrated readiness to build and lead a small team.
MBA, CFA, or CPA.
Experience with ERP systems such as NetSuite.

Responsibilities

Lead strategic prioritization by evaluating trade-offs, resource needs, and expected returns, and recommend where the company should invest, scale back, or stop.
Own capital budgeting and investment analysis, including NPV, IRR, payback, scenario and sensitivity models, and return frameworks for capital deployment, major programs, pricing changes, and new market entry.
Size target and market opportunities, including TAM/SAM, unit economics, and adoption and penetration curves, to support company goals, board targets, and the long-range plan.
Build and maintain sum-of-the-parts analyses to compare and value business lines, products, and markets, and inform portfolio, pricing, and resource-allocation decisions.
Lead financial modeling for M&A, strategic partnerships, and commercial agreements, including valuation, synergies, integration scenarios, deal-structuring inputs, and post-deal tracking against the investment case.
Own and update the multi-year strategic plan, including growth, margin, and capital assumptions.
Define and maintain the KPI and unit-economics framework used by the CEO and COO, ensuring metrics connect to the financial model and value creation.
Prepare and deliver executive-ready presentations, valuation outputs, and financial narratives for leadership meetings, board reviews, and investor discussions.
Conduct ad hoc strategic analyses of pricing, go-to-market investments, competitive positioning, and corporate development opportunities.
Serve as the primary Strategic Finance and FP&A partner to the Diligent Robotics CEO and COO on operating performance, resource allocation, and investment decisions.
Develop first-hand knowledge of Diligent Robotics’ operations, deployment, and customer dynamics, and translate it into forecast assumptions, KPIs, and decision frameworks.
Develop a deep understanding of Serve Robotics’ operating model, drivers, and strategic priorities to assess investment cases in the context of the combined business.
Communicate complex financial concepts clearly to non-finance stakeholders and influence decisions through data-driven analysis and executive presence.
As the function grows, hire, develop, and manage finance staff; set team priorities and quality standards; and establish scalable processes.
Own the company-wide operating budget, rolling forecast, and long-range plan, reconciling top-down targets with bottom-up functional inputs.
Run monthly and quarterly forecast cycles, including variance analysis and commentary that links results to operational and strategic drivers.
Partner with functional leaders and Accounting to challenge assumptions, identify risks and opportunities, and reconcile forecasts, actuals, and financial statements.
Serve as the Pigment systems owner: build and analyze financial models, maintain and extend the planning environment, and keep it the single source of truth for planning.
Improve data accuracy, speed, and scalability through automation and process redesign using Excel, Google Sheets, Pigment, and emerging AI and workflow-automation tools.