Senior Director - AI Labs Strategic Finance

Salesforce•San Francisco, CA

2d•$181,700 - $332,600

About The Position

Salesforce is seeking a senior strategic finance leader with startup financial-operator experience to validate and operationalize financial deal models during due diligence, and build and own operating models for AI Labs acquisitions and strategic investments. The role takes ownership of financial budgets to support post-close success, ensuring models reflect how AI-native companies operate and that pre-close commitments become executable post-close plans. The position partners with AI Labs leadership, founding teams, portfolio CEOs and founders, and Corporate Development and/or M&A Finance. It operationalizes approved models into budgets and operating plans, monitors performance against assumptions, and establishes consistent modeling practices that account for differences in company stage and business model.

Requirements

Experience as a CFO, strategic finance leader, or senior finance executive in a Series B–D or similarly high-growth technology company.
Deep understanding of startup economics, SaaS and AI business models, and growth-stage operating decisions.
Exceptional financial modeling skills and analytical judgment.
Experience partnering directly with founders and executive teams.
Comfort challenging assumptions and bringing an operator’s perspective to investment decisions.
Problem-solving mindset.

Nice To Haves

Experience spanning venture-backed companies and/or scaled or public-company environments.
Meaningful startup operating experience is preferred for external candidates.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end operating models for AI Labs acquisitions.
Validate revenue, growth, headcount, compensation, investment, margin, and cash-requirement assumptions with AI Labs leadership and founding teams.
After close, partner with portfolio CEOs and founders and AI Labs leadership to align on existing budget and growth assumptions before further investment decisions.
Collaborate with Corporate Development and/or M&A Finance throughout the M&A process to align with AI Labs guiding principles and support communication between organizations.
Turn approved acquisition and strategic investment models into executable post-close budgets and operating plans that support growth and innovation.
Track actual performance against financial-model assumptions and create processes to identify material variances early, establish feedback loops, and resolve issues to get the business back on track.
Own a forward-looking, driver-based revenue forecast to assess whether deal-model assumptions can be achieved.
Establish a consistent modeling framework across AI Labs acquisitions that accounts for differences in company stage and business model.
Work with AI Lab companies and Salesforce’s broader ecosystem to identify and remove barriers to growth.