Strategic Finance Lead

Sail Research•San Francisco, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Sail is seeking a Strategic Finance Lead, their first dedicated finance hire. This is a builder's role focused on creating financial systems from scratch. The lead will be responsible for building and owning the operating P&L, connecting GPU cluster unit economics to product pricing and financial performance. They will also partner cross-functionally on board materials, establish the first FP&A process (budgeting and forecasting), and develop headcount and opex planning models while tracking burn rate and runway.

Requirements

5-8+ years in finance roles with real modeling depth (investment banking, growth equity/private equity, corporate development, or strategic finance/FP&A at a high-growth company).
Genuine fluency in building financial models from scratch.
Comfort building an operating P&L and pro forma model without a lot of hand-holding.
Comfort with ambiguity and a preference for building the right-sized process rather than the most sophisticated one.
Judgment about what to build now vs. later.

Nice To Haves

Infrastructure or capital-intensive business experience (data centers, energy, equipment leasing, or similar).
Prior exposure to revenue recognition for usage-based/consumption billing.
Experience inside a GPU cloud, data center, or other infrastructure-as-a-service business.

Responsibilities

Build and own Sail's operating P&L, serving as the single source of truth connecting GPU cluster unit economics (cost per GPU-hour, utilization, depreciation/useful life, power costs) and how it flows down to product pricing, unit economics, and actual financial performance.
Partner crossfunctionally on board materials: financial modeling, data room preparation, and diligence support.
Stand up Sail's first real FP&A process: budgeting and forecasting, sized appropriately for an early-stage company.
Develop the headcount and opex planning model as the team grows.
Own burn rate and runway tracking.