Topline & Sales Finance Strategy Manager

Proofpoint•Sunnyvale, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Proofpoint’s FP&A | Finance Strategy Topline & Sales team is the central Topline and Sales finance team for the consolidated company. The team plans and runs the business across every route to market in a fast-changing, competitive industry. The role provides additional capacity to the Sr. Director of FP&A, Topline & Sales, and the broader team by taking on cross-component and non-traditional work streams that connect Topline, Sales cost, and routes to market. The Tier 1 FP&A Team retains ownership of forecasting and reporting; this position complements that work with deeper alignment, faster insights, and broader business coverage. The role supports planning and run-the-business collaboration, develops scenario models and what-if tools, diagnoses data and definition issues, and helps ensure assumptions and handoffs remain consistent across teams. It contributes to quarterly forecast analysis, product-aligned Topline planning, long-range planning, Sales cost-envelope strategy, sales compensation and commissions modeling, M&A diligence and integration, and analysis of channel and route-to-market economics. The position also partners with senior executives and business leaders, prepares board, Operating Partner, and QBR materials, and translates complex data into clear, defensible recommendations. It is based in Sunnyvale, California, with in-office work Monday through Thursday, occasional Friday attendance, and remote flexibility when needed. The role supports stakeholders across the Americas, EMEA, and APJ, with regular early-morning and late-evening coverage and occasional evening or weekend sprints around board and deal timelines. No travel is required.

Requirements

At least 8 years of progressive experience in FP&A, sales finance, corporate development, investment banking, or transaction advisory.
Meaningful Topline experience in B2B SaaS or enterprise software.
Experience presenting to C-suite executives and partnering with GMs or business-unit leaders across concurrent work streams, influencing decisions without formal authority.
Strong professional presence and credibility with colleagues and C-suite stakeholders.
Ability to adapt to fast pivots, define questions amid ambiguity, and drive alignment while plans are evolving.
Ability to document methods, build reusable models and shared definitions, and coach teammates informally.
Complete discretion when handling sensitive, need-to-know materials, including deal and board work.
Ability to build advanced models and work with large data sets in Excel and enterprise planning tools.
Hands-on depth in SaaS Topline, sales compensation plans (including at least one full commissions planning cycle), headcount and capacity modeling for a large sales organization, and channel economics across routes to market.
M&A experience such as deal models, synergy cases, diligence, or post-close integration, including the ability to reconcile an operating plan to a deal model.
Strong command of GAAP, including ASC 606 revenue recognition and ASC 340-40 treatment of commissions, as well as cash-basis reporting and reconciling the two.
Ability to work in a global coverage model with regular early-morning and late-evening coverage across time zones.
Availability for occasional evening and weekend sprints around board and deal timelines.

Nice To Haves

MBA.
CPA.
Background in cybersecurity or private equity-backed software.
Early adoption of AI tools such as Claude to turn large data sets into insights, with the judgment to validate outputs and flag risks.

Responsibilities

Take on large-scale planning and run-the-business collaboration at the Sr. Director’s direction, driving priority work to executive-ready answers.
Partner with the Sr. Director’s direct-report leads and the Topline and Sales FP&A team to align Topline, Sales cost, and routes to market.
Own non-traditional work streams end to end, connecting big-picture assumptions with detailed business drivers and consistent handoffs.
Build scenario models and what-if tools tied to the system of record, surfacing issues clearly.
Diagnose data and definition issues through system changes and migrations, trace metric changes, and work with owners to establish defensible fixes.
Support quarterly forecast insights against the annual operating plan, including historical comparisons and driver analyses.
Partner with Product and Product FP&A to align Topline and Sales assumptions with the product plan, including ARR and NARR by product.
Support the long-range plan and translate changes between planning cycles into clear drivers that support cross-team collaboration.
Support the annual Sales cost-envelope strategy, including headcount, capacity, fully loaded cost, productivity, and growth constraints.
Model on-target earnings and on-target incentives, including pay mix and quota capacity, and support commissions planning from design and cost modeling through attainment and payout.
Analyze acquisition targets’ P&Ls on GAAP and cash bases, normalize results, and translate findings into Topline, cost, and synergy implications.
Support sales-organization diligence and integration planning, including leadership overlap, capacity, compensation harmonization, retention risks, and pipeline opportunities.
Bring acquired businesses’ baselines and forecasting methods onto Proofpoint standards after close.
Analyze economics across direct, distribution, reseller, MSP, and marketplace routes to market.
Analyze rebate structures and tiers, partner margin, and contra revenue, including their gross-to-net effects on Topline.
Present to the CRO, CEO, and CFO, translating complex data into clear, defensible recommendations.
Help prepare board, Operating Partner, and QBR materials through the annual operating plan cycle.
Partner with GMs, Sales Operations, and FP&A | Finance Strategy leadership to coordinate work streams and resolve conflicting priorities and assumptions.
Communicate executive-ready summaries that lead with the answer, drivers, and risks; make commitments clearly and deliver on them.

Benefits

Competitive compensation.
Comprehensive benefits package.
Flexible work environment.
Annual wellness and community outreach days.
Recognition for contributions.
Global collaboration and networking opportunities.
Flexible time off.
Comprehensive well-being program with two paid Wellbeing Days and two paid Volunteer Days per year.
Three-week Work from Anywhere option.
Role may be eligible for variable compensation and/or equity.