Vice President, Strategic Finance (R&D, Procurement & Corporate Model)

AiDASH, Inc. • Palo Alto, CA

2d • $260,000 - $350,000

About The Position

AiDASH is a leading company in the electric utility sector, focused on grid resilience through its innovative platform that integrates vegetation, asset, storm, and wildfire intelligence. The company utilizes SatelliteFirst™ Inspection & Monitoring to provide comprehensive grid visibility. AiDASH is recognized for its growth and innovation, having been named one of America's Best Startup Employers by Forbes for four consecutive years and included in TIME's Top GreenTech Companies for three years. Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ has also ranked AiDASH highly. The company is seeking to expand its team to support its growth and transformation, particularly in the context of its integration with Schneider Electric.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in Strategic Finance, FP&A leadership, corporate development, investment banking, private equity, or related investment roles.
• Meaningful experience in high-growth enterprise SaaS or data-intensive product companies.
• Proven operator in cloud, infrastructure, or data cost management, with a track record of negotiating commercial agreements that delivered measurable savings.
• Experience partnering directly with R&D leadership, with a strong understanding of sprint cadences, roadmap prioritization, and technical cost drivers such as cloud infrastructure, AI model training, and data pipelines.
• Proven track record building driver-based operating models that guide investment decisions, forecasting, and company planning.
• Strong executive communication skills, with experience developing Board, investor, and executive-level presentations.
• Exceptional analytical and process design skills, with the ability to improve productivity, predictability, scalability, and operational rigor.
• Fluent in AI-enabled finance workflows with an automation-first mindset.
• Comfortable challenging assumptions and influencing the executive team through data, sound judgment, and thoughtful debate, while aligning fully behind decisions once made.
• Founder mentality with high ownership, unquestionable integrity, and a roll-up-your-sleeves approach.
• Thrives in ambitious, fast-moving environments, develops strong teams, and earns trust through intelligence, hard work, and empathy.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in investment banking or private equity followed by strategic finance leadership within a venture-backed or late-stage SaaS company.
• SQL or Python experience.
• Experience supporting global operations (US, India, UK).

Responsibilities

• Own the finance partnership with AiDASH’s R&D (Engineering, Product, Data Science, and AI Data Ops), and Professional Services teams.
• Manage R&D investment and launch economics, infrastructure cost management and reduction targets, and partner with procurement strategy.
• Own the corporate operating model and help determine company investment strategies, product pricing, and how innovation translates into profitable growth.
• Translate product roadmaps into forecast impact and ensure launch velocity converts into on-schedule ARR.
• Accelerate launch economics and pricing, manage cloud infrastructure and strategic vendor negotiations, and lead quarterly planning and forecasting.
• Govern headcount and lead the executive narrative around R&D performance.
• Become deeply familiar with AiDASH's products, R&D organization, infrastructure footprint, Schneider Electric integration, financial model, and strategic priorities.
• Build trusted finance partnership with R&D leadership by joining sprint-close cadences and establishing monthly workstream reviews.
• Own R&D financial management, including capitalization policy, department-level cost visibility, AI initiative ROI, and build-versus-buy analysis.
• Partner with R&D leadership to evaluate roadmap trade-offs, investment priorities, and resource allocation.
• Partner with R&D on launch economics, including business cases, pricing and packaging strategy, and post-launch revenue performance.
• Track sales readiness, delivery commitments, and roadmap execution to ensure launches convert into ARR on schedule.
• Monitor roadmap slippage and key delivery risks, escalating issues and recommendations to the executive team.
• Partner with R&D on commercial strategy for cloud, infrastructure, imagery, and strategic technology vendors, developing and achieving BoM down targets.
• Negotiate long-term infrastructure and platform commitments that improve unit economics and align to Company Gross Margin targets.
• Manage infrastructure COGS as a strategic operating metric, delivering measurable savings while improving gross margin.
• Own the corporate driver-based model and quarterly reforecast, enabling disciplined capital allocation, operating expense decisions, and scenario planning.
• Lead headcount and requisition governance, maintaining a single source of truth for approved, open, and frozen roles while ensuring AI automation is evaluated before incremental hiring.
• Own the R&D financial narrative for the CFO and CEO, translating complex operating performance into clear business insights, strategic recommendations, and forward-looking perspectives.
• Lead finance support for the Schneider Electric integration, including synergy tracking, operating model alignment, reporting harmonization, day-one readiness, and continuity of the planning cycle through close.
• Support acquisitions, integrations, or complex cross-functional transformation initiatives.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage: 100% coverage for employees and 80% for their spouses and children
• Health Reimbursement Account (HRA): 100% funded by AiDASH to cover medical deductibles
• 401(k) Plan: Begin contributing after two months of employment.
• Parental Leave: Supportive parental leave with 16 weeks for primary caregivers and 4 weeks for secondary caregivers
• Generous Vacation Policy: Accrue 20 vacation days per year, plus an additional flex holiday
• Winter Break: From December 25th through January 1st

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed