VP, Strategic Finance
About The Position
Emergence Automotive is the AutoTech portfolio within Emergence, a thematic holding company backed by The Pritzker Organization. We buy and build category-defining software businesses in and around the car business: vehicle acquisition, inventory management, dealer workflow, and the tools operators rely on every day. Emergence is not a passive investment platform and not a traditional Private Equity Fund. We work closely as an embedded team with our companies and continue to build the platform through acquisitions and organic growth initiatives inside the vertical. Today the automotive portfolio represents more than $35 million of ARR across several businesses, with a live M&A pipeline that is active and accelerating. That mix, real operating companies today, plus a steady stream of acquisition opportunities, is what makes this role different from a traditional finance seat.
Requirements
- Roughly 3 to 10+ years of relevant experience across strategic finance, operating finance, corporate development, investing, investment banking, FP&A, or accounting with a commercial finance arc.
- Strong financial modeling ability and be comfortable owning operating models end to end.
- Ability to move from first principles to the exact cell in the model and back again without losing the thread.
- Comfort with operating questions as much as transaction questions: why retention moved, why sales productivity changed, why cash conversion looks the way it does, what the margin profile should become, and what we should do about it.
- Ability to make progress without a big team or a perfect process.
- Ability to communicate with busy executives: what matters, what does not, and what you recommend.
- Takes ownership in a way that makes other people's jobs easier.
- Holds a high bar for the work, but is practical, collaborative, and not precious about how things get done.
- Comfortable being in the room, defending your view, changing your mind when the facts change, and turning ambiguous problems into clean analysis and clear next steps.
- Strong writing and communication skills.
- Ability to lead a room, work directly with senior stakeholders, move quickly without heavy process, and connect the analysis to a real decision.
- Ability to bring structure without bureaucracy, intensity without ego, and a clear recommendation when the answer is not obvious.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with acquisition, merger, or mergerco models is a strong plus, especially given the pace of M&A.
Responsibilities
- Own the strategic finance cadence across the automotive portfolio, including forecasting, performance management, KPI reporting, operating reviews, and CEO-level decision support.
- Build operating models that go well beyond a budget, including scenario planning, retention and cohort economics, cash and working capital, unit economics, return frameworks, and capital allocation decisions.
- Partner directly with portfolio company leadership teams to turn analysis into operating recommendations, what to change, where to focus, and what needs to be true for the plan to work.
- Lead and support M&A work across the vertical, including acquisition modeling, diligence, synergy analysis, integration planning, financing considerations, and the value-creation roadmap after close.
- Build board- and investor-quality materials, help set finance standards across the portfolio, and raise the bar for analysts and teammates through direct feedback, crisp writing, and strong modeling discipline.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
