Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

At Photonic the Director, FP&A is the senior strategic finance leader responsible for owning and building out the company's financial planning and analysis function. Reporting directly to the CFO, this role assumes ownership of an early-stage FP&A foundation — board reporting, budgeting, and reforecast cadences are in place — and is responsible for formalizing, deepening, and scaling that foundation into a function with the rigour the company's growth requires.

The Director defines what that looks like, sets the standard, and builds toward it.

The Director owns the output directly, supported by a dedicated finance resource. The right candidate is a senior FP&A practitioner who has formalized and scaled finance functions before, can step into day-to-day execution immediately, and has the communication skills to work effectively across technical and non-finance stakeholders.

Financial Planning & Forecasting

• Own the annual budgeting process — coordinate cross-functional submissions, consolidate inputs, challenge assumptions, and deliver a board-ready financial plan
• Maintain a rolling forecast, update projections monthly, and communicate changes and drivers to the CFO and executive team
• Build and maintain milestone-based financial models reflecting R&D development gates, capital deployment schedule, and path to commercial revenue
• Lead scenario analysis and sensitivity modelling to support capital allocation and development sequencing decisions

Performance Reporting & Business Partnering

• Produce monthly and quarterly budget-to-actual variance analysis with clear driver explanations across R&D spend, headcount, and operating expenditure
• Track and report on pre-commercial financial metrics: burn rate, cash runway, R&D spend efficiency, headcount-to-milestone ratios, and capital deployment pacing
• Build and maintain KPI dashboards and management reporting frameworks for internal leadership and board use
• Partner with department leads on financial context, headcount tracking, and spend analysis

Function Building

• Formalise and extend FP&A templates, cadences, and reporting standards — building on the existing foundation toward a scalable, audit-ready function
• Evaluate and improve FP&A tooling in coordination with the Finance Systems & Data Lead
• Leverage AI-enabled tools (e.g., Copilot, AI-assisted modelling/automation) to improve forecast accuracy, accelerate analysis, and streamline recurring reporting workflows
• Define the FP&A operating model — review cadences, stakeholder touchpoints, and reporting rhythms across the business
• Build and document FP&A processes to a standard that supports scale, audit readiness, and continuity
• Coordinate with Sr. Accountant, Strategic Finance for actuals data, operational inputs, and variance preparation
• Define team structure and hiring roadmap as the function scales

• CPA designation (CPA Canada)
• 10+ years of progressive finance experience with direct ownership of budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis.
• 5+ years owning FP&A at a senior level with demonstrated experience building and/or significantly scaling FP&A functions.
• Demonstrated experience building FP&A infrastructure in an R&D-intensive or pre-commercial technology environment
• Demonstrated experience supporting a fundraising round or public company readiness process in Canada
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead a finance team, including defining roles, hiring, and developing talent
• Fluency in pre-commercial financial metrics: burn rate, cash runway, R&D spend efficiency, headcount-to-milestone ratios, and capital deployment tracking
• Strong communication skills — able to translate financial complexity for non-finance stakeholders including scientists and engineers
• Advanced financial modelling proficiency; experience with FP&A planning tools (Adaptive Insights or equivalent)
• Demonstrated experience using AI tools to accelerate analysis, automate repeatable work, and enhance clarity and quality of deliverables (with strong judgment around data confidentiality)

Preferred Qualifications

• CFA designation is a strong asset
• SQL or BI tool proficiency (Tableau, Power BI, Looker)
• Famil…