Director of Finance - Budget and Cost Management

Role Overview

We're looking for a sharp, operationally-minded finance leader to own the company’s budgeting and cost management function. Sitting within a lean, high-impact finance team at a fast-growing global AI and Agentic Tools company, this Director will serve as the key finance leader driving operating rigor, resource allocation, and scalable planning processes across the company. Reports to VP of FPA (or CFO).

Leads a team of 4-6 globally located Associates.

Location:

San Francisco Bay Area (with 60% time in Mountain View office).

• Budgeting & Planning:
  Lead the annual operating budget process across all cost centers globally, coordinating with functional heads (R&D, GTM, Core, and Operations).
• Own the budget calendar, templates, tooling, and consolidated outputs under the CFO area.
• Own company-wide headcount planning processes, including hiring tracking, capacity planning, and workforce investment analysis.
• Own cloud cost analysis and forecasting, including customer contribution margin, cloud capacity planning, and LLM/token investment analysis.
• Update the consolidated rolling forecast in close partnership with the Forecasting & Revenue Planning side of our team.
• Cost Center Management & Business Partnering:
  Serve as the primary finance business partner to cost-center owners across the organization.
• Drive monthly BVA process for each operational stakeholder to provide visibility and drive accountability to investment plans and operating targets.
• Build and maintain cost center reporting frameworks that give functional leaders real‑time visibility into spend vs. budget.
• Challenge and advise department heads on headcount, vendor spend, and project investments.
• Financial Analysis & Reporting:
  Produce monthly analysis (actuals vs. budget/forecast) with clear narratives and business insights.
• Run scenario modeling and re-forecast analysis to show outcomes under different scenarios.
• Identify and drive operational efficiency and investment optimization opportunities across the business.
• Support board reporting in partnership with the CFO.
• Process & Systems:
  Own and continuously improve budgeting systems and processes (Abacum, Thought Spot Reporting).
• Establish scalable cost management practices to support global growth across offices.

• 8 years of progressive finance experience; 2+ years in a Director or Senior Manager FP&A role or deep, multi‑department finance business partner experience.
• Planning background honed in a technology company, a recurring revenue B2B business, and in headcount‑driven cost centers.
• Deep expertise in budgeting, cost management, and OPEX analysis.
• Practical experience working with global teams and managing staff across time‑zones.
• Strong business partnering instincts with the ability to influence operating leaders, drive accountability, and improve business processes.
• Comfortable with Finance tool stack:
  Abacum, Adaptive, Net Suite, Coupa, Salesforce, and some analytics or dashboard tooling.
• Demonstrated ability to apply AI and Agents to improve business processes in most recent role.
• Bachelor’s in Finance, Accounting, Economics or STEM areas; MBA a plus.
• Comfortable operating in a lean, fast-moving environment.

In California, the estimated annual salary range for this role is $200k - $230k per year. Actual compensation may vary and will be determined based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as skills, qualifications, experience, and location of the selected candidate. Additional benefits may include equity, company bonus or sales commissions/bonuses; 401(k) plan; medical, dental, and vision benefits.