Strategic Finance Lead, Product & Engineering
Role Description
We are seeking a Strategic Finance Lead to serve as a key partner to Plaid’s Engineering and Product organization. This person will own product-level revenue and gross margin forecasting, as well as the analytical frameworks that guide how Plaid deploys capital and allocates resources across these areas.
As the Strategic Finance Lead, Product & Engineering, you will lead the finance partnership for a set of critical product areas, working directly with the relevant Product and Engineering leaders.
Responsibilities
- Product-Level Forecasting. Own revenue and gross margin forecasts for your product areas, balancing bottom-up builds with top-down sanity checks to arrive at the most robust point of view.
- Resource Allocation & Capacity Planning. Partner with Product and Engineering leaders on headcount planning, roadmap-based capacity forecasting, and OpEx discipline, surfacing and supporting the resolution of trade-offs.
- Performance Visibility. Own the recurring reporting cadence for your product areas, including KPI tracking, variance analysis, and the early identification of risks and opportunities.
- Cross-Functional Partnership. Serve as the primary finance partner to Product and Engineering leaders in your areas, and coordinate with GTM Finance on go-to-market approach, targets and economics.
- Board & Executive Materials. Contribute analysis and narrative to the quarterly Board deck and ad hoc strategic reviews.
- Mentorship. Mentor junior members of the Strategic Finance team in financial modeling, analytical rigor, and stakeholder management.
Qualifications
- 8+ years of experience in FP&A, strategic finance, management consulting, investment banking, or private equity, including direct exposure to product or engineering finance at a high-growth technology company.
- Strong command of product P&L mechanics, including revenue and gross margin forecasting, headcount and capacity planning, and software unit economics.
- Comfortable owning ambiguous, judgment-intensive problems with minimal oversight, while exercising sound judgment about when to escalate.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to distill complex analysis into a clear narrative for Product, Engineering, and executive audiences.
- A natural mentor who is energized by developing junior team members, even without a formal reporting line.
- Experience partnering directly with Product or Engineering leaders is strongly preferred. Fintech or financial services experience is a plus but not required.