Finance Business Partner

Overview

Finance department role based in the USA.

This position serves as the primary finance partner for the Academic/GFN segment and the Sales and Marketing teams. The role owns financial performance for these areas, including month-end review, validation of revenue and ARR against sales activity, and ownership of forecasting and budgeting. The finance partner works closely with senior business leaders, providing analysis and decision support.

Responsibilities

Month-End and Monthly Reporting

• Review monthly financial accounts in detail, identify material corrections, and explain key variances
• Provide business-context commentary on results and highlight where action is needed
• Produce clear monthly reporting for each business area, review it with stakeholders, and hold teams accountable for delivering agreed actions

Revenue and ARR

• Understand monthly revenue in detail and ensure reported revenue aligns with sales activity
• Validate reported ARR each month by partnering with the business and understanding segment sales activity
• Identify where action is needed to improve performance (e.g., delayed renewals)
• Understand the status and lifecycle of non-recurring revenue on the books

Planning and Forecasting

• Lead cost, revenue, and headcount forecasting and budgeting for assigned business areas, meeting guidelines and timelines
• Explain business changes clearly using charts, tables, and waterfall analyses with appropriate context
• Challenge assumptions such as cost growth and hiring timing to build a robust forecast that minimizes rework
• Provide the business with a monthly view of expected landing positions so corrective action or early warnings can be raised
• Ensure allocations to segments are accurate and that changes are understood and explainable

Decision Support

• Support the business with robust analysis, flexible financial models, and clear explanations across:
  • Pricing strategies
  • Business cases (e.g., new products or restructuring)
  • Trends
  • Accounting treatment
  • Other business questions

Continuous Improvement

• Review current ways of working and drive changes that improve output and efficiency
• Share best practices with the wider team
• Take ownership of issues and drive them to satisfactory resolution
• Identify opportunities to use systems for improved control and automation

Requirements

• Finance business partnering experience across both cost and revenue areas
• Experience delivering discrete budgets and forecasts for specific business areas, on time and to target
• Sound understanding of ARR, sales processes, and revenue recognition principles
• Ability to work with imperfect data and still reach robust conclusions
• Strong modeling and analytical skills, translating granular data into clear, decision-useful recommendations
• Ability to build credibility with senior stakeholders and challenge them
• Driven, inquisitive, collaborative, with initiative and strong ownership
• Professional finance qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA, or CPA) or 5+ years of relevant experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a SaaS business
• Experience with NetSuite and Anaplan

Compensation & Benefits

• Not specified in the provided job description.

Location

• USA

Note: Due to business need, only candidates who reside in the USA, where the organization has an established legal entity, can be considered. Applications submitted from outside this area will not be considered.

This position may be closed early if a high volume of applications is received; applicants are encouraged to apply promptly.

Equal Opportunity

The employer is an equal opportunity employer and will consider applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.