Head of Strategic FP&A

Responsibilities

• Hire, develop, and lead a high-performing FP&A team as the company scales. Establish team culture, operating standards, and career paths while remaining deeply hands-on in the highest-stakes strategic initiatives.
• Architect an AI-powered, tech-forward FP&A organization. Empower the team with automation and modern data workflows to accelerate financial modeling, variance reporting, and scenario planning.
• Design, architect, and lead the annual budget cycle and rolling quarterly re-forecasts. Partner directly with executive leadership and department heads (Product, Engineering, Marketing, Ops) to build driver-based operational budgets and headcount plans aligned with core business goals.
• Establish spending discipline and monthly BvA cadences across the company. Analyze variance drivers, hold department leaders accountable to budget targets, and surface proactive risk-mitigation options when expenses or revenues deviate from plan.
• Build, maintain, and continuously upgrade the multi-year three-statement corporate model. Translate high-level strategic goals into granular financial roadmaps.
• Deep-dive into platform economics—including creator monetization, subscription take-rates, reader LTV/CAC, churn dynamics, and payment processing margins—to inform pricing, budget allocation, and product investment decisions.
• Own financial reporting for executive leadership, the Board of Directors, and investors. Prepare board decks, investor updates, and scenario models for future capital raises or strategic transactions.

Requirements

• 5–10 years of total experience, starting with foundational years at a top-tier investment bank (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs), private equity firm, or top management consulting firm (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), followed by high-impact Strategic Finance or FP&A experience at a fast-growing tech company.
• Top-tier undergraduate or MBA (HBS, Stanford, Wharton, etc.) preferred.
• Demonstrated ability or clear readiness to recruit, manage, and mentor top-tier quantitative talent. Ability to set high operational standards, delegate effectively, and scale a team without adding bureaucratic noise.
• Naturally use cutting-edge AI workflows, automation, and modern tools to multiply leverage. Actively eliminate manual repetitive work, baseline reporting, and data ingestion tasks.
• Experience building and running company-wide annual budgeting cycles. Ability to drive cross-functional alignment, enforce budget discipline, and streamline planning cycles across complex organizations.
• Exceptional financial modeling capability paired with hands-on data manipulation skills (familiarity with Snowflake, Looker, Python/R, or modern FP&A stack a plus).
• Able to translate detailed financial outputs into concise, persuasive executive recommendations for the CEO, CFO, and Board members. Low ego, high hustle, with the gravitas to partner effectively with senior executives.

Nice-to-Haves

• Familiarity with Snowflake, Looker, Python/R, or modern FP&A stack.

Compensation

Substack’s compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $200,000 - $300,000. Multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, determine final offer amounts and may vary from the amounts listed above.