# Defense Finance Lead, Strategic Finance

**Company:** [Applied Intuition](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/applied-intuition)
**Location:** Sunnyvale, CA
**Role:** Finance & Accounting
**Salary:** $175k – $230k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Financial Modeling, government budgeting, government procurement, Pricing Strategy, P&L Management, strategic deals, margin improvement, spend management, Cursor, Claude Code, AI Agents, Forecasting, recurring revenue, gross margin, security clearance
**Posted:** 2026-08-10

> Leads strategic finance for the Defense business, partnering with executives on pricing, investments, forecasting, procurement economics, and growth decisions. Requires 8+ years of relevant finance or strategy experience, strong government budgeting and procurement knowledge, and hands-on AI workflow-building experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Partner with the Head of Defense and product, engineering, and go-to-market leaders on investment decisions and strategic opportunities.
- Own the Defense business's financial picture and communicate it to the executive team and Board.
- Develop pricing and agreement structures for defense markets.
- Build models connecting price, delivery costs, and margins.
- Partner with go-to-market, Legal, and Contracts on pursue/pass decisions, proposal economics, and negotiation strategy.
- Assess defense budgets, funding sources, and timelines from customer interest to signed contract.
- Advise on R&D investment and resourcing by translating product roadmaps and customer requirements into cost, margin, and headcount implications.
- Build forecasting cadence, business reviews, reporting, and financial narratives for the Defense organization.

## Requirements
- 8+ years of finance, corporate development, or strategy experience in defense technology, defense primes, aerospace, investment banking, private equity, or related sectors.
- Deep understanding of government budgeting and procurement, including funding sources and acquisition processes.
- Experience owning business outcomes, including P&Ls, pricing decisions, strategic deals, margin improvement, and spend management.
- Hands-on experience using AI tools such as Cursor or Claude Code to automate workflows, build applications, and develop AI agents.
- Exceptional financial modeling and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, high-growth environments.
- U.S. Person status, required due to access to export-controlled information.

## Nice to Have
- Investment banking, private equity, or corporate development transaction experience, including diligence, valuation, and deal execution.
- MBA or another relevant advanced degree.
- Fluency in software business models, including recurring revenue, gross margin, retention, and software packaging.
- Active or prior security clearance, or eligibility to obtain one.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Annual salary: $175,000–$230,000.

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