Corporate FP&A Manager, COGS & Gross Margin
Overview
A leading cloud-hosted B2B SaaS organization is seeking a hands-on Corporate FP&A Manager to own COGS planning, cloud infrastructure cost forecasting, gross margin analysis, and strategic finance initiatives. This high-impact role will provide critical visibility into cost-of-revenue drivers and help guide decisions that support efficient, scalable growth.
You will partner closely with Engineering, Cloud Operations, Support, Accounting, and executive leadership to translate complex AWS and operational data into clear financial insights. The ideal candidate can analyze cloud spend alongside technical teams, build driver-based financial models, identify opportunities to improve cost efficiency, and confidently present gross margin performance to senior leaders.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the COGS budget, forecast, monthly close support, and variance analysis.
- Develop and maintain driver-based models for cloud infrastructure, Support operations, and cost-to-serve analysis.
- Analyze AWS and cloud infrastructure spend and provide actionable recommendations.
- Partner with Engineering, Cloud Operations, and Support leadership to understand cost drivers and identify efficiency opportunities.
- Support gross margin planning, forecasting, reporting, and executive presentations.
- Work with Accounting to ensure appropriate cost classification, accruals, and financial reporting accuracy.
- Provide financial support for cloud cost optimization programs and infrastructure investment decisions.
- Develop and present gross margin bridges, operational metrics, financial trends, and business recommendations.
- Build business cases that inform infrastructure investments and Support staffing decisions.
Required Skills and Qualifications
- 6–10 years of FP&A or strategic finance experience.
- At least 3 years of experience in a B2B SaaS environment.
- At least 2–3 years of experience owning COGS and gross margin planning, forecasting, or analysis.
- Demonstrated experience managing COGS plans, forecasts, and monthly flux across hosting, third-party software, Support headcount and vendors, and allocations.
- Ability to build driver-based cost-to-serve models using metrics such as cost per TB, cost per customer, and cost per workload.
- Experience developing Support capacity models, including tickets per engineer and cost per ticket.
- Ability to read and analyze AWS Cost Explorer or Cost and Usage Report data.
- Understanding of Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, storage tiers, and egress costs.
- Strong GAAP knowledge and experience partnering closely with Accounting.
- Ability to distinguish and classify production versus non-production cloud costs.
- Advanced Excel and/or Google Sheets skills.
- Experience with a financial planning platform such as Adaptive, Anaplan, Pigment, or a similar tool.
- Experience working in NetSuite or a comparable ERP environment.
- Proven ability to partner with Engineering, Cloud Operations, and Support leadership.
- Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to explain gross margin and cost drivers clearly to technical and executive audiences.
- Energetic, data-driven, curious, and comfortable working independently in a lean environment.
Nice-to-Have Skills
- Experience in an organization with $100M–$1B in ARR.
- Experience in a private equity-backed, pre-IPO, or public company environment.
- Background in data protection, cybersecurity, storage infrastructure, or a related technology sector.
- Experience supporting enterprise cloud commitments or EDP negotiations.
- Experience partnering with Engineering teams on cloud cost optimization initiatives and savings program tracking.
- Experience remapping a COGS chart of accounts or redesigning allocation methodologies.
- SQL or business intelligence experience, including the ability to pull and analyze usage and billing data directly.
- FinOps Certified Practitioner certification.
- Experience working with globally distributed teams, including India-based Engineering organizations.
- MBA and/or CPA.
Preferred Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.
- 6–10 years of FP&A or strategic finance experience, with at least 3 years in B2B SaaS.
- Demonstrated ownership of COGS, cloud infrastructure costs, gross margin, and cost-to-serve analysis.
- Experience presenting financial results, gross margin bridges, and recommendations to CFO-level or executive audiences.
Other Requirements
- Work arrangement: Hybrid role based in Santa Clara, with onsite work required Tuesday through Thursday.
- Engagement: Initial 3-month contract with potential for contract-to-hire.
- Must be comfortable collaborating with technical, operational, accounting, and executive stakeholders.
- Must be able to work hands-on with AWS cost data and translate analysis into driver-based forecasts and business recommendations.
