Strategic Finance Lead

Sail Research

• $150K — $180K *
Finance & Insurance
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-8+ years in finance roles with strong modeling experience in investment banking, growth equity, corporate development, or strategic finance/FP&A.
  • Experience in infrastructure or capital-intensive businesses like data centers or energy is a major plus.
  • Proficient in building financial models from scratch without relying on existing templates.
  • Ability to handle ambiguity and prioritize building appropriate processes for a growing startup.
  • Exposure to usage-based revenue recognition is a bonus.

Responsibilities

  • Build and manage Sail's operating profit & loss statement (P&L) to connect GPU economics with pricing and financial performance.
  • Collaborate across teams to prepare board materials, financial models, and support due diligence efforts.
  • Establish Sail's initial financial planning and analysis (FP&A) process tailored for an early-stage company.
  • Create headcount and operational expenditure planning models as the company scales, while tracking burn rate and runway.

Benefits

  • Free meals that reflect the culinary richness of San Francisco.
  • High-quality tech setup with a Studio Display at each desk.
  • A focus on investing in tools that optimize time and energy for employees.
  • Multiple options for coffee and tea preparation in the office.
  • A friendly office cat named Coco providing comfort and a relaxed atmosphere.
Full Job Description
What you'll do
  • Build and own Sail's operating P&L - the single source of truth connecting GPU cluster unit economics (cost per GPU-hour, utilization, depreciation/useful life, power costs) and how it flows down to product pricing, unit economics, and actual financial performance
  • Partner crossfunctionally on board materials: financial modeling, data room preparation, and diligence support
  • Stand up Sail's first real FP&A process: budgeting and forecasting, sized appropriately for an early-stage company rather than over-built for one
  • Develop the headcount and opex planning model as the team grows, and own burn rate and runway tracking

What we're looking for
  • 5-8+ years in finance roles with real modeling depth - investment banking, growth equity/private equity, corporate development, or strategic finance/FP&A at a high-growth company. Infrastructure or capital-intensive business experience (data centers, energy, equipment leasing, or similar) is a strong plus
  • Genuine fluency in building financial models from scratch - not just maintaining someone else's template. You should be comfortable building an operating P&L and pro forma model without a lot of hand-holding
  • Comfort with ambiguity and a preference for building the right-sized process rather than the most sophisticated one. We're early - judgment about what to build now vs. later matters as much as technical skill
  • Bonus: prior exposure to revenue recognition for usage-based/consumption billing, or experience inside a GPU cloud, data center, or other infrastructure-as-a-service business
Interview process
  1. Meet the Head of BD. You'll be working in close collaboration on compute procurement, GTM decisions, and the financial engineering behind them.
  2. Meet the CEO, who will ask about your experience and share as much detail about Sail as you want to hear.
  3. Take-home case study walking through a regular financial analysis we think through on a daily basis.
  4. Come in to Sail's SF office for an interview day. Meet the whole team, then you'll have the opportunity to present your case study describing your process, learnings, and results.
  5. Offer. Once the team decides we want to work with you, we make a strong offer quickly and will be quite persistent over email/text/calls :)
Life at Sail

We work out of a beautiful, sunny office in downtown San Francisco. All meals are on us (and actually great; SF is a food paradise and it would be a shame to eat only bowl slop). Everyone gets a Studio Display at their desk. We are serious about investing in anything that saves us time or energy. There are six different ways to make coffee or tea in the office. A friendly (hypoallergenic) black cat named Coco visits occasionally.

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