About the Role:We are hiring a Strategic Finance Manager, Product (EPD) to partner with Engineering and Product to drive unit economics, infrastructure efficiency, and margin expansion across Vercel's consumption-based platform.
This role spans cloud infrastucture & token spend, as well as emerging AI workloads (inference, gateways, and compute-intensive services). You will define how we measure and optimize the cost and profitability of every request, workload, and AI interaction on the platform.
What You Will Do:Infrastructure & AI COGS Ownership- Own financial visibility into compute, bandwidth, storage, and AI-related costs (e.g., inference, GPU/accelerated workloads)
- Translate product and infrastructure usage (requests, execution time, tokens, etc.) into clear cost drivers
- Partner with EPD to drive cost-efficient architecture and scaling decisions
Cost Visibility & Accountability- Build self-service cost tooling for Product and Engineering (cost per request, per workload, per AI query)
- Enable teams to own and optimize their infrastructure footprint
- Standardize cost attribution across products and multi-tenant systems
Efficiency & Margin Expansion- Lead infrastructure and AI efficiency initiatives (compute optimization, caching, vendor strategy)
- Define north star metrics (e.g., cost per request, cost per AI call, cost per GB)
- Embed cost efficiency into roadmaps and product decisions
Cost Allocation & Financial Rigor- Develop scalable cost allocation frameworks across products, customers, and workloads
- Improve gross margin visibility, including AI product margins
- Support auditability and IPO readiness
Cross-Cutting WorkstreamsUnit Economics- Define product-level unit economics across Vercel's product suite
- Connect usage (requests, compute, tokens, etc) to revenue and COGS
COGS / Gross Margin Forecasting- Build driver-based models linking usage, revenue, and infrastructure costs
- Forecast COGS across core platform and AI products for both PLG & SLG segments
- Model margin impact of scale and efficiency improvements
Pricing & Packaging- Partner on usage-based and AI pricing models
- Evaluate tradeoffs between growth, adoption, and margin
- Ensure pricing is reflected in forecasts and unit economics
About You:- 5-8+ years in Strategic Finance, FP&A, IB, or Consulting
- Experience with consumption-based or cloud infrastructure businesses
- Strong modeling skills; experience with driver-based forecasting
- Ability to partner with technical teams and translate usage 12 financial insight
- SQL / data tooling experience strongly preferred
Benefits:- Competitive compensation package, including equity.
- Inclusive Healthcare Package.
- Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.
- Flexible Time Off.
- We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.
The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $180,000-$220,000. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
