Director of FP&A

TL;DRAs Director of FP&A, you'll own the numbers that run Harper: the plan, the forecast, the cash, and the story we tell our board and investors. Remote, high ownership, and close to every major decision we make. We are looking for someone who can build a great operating model, partner with department heads as a peer, and walk into a board meeting and explain what the numbers mean, not just what they are. You've built finance functions at venture- or PE-backed software companies, and you're ready to be the strategic finance partner at a company where your work shapes the outcome. If that sounds like you, read on.

Role Overview

The Director of FP&A is Harper's strategic finance lead—the person leadership turns to for a clear view of where the business is, where it's heading, and what it will take to get there. You'll own planning, forecasting, cash, and board reporting, and you'll be a hands-on partner on pricing, partner economics, fundraising, and strategic transactions.

This is a role for someone who is as comfortable in the operating model as in the room with the CEO and the board. You'll build the annual plan with each department head, keep a rolling forecast honest, and turn the data in Salesforce, Xero, Ramp, and Carta into a single source of truth for the metrics that matter—ARR, MRR, NRR, burn, and runway.

You'll also work with our accounting resources to make sure the books are accurate, on time, and audit-ready—without needing to run every journal entry yourself.

We move fast, wear many hats, and value people who flex to get things done. You won't inherit a finance playbook for most things; instead you'll help write it.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Planning & Analysis

• Build the annual operating plan and budget in partnership with each department head, and take it through to board approval.
• Own the rolling forecast for revenue, expenses, headcount, and cash, plus the runway model.
• Build scenario models for headcount, pricing, partner terms, and downside cases so leadership can make decisions with eyes open.
• Forecast revenue from the Salesforce pipeline and the operating model, and own headcount planning and fully loaded cost per role.

What success looks like: Leadership has a plan they trust, a forecast that holds up, and no surprises on cash or runway.

Unit Economics, Pricing & Partner Economics

• Analyze gross margin by customer and channel, cost to serve, and cloud hosting spend (Linode/Akamai, AWS, GCP).
• Support the deal desk with pricing and deal economics on enterprise opportunities.
• Model partner economics for Akamai and new channel partners, and pressure-test proposed terms before we sign.
• Define our KPIs and maintain one source of truth for metrics (ARR, MRR, NRR, burn, runway) across the company.

What success looks like: Every pricing and partner decision is backed by clear economics, and everyone at Harper uses the same numbers.

Board & Investor Reporting

• Own the financial section and KPI pages of the board deck, and the board-approved budget.
• Track financing agreement milestones and conditions, and keep leadership ahead of upcoming obligations.
• Respond to investor and portfolio requests, including reporting and benchmarking.
• Provide the financial inputs for quarterly stockholder updates and the weekly leadership summary.

What success looks like: The board and investors get accurate, timely, and insightful reporting, and see finance as a strength of the company.

Equity, Capital & Strategic Transactions

• Coordinate the cap table with legal and Carta, and own stock-based compensation expense.
• Lead fundraising support: the model, the data room, and diligence responses.
• Support strategic transactions with modeling, diligence, and quality-of-earnings preparation.
• Track convertible notes and debt instruments.

What success looks like: Harper is always diligence-ready, and capital events move quickly because the numbers are already in order.

Systems, Process & Controls

• Own the finance stack (Xero, Ramp, Salesforce, the operating model, Carta) and how the tools connect.
• Run the close calendar and the budget calendar.
• Set approval policies and spend controls, and document finance processes so they scale.

What success looks like: Finance runs on a predictable rhythm, with controls that protect the company without slowing it down.

Success in This Role Looks Like

• Harper has a board-approved plan and a rolling forecast leadership actually uses to make decisions.
• Pricing, deal, and partner decisions are grounded in clear unit economics.
• The board and investors receive accurate, on-time, and insightful reporting.
• Metrics have one definition and one source of truth across the company.
• The close is timely and clean, and the company is ready for diligence or audit at any time.

What This Role Is Not

This role is intentionally different from many traditional finance positions. To ensure clarity and alignment, it is important to understand what this role is not:

• Not a reporting-only role. We need someone who shapes decisions, not just someone who produces the numbers after the fact. You'll have a point of view and share it.
• Not a hands-on controller role. You'll oversee accounting and the close and be accountable for their quality, but your center of gravity is planning, analysis, and strategic finance.
• Not a big-company finance seat. There is no large team underneath you and no established playbook. You'll build models, processes, and controls from the ground up.
• Not a narrowly scoped function. The role spans planning, board reporting, pricing, partner economics, capital, vendors, and systems—comfort across strategic, operational, and interpersonal dimensions is required.

Qualifications

Required

• Deep FP&A and strategic finance experience (top priority). 8–12+ years in FP&A, strategic finance, or a related finance leadership role, including time at a venture- or PE-backed software company.
• Board and investor reporting. You've owned the financial section of a board deck and built a board-approved budget.
• Exceptional modeling skills. You can build an operating model, revenue forecast, cash forecast, and scenario models from scratch—and make them easy for others to use.
• SaaS and usage-based revenue fluency. You understand ARR, MRR, NRR, gross margin, and cost to serve, including channel and usage-based revenue.
• Accounting foundation. Strong working knowledge of GAAP, revenue recognition, and the monthly close, with the judgment to oversee accounting work done by others.
• Capital and transaction experience. Exposure to fundraising, diligence, cap table management, or strategic transactions.
• Comfort with ambiguity and ownership. You thrive in fast-moving, early-stage environments and hold yourself accountable for outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills. You can translate the numbers into clear recommendations for department heads, executives, and the board.

Preferred

• Experience modeling partner or channel economics and supporting a deal desk.
• Experience with infrastructure, database, or cloud software businesses and their hosting cost structures.
• Experience implementing or improving finance systems and spend controls at a growing company.
• CPA, CFA, or MBA.

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience with Xero, Ramp, Salesforce, and Carta.
• Fluency with AI tools to speed up analysis, modeling, and reporting.

Tools We Use

Xero, Ramp, Salesforce, Carta, Google Workspace (Sheets), Slack, Zoom, Microsoft tools.

Why This Role Matters at Harper

The Director of FP&A is how Harper turns ambition into a plan it can execute. This role gives leadership and the board a clear, trusted view of the business, grounds every major decision—pricing, partnerships, hiring, and capital—in sound economics, and makes sure we have the runway to get where we're going. As Harper scales through partnerships and enterprise growth, strong financial leadership is what lets us move fast with confidence.

Originally posted on Himalayas