What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Strategic Finance Analyst position at DDN?
This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.
"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC
“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA
DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence.
Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management.
Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage.
Job Description
The Senior Strategic Finance Analyst will work across three of DDN's core finance coverage areas — Corporate FP&A, R&D/Product Finance, and G&A — supporting financial planning, analysis, and reporting that directly informs how the business is run . This is a cross-functional role with broad exposure: you'll contribute to the corporate planning cycle, partner with Engineering and Product leadership on R&D investment decisions, and support G&A cost management and reporting — all while helping build the foundational processes and infrastructure a scaling finance team needs.
Corporate FP&A will be the primary focus area, with R&D/Product Finance as the next most common workstream and G&A as a supporting piece. The ideal candidate is analytical, operationally minded, and comfortable toggling between different parts of the business without losing rigor or context. This is a high-growth, pre-IPO environment where you'll have more ownership and visibility than a typical senior analyst role.
Key Responsibilities
Corporate FP&A
Education & Experience
DDN
DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities:
Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives.
Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable.
Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful.
Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.
DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC
“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA
DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence.
Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management.
Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage.
Job Description
The Senior Strategic Finance Analyst will work across three of DDN's core finance coverage areas — Corporate FP&A, R&D/Product Finance, and G&A — supporting financial planning, analysis, and reporting that directly informs how the business is run . This is a cross-functional role with broad exposure: you'll contribute to the corporate planning cycle, partner with Engineering and Product leadership on R&D investment decisions, and support G&A cost management and reporting — all while helping build the foundational processes and infrastructure a scaling finance team needs.
Corporate FP&A will be the primary focus area, with R&D/Product Finance as the next most common workstream and G&A as a supporting piece. The ideal candidate is analytical, operationally minded, and comfortable toggling between different parts of the business without losing rigor or context. This is a high-growth, pre-IPO environment where you'll have more ownership and visibility than a typical senior analyst role.
Key Responsibilities
Corporate FP&A
- Support the end-to-end corporate financial planning cycle — annual operating plan, quarterly forecasting, monthly close reporting, and variance analysis.
- Help build and maintain integrated financial models (P&L, cash flow, long-range plan) and support scenario analysis and ad-hoc modeling requests.
- Prepare monthly and quarterly reporting deliverables including close decks, variance analysis, and internal financial packages for the broader finance team, senior leadership, and BOD.
- Partner with Accounting to ensure accuracy and alignment, and improvements in our financial reporting.
- Help identify and implement process improvements, reporting automation, and data infrastructure enhancements
- Support financial planning and analysis for Engineering and Product organizations — budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis for headcount, non-payroll spend , and infrastructure costs.
- Help develop and maintain KPI reporting and analysis that tie R&D investment to business outcomes.
- Support modeling on build-vs-buy, program investment, and other ad-hoc business decisions as they arise.
- Contribute to understanding DDN's evolving product economics — how pricing, packaging, and cost structure impact margins as the business evolves
- Support budgeting, forecasting, and spend tracking for G&A functions (Finance, Legal, HR, IT, Facilities, etc.).
- Analyze non-payroll spend trends and partner with department leads to identify efficiency opportunities.
- Help build reporting frameworks that give G&A leaders visibility into their financial performance and assist in any ad-hoc requests.
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Finance , Accounting, Economics, or related quantitative field; MBA or CPA a plus .
- 4–6 years in FP&A, corporate finance, investment banking, or management consulting. Experience at a high-growth, pre-IPO, or scaling technology company a plus .
- Strong financial modeling skills in Excel — comfortable building and maintaining models, not just populating templates. Analytical and detail-oriented with the ability to synthesize data into actionable insights for different audiences.
- Excellent communicator who can present clearly to senior leadership and partner effectively with non-finance stakeholders.
- Advanced Excel required . SQL proficiency or strong willingness to develop it — comfort at the intersection of finance and data is a differentiator. Experience with planning tools (Adaptive, Anaplan , Pigment), ERP systems (Workday), and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) a plus .
DDN
DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities:
Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives.
Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable.
Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful.
Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.
DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Salary : $160,000