Strategic Finance Manager | Series B AI | San Fran

Ember Search has been retained on a Strategic Finance Manager search for one of the fastest-growing AI platforms in legal tech, backed by top-tier VCs at a $1B valuation.

Our client is transforming how plaintiff law firms operate, bringing automation and AI to a $500B underserved segment of the legal market. The company recently closed the largest Series B in legal tech history, has scaled 10x ARR in the past year, and is targeting another 5x in the year ahead. With 30 to 40 months of runway secured and a clear path to $100M ARR, this is a rare opportunity to join a category-defining company at an inflection point.

This is a newly created, founding Strategic Finance hire focused on R&D and Engineering. You will own the intersection of finance, data, and technical operations, partnering daily with product and engineering leaders to surface insights, optimize infrastructure costs, and drive measurable impact on gross margin.

Location: San Mateo, CA — Hybrid (3 days/week in office, Mon to Wed)

The Role

You will sit at the center of finance and engineering, building the analytical foundation that supports R&D decision-making as the company scales toward $100M ARR.

You will:

• Partner daily with engineering and product leaders to understand infrastructure spend and identify cost reduction opportunities
• Own cloud cost, LLM cost, and R&D infrastructure analysis, including modeling spend, negotiating contracts, and optimizing the tech stack
• Write SQL independently to pull data directly from Snowflake, build tables and dashboards, and surface insights the engineering team can act on
• Build and maintain analytics and reporting frameworks that connect engineering decisions to financial outcomes
• Collaborate with finance leadership on board materials and company-wide planning as it relates to R&D
• Lay the foundation for the analytics function with potential to expand into product ops over time

Candidate Profile

• 4 to 8 years of experience in Strategic Finance, FP&A, or Analytics at a high-growth SaaS, AI, or technical infrastructure company
• Strong SQL proficiency and ability to work independently in data warehouses such as Snowflake (non-negotiable)
• STEM, data science, or engineering academic background strongly preferred
• Sharp communicator able to translate technical data into business decisions and build rapport with engineers
• Track record of building from zero and thriving in ambiguity
• Investment banking background a plus

Why This Role

This is a founding seat reporting directly to the Head of Finance, with a clear runway to grow into senior leadership as the analytics function scales. Unlike traditional FP&A roles, this seat is deeply embedded with engineering and product, with full ownership of the R&D financial lens and direct exposure to the CEO and board. You will build the analytics function from scratch, lay the groundwork for a future team, and have measurable impact on gross margin in your first year. For an analytically sharp operator who wants to sit at the intersection of finance and engineering at one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the market, the seat is rare.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Ember Search and our client are equal opportunity employers. We are committed to building diverse and inclusive teams and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other protected status.