Strategic Finance Lead - AI
At a glance
Senior FP&A role at Perplexity. San Francisco · full-time · $190,000–$240,000 base.
financeroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build forecasts for inference and model expenses, then explain monthly gaps between plan and actuals
- Reconcile product revenue and serving costs from usage data to track margins across products and tiers
- Assess how provider pricing, model routing and deployments affect costs, margins and product pricing choices
- Work with product, inference and data engineering teams to turn usage patterns into financial models
- Explain AI product cost and margin findings to leaders in clear financial terms
What you bring
- At least four years in strategic finance, investing, consulting or banking, preferably tied to software or AI products
- Background in AI, machine learning or usage-based businesses with complex cost structures
- Experience managing product finances for AI or LLMs, including work with model providers or inference platforms
- Strong financial modeling skills and knowledge of usage pricing, subscription economics and margin attribution
Who this fits
This senior role suits someone who can turn technical usage and cost data into financial guidance for product and pricing decisions. You’ll work across finance, product, inference and data engineering, and communicate with non-finance audiences. The role is based in San Francisco and requires in-person attendance two to three days each week.
From the employer
About the Role
We are seeking a Strategic Finance Lead to help lead the economics of our AI products. In this role, you will be a key partner to our product, inference, and data teams, providing financial expertise to optimize model spend and drive pricing and margin decisions.
In this role, you'll develop deep expertise in the unit economics of AI products, from per-request serving cost to consolidated product-level margin across our portfolio. You'll build the models that inform Perplexity's pricing, packaging, and model-deployment decisions, own the product-margin methodology that reconciles revenue and inference cost from production data, and translate complex model economics into clear financial narratives for leadership.
This is a high-impact role for someone who thrives at the intersection of finance and AI product strategy, and who is energized by building frameworks from scratch in a fast-moving environment.
This position is based in San Francisco and requires in-person attendance 2-3 days per week.
Key Responsibilities
Finance lead for inference and model spend, including budgeting, monthly forecasting, variance analysis, and financial plan maintenance
Build and maintain product-margin models across the product portfolio, reconciling revenue, serving cost, and gross margin from production usage data
Develop deep expertise in model provider contracts, pricing structures, and cost drivers, and surface optimization opportunities across the model portfolio and routing mix
Serve as subject matter expert for product unit economics, owning source of truth on cost per request, margin by product and tier, and customer-segment and feature-level economics
Own the consolidated model-cost forecast, translating product roadmaps and model transitions into forward-looking spend and margin trajectories
Analyze the margin impact of pricing, packaging, and model-deployment decisions, distilled into a framework for product and pricing strategy
Partner closely with product, inference, and data engineering to understand how usage and serving cost scale, and translate those technical dynamics into financial frameworks
You May Be a Good Fit If You Have
Exceptional analytical skills with an ability to synthesize data into compelling insights and develop complex financial operating models
Extraordinary problem-solving and critical thinking abilities to develop new frameworks for assessing product margin and unit economics in a rapidly evolving industry
Attention to detail and patience for getting to the source of truth on complex and interconnected usage, revenue, and cost data
Comfort working cross-functionally and are adept at communicating complex financial information to non-finance audiences
Sound commercial judgment across pricing, packaging, discounting, and the tradeoffs between growth and margin
A proven track record of partnering with technical and product teams to drive financial optimization initiatives
A bias toward action, strong work ethic, and experience driving operational outcomes under tight timelines
Background in AI, ML, or consumption-based business models with complex cost structures
Preferred Qualifications
4+ years of experience in strategic finance, private equity, growth equity, consulting, or investment banking, preferably with software or AI product experience
Experience in AI or LLM product financial management, including direct work with model providers or inference platforms
Deep expertise in usage-based pricing, subscription economics, and gross-margin and COGS attribution by customer and model family
Experience with model serving economics, including how latency, throughput, and token usage flow through to margin performance
Proficiency with financial modeling tools