Principal Financial Analyst

Principal Financial Analyst

Reporting to the Manager of FP&A, the Principal Financial Analyst will be a professional, independent, and self-motivated individual focused on supporting revenue and expense operations at Blackbaud. This role requires strong financial acumen with a complete understanding of all financial statements, the ability to extract and manipulate data from multiple systems, expertise in translating complex datasets into clear, intuitive dashboards and visual stories, and exceptional communication skills to influence and support senior leadership. The ideal candidate combines strong financial expertise with hands-on technical skills in automating reports and analysis, partners directly with business leaders, and helps modernize how FP&A delivers insights.

Work Location & Schedule

Work Location: Sky tech, Financial District, Hyderabad, India

Work Schedule:

• This role supports customers and stakeholders primarily during U.S. business hours. 
• Expected working hours are 11:00 AM to 08:00 PM IST, with occasional flexibility required to support collaboration with U.S.-based teams and business needs. 
• Participation in after-hours support rotations and select holiday coverage may be required based on product, region, or business needs. 

Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate delivery and improve quality and actively experiment with emerging capabilities as they evolve.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

Financial Planning & Analysis –

· Support annual budgeting, quarterly forecasting and long-range planning processes.

· Ensure data integrity across reporting tools and systems.

· Provide variance analysis with clear narrative on drivers.

· Develop thorough, high-quality presentations suitable for senior-level, executive, and strategic audiences.

Business Partnering –

· Act as a trusted finance partner to assigned business units/functional leaders, translating financial data into actionable insights.

· Support and lead budgeting, forecasting, and monthly business reviews with leadership.

· Influence business decisions through data-backed recommendations, not just reporting.

· Proposes/influences initiatives working with business partners to deliver improved financial outcomes.

· Effectively can lead and manage meetings with senior leadership with no support.

Reporting & Process Automation –

· Own and continuously improve automated reporting pipelines, including dashboards, management reports, and KPI packs.

· Identify opportunities to streamline processes/reports, improve data quality and enhance reporting capabilities by using automated tools.

· Build and maintain models/dashboards in tools such as Excel (advanced), Power BI/Tableau/Qlik.

· Leverage scripting languages such as Python or VBA, workflow automation platforms, and AI-enabled productivity tools to reduce manual effort and improve reporting efficiency.

· Partner with data and IT teams to ensure clean, scalable data pipelines that support FP&A reporting.

· Ensure data integrity and consistency across reporting tools and systems.

Leader & Mentor –

· Supervise/lead projects within the team (but no direct people management) cross functional leadership.

· Suggest and develop alternative solutions to current standards and processes and leads the changes through to completion.

· Helps resolve conflicts within team.

· Informal team lead who mentors junior members of the team.

Required Qualifications:

· 8+ years of experience in financial analysis, FP&A, or data analytics.

· Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, engineering or related fields.

· Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills.

· Advanced proficiency in building dashboards and automated reports in visualization tools (Power BI/Tableau/Qlik).

· Comfortable working with AI-enabled tools to improve productivity, automate routine analysis, enhance reporting efficiency, and support better financial insights while applying sound judgment and maintaining data confidentiality.

· Familiarity with SQL, Python or other data manipulation languages for reporting solutions.

· Proven track record of automating or re-engineering finance reporting processes.

· Strong business partnering experience – comfortable presenting to and influencing senior stakeholders.

· Excellent communication skills, able to simplify complex financial data for non-finance audiences.

· Experience in a SaaS or technology company is preferred.

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Blackbaud powers social impact through purpose‑driven technology and responsible AI. Guided by our Intelligence for Good® vision, we’re building a culture where innovation, trust, and human expertise come together to help organizations make a greater difference in the world.

Blackbaud is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining an inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.