Finance business partnering experience across both cost and revenue areas.
Experience delivering discrete budgets and forecasts for specific business areas on time and to target.
A sound understanding of annual recurring revenue, sales processes, and revenue recognition principles.
Ability to work with imperfect data and still reach robust conclusions.
Strong modeling and analytical skills, with the ability to turn granular data into clear, decision-useful recommendations.
Ability to build credibility with senior stakeholders and challenge them.
Professional finance qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA, or CPA), or at least five years of relevant experience.
Responsibilities
Review monthly financial accounts in detail, identify material corrections, and explain key variances.
Provide commentary on results with business context and highlight where the business needs to act.
Produce clear monthly reporting for each business area, review it with the business, and hold the business accountable for delivering agreed actions.
Understand monthly revenue in detail and ensure reported revenue aligns with sales activity.
Validate reported annual recurring revenue each month by working closely with the business and understanding the segment’s sales activity.
Identify where the business needs to act to improve performance, such as delayed renewals.
Understand the status and lifecycle of non-recurring revenue on the books.
Lead cost, revenue, and headcount forecasting and budgeting for assigned business areas, meeting guidelines and timelines.
Explain business changes using charts, tables, and waterfalls with appropriate context.
Challenge assumptions such as cost growth and hiring timing to build a robust forecast that does not need major rework.
Provide the business with a monthly view of expected landing positions so corrective action or early warnings can be raised.
Ensure allocations to segments are accurate and that changes are understood and explainable.
Support the business with robust analysis, flexible financial models, and clear explanations across pricing strategies, business cases such as new products or restructuring, trends, accounting treatment, and other business questions.
Review existing ways of working and drive changes that improve output or efficiency.
Share best practice with the wider team.
Take ownership of issues and drive them to a satisfactory resolution.
Identify where systems could be used more for control and automation.
Desired Qualifications
Experience in a software-as-a-service business.
Experience with NetSuite and Anaplan.
About us
We are Digital Science and we are advancing the research ecosystem.
We are a pioneering technology company, and our vision is of a future where a trusted and collaborative research ecosystem drives progress for all. We believe in better, open, collaborative and inclusive research. In creating the next generation of tools and working in partnership with the community we tackle some of the biggest challenges to research. In order to achieve our vision, we need innovative, inspiring and dynamic people to join our team. Want to join us?
Your new role
We are looking for a Finance Business Partner to be the go-to finance person for our Academic/GFN segment and our Sales and Marketing teams.
In this role, you will own the numbers for your areas. That means reviewing monthly results, explaining what is driving them, validating revenue and ARR against real sales activity, and leading the forecast and budget. You will sit alongside business leaders, including the EVP of Academic/GFN and the Chief Revenue Officer, and you will be trusted to ask the hard questions and help them make confident, well-informed decisions.
Please note - due to business need, we can only consider applications from candidates based in the Boston or Washington, DC area, where we have established legal entities.
If you apply from outside of these areas, your application will not be considered.
Please be aware that we may close this position early if we receive a high volume of applications, so we encourage you to apply promptly.
Month End and Monthly Reporting
Review monthly financial accounts in detail, identify material corrections and explain key variances
Provide commentary on results with business context, and highlight where the business needs to act
Produce clear monthly reporting for each business area, review it with them, and hold them accountable for delivering agreed actions
Revenue and ARR
Understand monthly revenue in detail and make sure reported revenue aligns with sales activity
Validate reported ARR each month by working closely with the business and understanding the segment’s sales activity
Spot where the business needs to act to improve performance, for example delayed renewals
Understand the status and lifecycle of non-recurring revenue on the books
Planning and Forecasting
Lead cost, revenue and headcount forecasting and budgeting for your business areas, meeting all guidelines and timelines
Explain changes in the business clearly using charts, tables and waterfalls with the right context
Challenge assumptions such as cost growth and hiring timing to build a robust forecast that doesn’t need major rework
Give the business a monthly view of expected landing positions so corrective action or early warnings can be raised
Make sure allocations to segments are accurate and any changes are understood and explainable
Decision Support
Support the business with robust analysis, flexible financial models and clear explanations across
Pricing strategies
Business cases, for example new products or restructuring
Trends
Accounting treatment
Other business questions
Continuous Improvement
Review existing ways of working and drive changes that improve output or efficiency
Share best practice with the wider team
Take ownership of issues and drive them to a satisfactory resolution
Identify where systems could be used more for control and automation
Finance business partnering experience across both cost and revenue areas
Experience delivering discrete budgets and forecasts for specific business areas, on time and to target
Sound understanding of ARR, sales processes and revenue recognition principles
Ability to work with imperfect data and still reach robust conclusions
Strong modeling and analytical skills, with the ability to turn granular data into clear, decision-useful recommendations
Ability to build credibility with senior stakeholders and challenge them
Driven, inquisitive and collaborative, with initiative and a strong sense of ownership
Professional finance qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA or CPA), or 5+ years of relevant experience.