Strategic Finance Lead - Ai
perplexity
Híbrido
San Francisco
AI
Advertising
Job Score
100 pts
Hybrid model (+80)
AI (+10)
Advertising (+10)
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
What did you think of this job?
Loading comments...
About Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is currently the fastest-growing field in the technology market. The revolution in generative models (GPT, Claude, Gemini) has created massive demand for AI-specialized professionals.
Key areas of practice include Machine Learning Engineering, MLOps, Prompt Engineering, AI Research, and Applied AI. Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, and LLM knowledge are essential skills.
AI salaries are the highest in the technology sector, with many remote work opportunities at international companies.
About Advertising
The Advertising area is aimed at the planning, creation, and delivery of communication campaigns to promote brands, products, ideas, or services. Professionals in the sector work in advertising agencies or in-house marketing departments in creative fields (art direction, copywriting), strategic planning, account management, and media buying.
Discover Other Areas
Understand the scope of work, key skills, and tools used in different career areas.
About Cloud Solutions
The Cloud Solutions area is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing cloud infrastructure and services (AWS, Azure, GCP) for companies. Cloud professionals architect scalable, secure, and cost-optimized solutions, from data center migrations to serverless and multi-cloud architectures.
Key skills include IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation), containers (Docker, Kubernetes), serverless (Lambda, Cloud Functions), managed databases (RDS, DynamoDB, BigQuery), cloud networking (VPC, CDN, load balancer), and security (IAM, WAF, KMS). Knowledge of FinOps, cloud governance, and AWS/Azure/GCP certifications is a differentiator.
Cloud Solutions professionals in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master multi-cloud architectures, FinOps, and can optimize costs while maintaining performance and security. The field offers opportunities from cloud engineer to cloud solutions architect, head of cloud, and chief cloud architect.
About Web Designer
The Web Designer is the professional responsible for creating visual interfaces for websites, web applications, and landing pages, combining aesthetics, usability, and user experience. They transform business needs into functional and responsive layouts that communicate brand identity.
Key skills include UI design, responsive design, prototyping (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD), wireframing, design systems, accessibility (WCAG), information architecture, and basic HTML/CSS knowledge. Knowledge of UX design, motion design, and front-end is a differentiator.
Web Designers in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master design systems, design tokens, and can create interfaces that convert and engage. The field offers opportunities from junior web designer to product designer and design lead.
About Traffic Analyst
The Traffic Analyst (paid media/performance specialist) is the professional responsible for creating, managing, and optimizing sponsored ad campaigns on digital platforms such as Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and TikTok Ads. They monitor conversion metrics, analyze return on investment (ROAS), perform A/B testing on ads and landing pages, and manage the marketing budget to maximize lead generation and qualified sales.
About Software Development
Software Development is one of the most dynamic and constantly evolving fields in the job market. Professionals in this area are responsible for creating, maintaining, and optimizing web, mobile, and desktop applications that impact millions of users daily.
Key languages and frameworks include JavaScript (React, Node.js, Vue.js), Python (Django, Flask), Java (Spring), PHP (Laravel), and TypeScript. Demand for full-stack developers continues to grow, especially in tech companies and startups.
Salaries range from entry-level to senior positions, with growing opportunities for remote work and international freelancing.
About UI Design
The User Interface (UI) Design area focuses on creating and designing all the visual elements that users interact with in a digital product. This includes screens, buttons, icons, typography, color palettes, and responsive layouts, ensuring an aesthetically pleasing, consistent, and easy-to-use interface. Skills in tools like Figma and knowledge of design systems are essential.
Comments 0