← All roles

Strategic Finance Lead - AI

Perplexity· Finance
Apply on company site
Hybrid (San Francisco)$190k - $240kFull-timePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Strategic Finance Lead to oversee economics of AI products, partnering with product, inference, and data teams to optimize model spend, pricing, and margins. Build unit economics frameworks, pricing models, and cost forecasts across the product portfolio. In-person attendance 2-3 days/week in San Francisco.

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

Qualifications

  • 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 adept at communicating complex financial information to non-finance audiences
  • Sound commercial judgment across pricing, packaging, discounting, and tradeoffs between growth and margin
  • Proven track record of partnering with technical and product teams to drive financial optimization initiatives
  • 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

Skills

Required:Financial modelingCost accounting and variance analysisPricing strategyCross-functional collaboration

Benefits

  • Full-time U.S. employees enjoy a comprehensive benefits program including equity, health, dental, vision, retirement, fitness, commuter and dependent care accounts, and more.
  • International Benefits: Full-time employees outside the U.S. enjoy a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region of residence.
Last updated Sep 9, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Perplexity

ai-plg-top-20brex-fastest-growing-2025liquid-ai-recruiting-targetsetter-30setter-30-2026-q1
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at Perplexity