Director, Strategic Finance (Aerospace)

Location: Boston, United States; Workplace: Hybrid

Company

Merlin is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company developing an autonomous pilot system for aircraft from takeoff to touchdown.

What you will do

• Design and implement FP&A processes for engineering headcount, program costs, R&D spending, and capital allocation.
• Build financial models translating engineering roadmaps into resource plans, hiring forecasts, budgets, and strategic scenarios.
• Partner with Engineering and Program Management to improve program cost accounting, cost tracking, reporting, and cost-to-complete analysis.
• Define chart-of-accounts conventions, cost centers, reporting hierarchies, and operating cadences for actuals reviews, variance analysis, and re-forecasting.
• Deliver reporting and analytics on burn, capacity, and program financial health, and support financial planning systems and the annual operating plan.
• Assume long-term P&L ownership for an assigned product line and support pricing, make-versus-buy, and resource allocation decisions.

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, strategic finance, or finance business partnering.
• Fluency in program finance concepts, including EAC, cost-type contracts, and rate structures.
• Experience influencing technical leaders through clear financial storytelling.
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing financial processes and models from scratch.
• BA or BS in Accounting, Finance, or a related field required.

Nice to have

• Experience in defense, aerospace, SaaS, or hardware-intensive technology.
• Costpoint experience.
• MBA or CPA.

Culture & Benefits

• Builder-oriented role with the opportunity to create financial infrastructure from the ground up.
• Long-term progression from financial infrastructure builder to product-line business owner.
• Highly competitive equity grants as part of total compensation.
• Top-tier benefits for full-time employees.