About the role
Substack is building a new economic engine for culture, giving the brightest, most interesting, and most creative people on the internet the power of their own publishing platform. Substack empowers independent writers, artists, videographers, podcasters, and creators of all types to create, share, and make a living off their work through subscriptions, while offering them creative freedom, ownership, and a direct connection to their audiences. This is a premier "player-coach" leadership seat. We are looking for an elite financial strategist, master modeler, and AI-native operator who will own Substack's long-term financial engine, lead our company-wide budgeting process, and ultimately hire and lead a world-class FP&A team. In this role, you will pioneer an AI-native finance organization . By leveraging modern technology, automation, and AI tools, you and your team will bypass traditional spreadsheet busywork to operate as an ultra-high-leverage "tiger team"—one that asks the sharpest strategic questions, uncovers crucial business drivers, and rapidly executes on the answers alongside the CEO, CFO, and executive team. At Substack, you will hold a front-row seat—and a hands-on steering wheel—in shaping the business model behind the future of independent media. You’ll work directly alongside our founders and executive team to build a durable, generation-defining company.
Responsibilities Team Building & Leadership: Hire, develop, and lead a high-performing FP&A team as Substack scales. Establish team culture, operating standards, and career paths while remaining deeply hands-on in the highest-stakes strategic initiatives. AI-Native Finance Architecture: Architect an AI-powered, tech-forward FP&A organization. Empower your team with automation and modern data workflows to accelerate financial modeling, variance reporting, and scenario planning. Company-Wide Budgeting & Forecasting: Design, architect, and lead Substack’s annual budget cycle and rolling quarterly re-forecasts. Partner directly with executive leadership and department heads (Product, Engineering, Marketing, Ops) to build driver-based operational budgets and headcount plans aligned with core business goals. Budget vs. Actuals (BvA) & Variance Analysis: Establish spending discipline and monthly BvA cadences across the company. Analyze variance drivers, hold department leaders accountable to budget targets, and surface proactive risk-mitigation options when expenses or revenues deviate from plan. Corporate Financial Model & Long-Range Strategy: Build, maintain, and continuously upgrade Substack’s multi-year three-statement corporate model. Translate high-level strategic goals into granular financial roadmaps. Creator & Network Economics: Deep-dive into Substack’s platform economics—including creator monetization, subscription take-rates, reader LTV/CAC, churn dynamics, and payment processing margins—to inform pricing, budget allocation, and product investment decisions. Board & Investor Storytelling: Own financial reporting for executive leadership, the Board of Directors, and investors. Prepare board decks, investor updates, and scenario models for future capital raises or strategic transactions. About You Elite Quantitative Foundation: 5–10 years of total experience, starting with foundational years at a top-tier investment bank (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs), private equity firm, or top management consulting firm (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), followed by high-impact Strategic Finance or FP&A experience at a fast-growing tech company. Top-tier undergraduate or MBA (HBS, Stanford, Wharton, etc.) preferred. Proven Leadership Potential / Track Record: Demonstrated ability or clear readiness to recruit, manage, and mentor top-tier quantitative talent. You know how to set high operational standards, delegate effectively, and scale a team without adding bureaucratic noise. AI-Native Mindset: You naturally use cutting-edge AI workflows, automation, and modern tools to multiply leverage for yourself and your team. You actively eliminate manual repetitive work, baseline reporting, and data ingestion tasks so your team can focus on high-level strategic problem-solving. Budgeting Process Master: You have built and run company-wide annual budgeting cycles. You know how to drive cross-functional alignment, enforce budget discipline, and streamline planning cycles across complex organizations. Master Modeler & Data Fluent: Exceptional financial modeling capability paired with hands-on data manipulation skills (familiarity with Snowflake, Looker, Python/R, or modern FP&A stack a plus). Executive Presence & High Ownership: Able to translate detailed financial outputs into concise, persuasive executive recommendations for the CEO, CFO, and Board members. Low ego, high hustle, with theGravitas to partner effectively with senior executives. Substack’s
