---
title: 'Head of Strategic FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) at Substack'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-strategic-fp-a-financial-planning-analysis-substack-san-francisco-cdknwj64tt76'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Head of Strategic FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) at Substack

- **Company:** Substack
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-07-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack/a83f4334-b8f3-4bd4-a235-7d2ed0ddd7fc

## Job description

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 "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, private equity firm, or top management consulting firm, followed by high-impact Strategic Finance or FP&A experience at a fast-growing tech company. MBA preferred but not necessary.
- Proven Leadership Potential / Track Record: Demonstrated ability or clear readiness to recruit, manage, and mentor 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 the Gravitas to partner effectively with senior executives.

Substack’s compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $200,000 - $300,000. Multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, determine final offer amounts and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Substack is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status), age, national origin, veteran or disability status. We’re seeking people passionate about enabling independent expression and building a better business model for creators. If you want to see what media, communities, and content can become when unmoored from advertising models, and you have the skills and experience to contribute, we’d love to meet you.

Please see our Privacy Notice for details regarding Substack's collection and use of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UjmY1acxnd27iIde83PxR7XdecR29aIyfkkmEOwAMGY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.a0wuzmt3mjmm.

## About Substack

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Substack provides a platform for independent writers, podcasters, and creators to publish, build audiences, and earn revenue directly through paid subscriptions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (with a new office in New York City)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Chris Best (CEO), Jairaj Sethi (CTO), Hamish McKenzie (CWO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Media, Publishing, Creator Economy, SaaS
- Target customers: Individual writers, podcasters, video creators, independent publishers, media companies, experts, and educators (B2C and B2B)
- Mission or purpose statement: "To build a new economic engine for culture — empowering writers, creators, and publishers to own their work, own their audience, and earn directly from their ideas."

## Products & Services
- **Publishing Platform**: A full-featured CMS and writing tool designed for longform content, with support for posts, newsletters, scheduling, and media embedding.
- **Substack App**: A mobile and web app that connects readers with creators, featuring discovery tools like recommendations, Notes, trending topics, and leaderboards.
- **Native Podcasting**: Built-in recording studio and live video capabilities, with automatic distribution to Substack, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, including premium episode options.
- **Payments & Subscription Management**: Handles all billing, subscriber management, and revenue tools (welcome sequences, win-back campaigns, analytics). Creators keep 90% of revenue minus credit card fees.
- **Community Tools**: Subscriber chats, comment threads, and moderation features to turn publications into communities.
- **Substack Defender**: Legal support program providing publishers access to legal fees, advice, and pre-publication review for defamation, trademark, and copyright issues.
- **Network Discovery**: Built-in growth engine where more than half of new subscribers come from within Substack’s network, including recommendations and collaborations.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (last raised $100M in Series C in July 2025)
- **Key Metric**: Over 5 million paid subscriptions across the network; more than 30% of paid subscriptions come from within Substack’s network; tens of millions of posts discovered daily in the app.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, The Chernin Group (TCG); part of Y Combinator’s winter 2018 batch.
- **Growth Signals**: Raised $100M Series C in July 2025; team has grown to over 100 people across the US, Canada, and UK; opened a new New York City office; top writers earn millions annually.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Creator-first economic model**: Writers keep 90% of revenue, own their audience and content, and can leave anytime with no platform fees or contracts.
- **Built-in network effects**: More than half of new subscribers come from within the platform’s discovery tools, reducing the need for creators to build audiences from scratch.
- **All-in-one platform**: Combines publishing, payments, growth tools, analytics, podcasting, video, and community management — no technical expertise required.
- **Legal support**: Substack Defender provides unique legal protection that reduces risk for independent publishers.
- **Brand trust and ecosystem**: A recognized leader in the creator economy with a strong network of high-profile writers and millions of paying subscribers.

## Strategic Focus
- Expanding the platform beyond newsletters into a full "media app" for all creator formats (writing, podcasting, video, live content).
- Growing the network effect through recommendations, Notes, and app-driven discovery to reduce customer acquisition costs for creators.
- Scaling the enterprise offering for media companies and full newsrooms.
- Deepening community features to increase subscriber engagement and retention.
- Building out the New York City office to expand talent and presence on the East Coast.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Small but growing team (100+ people) with a strong mission-driven focus on empowering creators and independent culture. Every employee participates in customer support to build empathy with users.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Hybrid model; employees can work from San Francisco HQ, the new New York office, or remotely across the US, Canada, and UK.
- **Benefits**: 100% premium coverage for employees and dependents (health care), fully funded HRA plans, generous parental leave, monthly internet/phone stipend, flexible vacation, 12 paid holidays, and a winter office shutdown between Christmas Eve and New Year’s.
- **Engineering Culture**: Pragmatic approach to problem-solving, shipping high-quality products; team works on a platform that directly impacts millions of creators and subscribers.
- **Perks**: Home office customization allowance, internet stipends, and a strong emphasis on work-life balance with flexible time off.

## Sources
1. [substack.com/about](https://substack.com/about)
2. [substack.com/jobs](https://substack.com/jobs)
3. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substack)
4. [builtin.com/company/substack](https://builtin.com/company/substack)
5. [linkedin.com/company/substack](https://www.linkedin.com/company/substack)

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