Manager/Director Financial Planning & Analysis

MANAGER / DIRECTOR, FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS

EL SEGUNDO, CA | MOORESVILLE, NC | OR FULLY REMOTE | FULL-TIME | REPORTS TO: CFO

Defense, aerospace and other high-performance applications demand new material solutions stronger, lighter, more resilient tested and delivered faster than traditionally available. Cambium is disrupting advanced materials development, from AI-driven molecular design to agile domestic manufacturing. Whether enabling hypersonic flight or protecting critical systems, our solutions push the limits of what’s possible. Cambium solves mission-critical problems in defense and industry. Our team of world-class scientists and engineers was purposely built to take on those challenges. Come join us and revolutionize advanced materials for defense, aerospace, and beyond.

THE ROLE

Cambium is building out its Financial Planning & Analysis function, and this is the first hire into it. Reporting directly to the CFO, you will define how a $100M+ revenue, venture-backed advanced materials company plans, forecasts, and measures itself — across five sites in the US, the UK, and Europe. You will own the operating plan, the rolling forecast, the KPI framework, and the analysis that reaches our executive team, our board, and our investors, including the materials supporting fundraising. Cambium intends to grow both organically and through acquisition, so you will also be part of the team that evaluates, diligences, and integrates targets.

This is a build role, not a maintain role. There is no model to inherit, no planning calendar to run, and no reporting package to refresh. The right person is equally comfortable building a driver-based three-statement model in a blank workbook and standing in front of the executive team to explain what it means — and prefers it that way. Cambium is fast-paced and entrepreneurial; we are looking for someone who brings structure without bureaucracy, goes to the level of detail the question actually requires, and is energized by being the person who builds the function and, over time, the team.

Level and title — Manager or Director — will be set based on experience. The position can be based at any of Cambium's US sites — El Segundo, CA or Mooresville, NC — or fully remote, with periodic travel to El Segundo, Mooresville, and our other locations.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Build the FP&A function

• Stand up Cambium's core planning cadence: the annual operating plan, quarterly re-forecast, and a rolling forecast of P&L, balance sheet, and cash covering all five sites.
• Own the reporting hand-off with Accounting after each monthly close — budget-versus-actual reporting, variance analysis with real explanations rather than restated numbers, and a management reporting package the executive team uses to make decisions.
• Define and instrument the company KPI framework — bookings, backlog, revenue by program and product line, gross margin, headcount, burn, and runway — and establish a single, trusted source of truth for each.
• Select and implement FP&A tooling appropriate to our stage (planning and consolidation, BI/reporting layer), integrate it with our ERP, and retire spreadsheet dependencies where a system genuinely earns its keep.
• Write the playbook: planning calendar, budget templates, approval thresholds, forecast assumptions library, and reporting definitions that survive the next hire and the next 10x.
• Build and lead the team over time — define the roles, hire, and develop FP&A and business-partner finance talent as the company scales.

Partner with the business

• Act as finance partner to R&D, Operations, Commercial, and G&A leaders: own their budgets with them, pressure-test their plans, and translate operating decisions into financial outcomes before they are made.
• Model unit economics, program and product-line profitability, and the manufacturing cost and gross margin drivers behind them; support pricing, quoting, and make-versus-buy analysis.
• Lead capital planning — build the business cases for production capacity, lab, and equipment investment, and run the post-investment review that tells us whether they paid off.
• Build the workforce and headcount plan with People Ops, including the approval process, and keep fully loaded cost assumptions current.
• Bring rigor to R&D and program spend: track investment by program against milestones and contract funding, and make the trade-offs visible.

Grow the company: consolidation, international, and M&A

• Consolidate planning and reporting across five sites in the US, the UK, and Europe, including multi-currency translation, intercompany activity, and FX exposure in the forecast.
• Support M&A as a core growth channel: build and stress-test acquisition and valuation models, size synergies honestly, and help evaluate targets against a clear strategic and financial bar.
• Participate in diligence across the financial, commercial, and quality-of-earnings workstreams — and turn what we learn into deal assumptions, integration risks, and a credible post-close plan.
• Own the financial integration of acquired businesses: bring them onto a common planning calendar, account structure, KPI definitions, and reporting standard — one set of definitions, one version of the number — and track realization against the deal model.
• Partner with Accounting and Tax on statutory-versus-management reporting differences, transfer pricing inputs, and international cash planning and repatriation.
• Build site-level and entity-level reporting that lets each general manager see their own business while the consolidated view still ties.

Support the board, investors, and fundraising

• Build and maintain the long-range (three-to-five year) financial model used for fundraising, board planning, capacity decisions, and scenario analysis.
• Support fundraising end to end: model iterations and sensitivities, diligence request lists, data room preparation, metric substantiation, and investor Q&A support alongside the CFO.
• Prepare board and investor materials — quarterly board packages, investor updates, and KPI or covenant reporting — and stand behind every number in them.
• Maintain cap table and dilution modeling with the CFO and Legal, and model financing structures and their effect on ownership, preferences, and returns.
• Own the 13-week cash flow and liquidity forecast, and be the person who can answer “how much runway do we have” with confidence, at any moment, without a week of preparation.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• 6+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance, investment banking, private equity, or transaction advisory, including time in an operating-company FP&A role. Candidates hired at the Director level will typically bring 10+ years and prior experience leading a function or managing a team.
• Demonstrated experience building or substantially rebuilding a planning and forecasting process — not only running one that already existed.
• Expert financial modeling: driver-based three-statement models, scenario and sensitivity analysis, and long-range plans built cleanly enough that someone other than the author can maintain them.
• Solid accounting foundation, with the ability to move confidently between GAAP financial statements and management reporting and to explain the difference to a non-finance audience.
• Experience in manufacturing, hardware, industrial, aerospace/defense, or advanced materials — real comfort with COGS, inventory, standard costing, capacity utilization, and gross margin mechanics.
• Multi-entity, multi-currency consolidation experience; exposure to international operations strongly preferred.
• Venture-backed or high-growth company experience; having supported a priced equity round or recurring board reporting is a significant plus.
• Exposure to M&A — acquisition modeling, buy-side diligence, or post-close integration — is a strong plus, as acquisition is part of our growth plan.
• Advanced Excel — we are a Microsoft 365 shop. Hands-on experience with an ERP (NetSuite or similar), a planning tool (Adaptive, Planful, Pigment, Anaplan, Vena, or similar), and a BI tool (Power BI preferred). SQL or Python for analysis is welcome.
• Experience with ERP and financial systems selection and implementation — running the evaluation, managing the vendor and integrator, and living through the cutover — is a welcome plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication — you lead with the answer and keep the supporting analysis available rather than the other way around, and you are willing to disagree with an executive when the numbers say so.
• Strong PowerPoint skills are critical. You will build the board decks, investor materials, and executive presentations that carry Cambium’s story, and that work starts with storyboarding — deciding what the argument is and what each slide has to prove before you open the file. Takeaway titles, one point per exhibit, and a narrative that holds up when you are not in the room to narrate it.
• Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, economics, engineering, or a related field. MBA, CPA, or CFA welcome, not required.
• Comfort with ambiguity, limited existing process, and shifting priorities; low ego, high ownership, and a strong bias toward building.
• Willingness to travel periodically to all Cambium sites, particularly El Segundo and Mooresville.

SALARY/BENEFITS: Cambium offers a highly competitive compensation and benefits plan. This includes excellent medical/dental/vision benefits, and a matching 401(k) plan, professional development reimbursement, and an opportunity for equity for most full-time positions.