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Merlin Labs (NASDAQ: MRLN) is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company developing autonomous flight systems for commercial and defense aviation. The company has proven its non-human pilot autonomy platform through hundreds of autonomous flights and operates test facilities in New Zealand, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
You will serve as Manager of Strategic Finance, architecting the financial infrastructure that connects customer commitments to revenue recognition and vendor relationships to recorded expenses. This role bridges FP&A, revenue operations, and financial process design as Merlin scales its commercial and operational activity.
Key responsibilities include:
- Building revenue forecasting models that account for contract type, milestone structure, and performance obligations
- Establishing controls and system workflows to reduce manual handoffs and create auditable trails from opportunity to cash receipt
- Designing and implementing a scalable procure-to-pay process (requisition through payment) in collaboration with Procurement
- Partnering with Legal, Accounting, and business owners to implement tiered approval frameworks aligned with spend risk
- Building operating expense forecasting and accrual processes for FP&A visibility
- Supporting implementation of financial planning tools and systems with Finance and IT
- Creating monthly/quarterly operating cadence: actuals reviews, variance analysis, and re-forecast processes
- Supporting annual operating plan and budget development
- Driving continuous improvement through process automation and bottleneck elimination
- Assuming full P&L ownership for an assigned product line (long-term trajectory)
This is a hands-on builder role where you'll design and implement processes from scratch, not simply operate within existing frameworks. You'll have a clear path from operator to business owner through P&L ownership.
Requirements:
- 8+ years of progressive finance experience in FP&A, Strategic Finance, revenue operations, or finance business partner roles
- Deep understanding of quote-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes
- Proven track record designing and implementing financial processes and models from scratch
- Familiarity with ASC 606 revenue recognition, particularly in milestone- or contract-based environments
- BA/BS in Accounting, Finance, or related field
Nice to have:
- Background in defense, aerospace, SaaS, or hardware-intensive technology companies
- MBA or CPA
