Senior Financial Analyst (m/f/d)

Aras is a leading provider of digital thread solutions for product lifecycle management (PLM) and engineering AI. As one of the fastest growing PLM companies, our AI-native, low-code platform enables the rapid delivery of flexible solutions that connect teams across disciplines and functions to critical product data and agentic AI throughout the product lifecycle and extended value chain.

The world's largest manufacturers leverage Aras Innovator to manage complex product lifecycles, accelerate innovation, improve operational efficiency, and bring products to market faster. We collaborate with companies in some of the world's most innovative industries, including automotive, industrial equipment, aerospace and defense, high tech, and life sciences.

We are looking for a Senior Financial Analyst reporting directly to the Senior Finance Manager to support our Financial Planning & Analysis organization. In this role, you will act as the embedded finance partner to senior leaders, translating business and product priorities into headcount, spend, and investment decisions. This is a strategic business-partnering role focused on financial planning, budget ownership, and decision support for a technology organization at the executive level. Transactional accounting, AP/AR processing, and general ledger close activities are handled by the broader Finance and Accounting teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner directly with the leadership team, translating roadmap and staffing priorities into budgets, forecasts, and investment plans.
• Own Budget vs. Actuals (BvA) reporting for the organization, including headcount, software/tooling spend, and consulting/contractor projects, with variance analysis that distinguishes timing from permanent drivers.
• Lead headcount planning and tracking, including the position bridge, open requisition status versus approved plan, and early visibility into staffing risk.
• Forecast ramp up of AI spend for R&D as well as for the whole organization
• Own software and tooling spend oversight, including a vendor register, renewal timing, and cost/benefit input to build-vs-buy and renewal negotiations.
• Track consulting and contractor engagements, including estimated cost to complete (ETC) and burn against plan.
• Lead the annual budget and periodic reforecast cycles for the organization, working directly with department leaders to model staffing and spend decisions.
• Provide data-supported insights on spend trends, budget risk, and financial health directly to senior leadership and FP&A leadership.
• Constructively challenge senior stakeholders on spend assumptions and investment tradeoffs, backing recommendations with data and business context.
• Work closely with FP&A leadership, Accounting, and Procurement to ensure clear handoffs and aligned execution.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of FP&A or financial business-partnering experience, including direct partnership with senior (VP/SVP-level) leadership.
• Experience in B2B SaaS companies with an understanding of subscription/recurring-revenue models and the KPIs that drive them (ARR, net retention, gross margin).
• Nice to have: experience in PE-backed companies or fast-paced environments.
• Strong business acumen and ability to understand how technical and product teams create value, and how that translates into cost and investment decisions.
• Experience with budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, headcount/position tracking, and vendor or contractor spend management.
• Ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders constructively, using data and business context — and to hold ground in the room without a supporting team behind you.
• Strong Excel modeling skills; comfort with variance analysis techniques (e.g., SUMIFS/SUMPRODUCT-based models) and BI/reporting tools such as Power BI or Microsoft Fabric.
• Clear ownership mindset: able to form recommendations, defend them with evidence, and track outcomes against plan.
• Strong boundary management and ability to separate strategic finance partnership from transactional accounting execution.
• Fluency in English and Polish; German language skills would be an advantage.

Why this role matters

You will be the primary financial voice in the room for one of Aras’s most strategically important departments. This role is ideal for someone who wants direct, sustained exposure to senior technology leadership, the credibility to shape investment decisions at the SVP level, and the autonomy of an individual-contributor role with executive-level scope.

We were recognized as a leader in The Forrester Wave™: Product Lifecycle Management for Discrete Manufacturers, Q3 2025. Feedback from our community has established Aras as a top ranked PLM vendor in online review services like G2 and Gartner Peer Insights.  

With over 700 employees in 11 countries, we’re looking to add to our incredible team. If you’re passionate about helping develop next generation product innovation, we encourage you to apply!