Director, Strategic Finance

Who We Are:

Tenex is where builders, operators, and problem-solvers come together to help the world’s most ambitious companies go from AI-absent to AI-native. We work at the intersection of strategy and engineering, embedding elite AI SWAT teams directly into organizations to turn complex, high-stakes problems into real, measurable outcomes. We don’t do slide decks and hand-offs; we sit in the trenches alongside our clients to build & drive real transformation.

We operate with the speed of a startup and the rigor of a storied institution. Our culture is built on intellectual curiosity, radical ownership, and a belief that exceptional work comes from diverse teams who are empowered to challenge assumptions, move fast, and hold each other to a higher standard. If you want to work on projects that actually matter, alongside people who push you to be your best—Tenex is the place to do it.

The Role:

As Sr. Director of Strategic Finance, you’ll build and own the strategic finance function at Tenex from the ground up—partnering directly with our co-founders and co-managing partners to turn financial rigor into a competitive advantage.

You’ll lead FP&A end-to-end (model, forecast, budget, board reporting) and own the unit economics and pricing engine that powers a fast-growing services business: pod margins, engagement profitability, utilization, and the levers that drive each.

You’ll also be the financial partner behind one of Tenex’s most ambitious bets: building a modern-day Bell Labs that incubates technologies which both create leverage in our client work and can be commercialized as standalone products. That means owning the framework for how we trade off investment in IP and R&D against hiring more client-facing talent—and giving the partners the rigor they need to make those bets with conviction.

This is a high-ownership seat for an operator who has done this before, wants to build the function their way, and is energized by getting their hands dirty inside the business.

What You’ll Do:

• Own FP&A end-to-end—build and maintain the company-wide operating model, lead the annual budget and quarterly reforecast process, and partner with department leads to drive accountability against plan.

• Build the pricing and unit economics engine—develop the frameworks that govern how Tenex prices engagements, measures pod-level profitability, and evaluates margin trade-offs; turn that work into pricing guidance the commercial team can actually use.

• Be the financial partner to the co-founders—deliver the analysis, scenarios, and recommendations behind the most consequential decisions Tenex makes, from headcount planning to new offerings to capital allocation.

• Own the capital allocation framework for IP and R&D — design and run the decisionmaking process Tenex uses to weigh investment in research, internal tooling, and product-bound technology against hiring more client-facing talent; help the partners size each bet, define what success looks like, and grade outcomes over time so we get smarter with every cycle.

• Drive the rhythm of the business—establish the cadences, dashboards, and reviews that keep the leadership team focused on the metrics that matter, and surface issues early enough to act on them.

• Build the foundation for what comes next—evolve the systems, tooling, and processes (and eventually the team) needed to support Tenex through its next stages of growth.

What You’ll Bring to the Team:

• 7+ years of progressive finance experience, with meaningful time spent building or scaling a strategic finance function at a growth-stage startup (Series A through C).

• Deep FP&A craft—you’ve owned a company-level model, run a budget cycle, and partnered with operators to drive forecast accuracy and accountability.

• Sharp instincts on unit economics and pricing—you can break down a P&L into the drivers that actually move it, and you’ve translated that work into pricing or margin frameworks that changed how a business operates.

• Comfort evaluating bets with longer payback horizons—you can build the case for investments in IP, R&D, or new product lines that don't fit a clean DCF, and help leadership decide with conviction when the data is incomplete.

• Bonus: experience inside a consulting, professional services, or other people-driven services business—you understand utilization, gross margin, and the economics of staffed engagements.

• Exceptional communicator—you can walk a co-founder through a model on a whiteboard and write the board memo that lands the same conclusion in a paragraph.

• High ownership and low ego—you’re happy to build the spreadsheet yourself, push back on a partner when the numbers warrant it, and operate without a playbook.

We’ve Got You Covered:

• Comprehensive medical coverage (PPO and HSA options), dental, and vision

• HSA, Healthcare FSA, and Commuter Benefits

• 100% employer-paid life insurance + AD&D

• 100% employer-paid long-term disability insurance

• Responsible PTO—take what you need

What we offer:

The base salary for this role is $200,000 - $260,000 annually, with opportunities for further upside (bonus/equity) tied directly to your output. When determining compensation, we consider job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Our workplace:

We prioritize in-person work and collaborate from our New York City office five days a week. We believe our best ideas come from working closely together. Being in the same space enables faster collaboration, real-time problem solving, and stronger relationships that elevate how we build and execute as a team.