FP&A Manager at Cresta - AI Startup $170K+Equity in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
High-Visibility, High-Ownership Role: Reporting directly to the Sr. Director of FP&A with regular exposure to company leadership is a genuine green flag. At a Series C+ AI startup ($270M raised), this role puts you at the center of strategic financial decisions — not buried in a large finance org.
Compensation vs. Market: The $140K–$170K base range is competitive for a Finance Manager/Senior FP&A Analyst in US tech, landing roughly at or slightly above median for this level at a well-funded startup. The equity component adds meaningful upside given Cresta's investor pedigree (a16z, Sequoia, Greylock). Total comp could be substantially higher depending on equity grants.
Skills You'll Build:
- Modern EPM/FP&A platform implementation (Anaplan, Pigment, Mosaic, etc.) — highly sought-after in 2024–2025
- GTM capacity modeling and RevOps partnership — bridges finance and go-to-market strategy
- AI-augmented financial analysis (Claude, other tools) — future-proofing your workflow
- Deal Desk pricing and cost modeling — expands into commercial finance territory
Green Flags: Breadth of scope (modeling, close, tooling, RevOps) accelerates career development faster than a narrow role. AI-native culture with explicit encouragement to use AI tools signals a forward-thinking environment.
Potential Watch-Outs: Fast-paced startup environments with "high-ownership" language can mean stretched bandwidth. Clarify team size and headcount to gauge workload realism. The migration off Excel also signals the FP&A function is still maturing — a great opportunity for impact, but expect some ambiguity.
Cresta unlocks the true potential of the customer experience, turning every conversation into a competitive advantage. Cresta's unified AI platform combines conversational AI agents, real-time human agent augmentation, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to drive revenue and efficiency gains across every channel. The world's leading companies, including United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott, use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day.
Born from the Stanford AI Lab, Cresta has raised more than $270 million from the world's leading investors, including a16z, Greylock, and Sequoia. Cresta's leadership includes some of the leading minds in AI today. Our CEO, Ping Wu, founded and led Google's Contact Center AI and Vertex AI platforms before joining Cresta to build the future of AI-driven customer experiences.
Over the next few years, AI is going to redefine how people all over the world interact with businesses every day. Come build that future at Cresta.
About the Role
As Finance Manager, you'll be the operational engine of our FP&A function — owning financial planning, headcount management, and reporting while partnering with RevOps on GTM capacity planning and supporting Deal Desk on pricing. You'll work directly with our Sr. Director of FP&A with high visibility into company leadership. High-ownership, high-impact, and broad in scope.
What You'll Do
Financial Modeling & Headcount Planning
Maintain the company financial model with a focus on headcount planning across departments. Manage the HC request and approval process with HR, Recruiting, and department leads. Own budget tracking and proactively flag variances.
GTM & RevOps Partnership
Own sales and pipeline generation capacity planning models with RevOps. Support Deal Desk with ad-hoc pricing analysis and own the deal desk pricing and cost model.
Close Reporting
Prepare month-end and quarter-end close reporting packages. Build KPI dashboards and surface insights for leadership in clear, accessible narratives.
Financial Software Tool Implementation
Partner with the Sr. Director of FP&A to implement a modern Financial Planning solution, migrating our planning processes off Excel.
Qualifications
We're looking for someone who actively explores and applies AI tools — including Claude — to automate workflows, improve analysis, and work smarter. Curiosity and initiative matter more than prior experience with any specific tool.
- 4–7 years of FP&A experience, ideally at a high-growth SaaS or technology company
- Strong financial modeling skills in Excel with eagerness to move into a modern EPM platform
- Experience with headcount planning and cross-functional budget management
- Comfortable working with GTM data and partnering with RevOps or Sales Finance
- Highly organized, detail-oriented, and an effective communicator with non-finance stakeholders
- Self-starter who thrives with ownership in a fast-paced environment
Nice to Have
- Exposure to Deal Desk, pricing analysis, or sales capacity modeling
- Prior experience at a Series B–D startup
Benefits
- Competitive compensation & equity, aligned with experience and market benchmarks
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Remote-first culture with opportunities for in-person collaboration
- Professional development budget for courses, conferences, and ongoing learning
- Generous PTO and holidays
- Inclusive culture committed to diverse backgrounds and perspectives
Compensation at Cresta:
Cresta's approach to compensation is simple: recognize impact, reward excellence, and invest in our people. We offer competitive, location-based pay that reflects the market and what each individual brings to the table.
The posted base salary range represents what we expect to pay for this role in a given location. Final offers are shaped by factors like experience, skills, education, and geography. In addition to base pay, total compensation includes equity and a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family.
Salary Range: $140,000 - $170,000 + Equity
We have noticed a rise in recruiting impersonations across the industry, where scammers attempt to access candidates' personal and financial information through fake interviews and offers. All Cresta recruiting email communications will always come from the @cresta.ai domain. Any outreach claiming to be from Cresta via other sources should be ignored. If you are uncertain whether you have been contacted by an official Cresta employee, reach out to [email protected]
Frequently Asked Questions
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Does Cresta require prior startup experience?
