Perplexity

Technology

StrategicFinanceLead-Infrastructure

$190–230k San Francisco, California, United States FULL TIME Remote Friendly
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Lead candidates.

The Brief

“Strategic Finance Lead - Infrastructure at Perplexity. Skills: Infrastructure economics, Cloud financial management, Capacity planning. Build capacity forecasts. Maintain capacity models”

Industry & Context.

Technology
Problems you'll solve

First-principles thinking

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

4+ years strategic finance, 2+ years investment banking, Financial modeling skills, Partnering with engineering teams

Nice to Have

Manage cloud infrastructure spend, AI/ML infrastructure economics, GPU pricing familiarity, Capital-intensive decisions experience, Advanced Excel skills

What You'll Do.

Build capacity forecasts

Maintain capacity models

Partner on capacity decisions

Translate roadmaps to requirements

Own infrastructure spend management

Drive optimization initiatives

Build cost-driver models

Support CSP negotiations

Maintain knowledge of CSP terms

Partner on contract operationalization

Own inference cost management

Forecast inference costs

Partner on scenario analysis

Support training-run budgeting

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Partner with engineering; Partner with infrastructure; Partner with product teams; Partner with Accounting; Partner with leadership

Communication Scope

Communicate financial concepts

Process & Methodology

Roadmap planning

Full Job Description

ABOUT THE ROLE Perplexity is seeking a Strategic Finance - Infrastructure Lead to provide financial leadership over our cloud service provider (CSP) spend, compute and model capacity planning, and broader infrastructure economics. This person will be a core partner to our engineering, infrastructure, and product teams, bringing financial rigor and judgment to the most consequential cost decisions the company makes. You’ll build the models that underpin our capacity investments, own the day-to-day CSP and model provider relationships, and help shape how we plan for infrastructure as the business scales. The role partners closely with Accounting and Engineering leadership to keep our compute and CSP strategy tightly aligned with the company’s financial trajectory. RESPONSIBILITIES: Capacity Planning & Infrastructure FP&A - Build and maintain multi-year capacity forecasts and scenario models across CPU, GPU, and accelerator footprints - Partner with Strategic Finance leadership on long-horizon capacity decisions, including reserved/committed structures and build-out sequencing - Lead ROI and trade-off analysis for new platforms, hardware generations, and efficiency initiatives - Translate engineering and product roadmaps into capacity requirements and the cost envelope to support them Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Financial Management - Own day-to-day management for all core infrastructure spend, including the monthly bill, variance analysis, and forecasting - Drive efficiency and optimization initiatives with engineering and infrastructure teams - Build cost-driver models that explain spend movements and surface the levers behind them - Support CSP rate and commit negotiations with rate analysis, benchmarking, and contract modeling - Maintain deep working knowledge of CSP contract terms, pricing structures, discount programs, and optimization opportunities - Partner with Accounting on contract operationalization, accrual accuracy, and compliance Inference Cost Allocati

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