Strategic Finance Manager

Stake; Dubai; Hybrid; AED 420,000 - 660,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Equity compensation

Learning budget

Team off-sites

Job summary

Stake in Dubai seeks a Strategic Finance Manager to own planning, forecasting and performance insight across the business. You will partner with founders and heads of departments to shape budgets, model growth, and bring commercial rigor to major bets we make.

This high-visibility role works directly with the founders, executive team and department heads, and is suited to someone who wants to build, not just maintain.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years in FP&A, strategic finance, investment banking, PE/VC or mgmt consulting; startup/scale-up experience preferred.
• Expert financial modelling skills (three‑statement, scenario, unit economics) and advanced Excel/Google Sheets.
• Proven ability to present to senior leadership and board-level stakeholders.
• Strong commercial judgement and ability to work with ambiguity and fast pace.
• Degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting or related field; CFA/ACCA/CIMA/CPA is a plus.
• Experience in fintech, proptech, real estate or asset management.

Responsibilities

• Own the annual budget, rolling forecast and long‑range planning for UAE and KSA ops and products; consolidation.
• Build and maintain core financial models covering revenue, GMV/AUM, unit economics, headcount, opex, cash flow, liquidity and runway.
• Run scenario analyses to support strategic decisions, market expansion and fundraising.
• Lead monthly/quarterly performance commentary and MD&A highlighting movements and risks.
• Manage headcount planning with People and department heads against budget.
• Develop business cases for new products and initiatives; assess revenue potential and cash needs.
• Maintain cash flow and runway analysis; assess funding needs under scenarios.
• Support longer-term planning for new products and regulatory/geographic expansion.
• Collaborate with Compliance on VARA planning and regulatory initiatives.

Skills

FP&A expertise

Financial modeling

Excel/Google Sheets

Presentation to leadership

Strategic thinking

Education

Degree in Finance/Economics/Accounting

Tools

Abacum FP&A

Excel advanced

Job description

Who we are:

Stake is the MENA region’s most exciting real estate fintech company, combining real estate expertise and innovative financial technology to deliver products that empower everyone to own and build wealth through Real Estate. Launched in 2021 we have grown rapidly, leveraging decades of experience in technology, financial services and global real estate, to launch the MENA region’s first mobile app for fractional real estate investing.

This is just the beginning and we’re currently searching for highly talented individuals to join and help lead our expansion into international markets and new business lines

The Role

We're looking for a Strategic Finance Manager to own planning, forecasting and performance insight across the business. You'll be the finance partner leadership relies on to turn data into decisions: shaping budgets, modelling growth scenarios, and bringing commercial rigour to every major bet we make.

This is a high-visibility role working directly with the founders, the executive team and department heads, and it's suited to someone who wants to build, not just maintain.

What you’ll do:

Planning & Forecasting

• Own the annual budget, rolling forecast and long-range business planning process across UAE and KSA operations and products, including consolidation.

• Build and maintain the company's core financial models covering revenue, GMV/AUM, product and channel unit economics, headcount, opex, cash flow, liquidity and runway.

• Run scenario and sensitivity analysis to support strategic decisions, market expansion, capital allocation and fundraising.

• Own regular reforecasting and provide forward-looking analysis of risks, opportunities and expected performance against plan.

• Own headcount and manpower planning, partnering with People and department heads to maintain hiring plans, forecast employee costs and assess headcount against budget.

• Build financial models and business cases for new products and strategic initiatives, assessing revenue potential, cost structures, unit economics, cash requirements and overall financial viability.

• Maintain forward-looking cash flow, liquidity and runway analysis and assess funding requirements under different operating scenarios.

• Support longer-term business planning and financial modelling for new products, regulatory initiatives and geographic expansion.

• Support financial modelling and analysis for new regulatory frameworks and strategic initiatives, including VARA-related planning, working closely with Compliance.

Performance & Insight

• Own Monthly KPI reporting across markets and products, including GMV, AUM, investor acquisition and retention, conversion, average investment value, CAC/LTV, rewards, contribution margins and transaction volumes.

• Own preparation of recurring monthly and quarterly financial performance commentary, including MD&A, highlighting key movements, risks, opportunities and implications for the business.

• Analyse product, campaign and channel performance, identifying the underlying drivers of revenue, margin and customer economics.

• Develop investor and cohort analysis covering acquisition, retention, repeat investment, LTV, yield, dividends, vacancy and portfolio performance to support commercial and customer decision‑making.

• Own and develop daily and automated performance reporting to provide management with timely visibility over key financial and operational metrics.

• Partner with Data and Accounting teams to validate underlying financial and operational data and maintain consistency across reporting sources.

• Review and support accounting methodology where commercial arrangements affect management reporting, including revenue recognition and classification of revenue and cost items.

• Identify, reconcile and clearly communicate differences between business and accounting reporting methodologies.

Strategic Partnership

• Partner directly with founders and senior leaders across Growth, Product, Sales, Operations, Marketing, People, Data and Compliance to align resources with priorities and support strategic and commercial decisions.

• Evaluate business cases, pricing, promotions, rewards, commercial structures, new product lines and investment decisions through robust financial analysis.

• Own financial analysis of promotions, rewards and customer incentives, assessing cost, contribution margin, customer behaviour and overall commercial economics.

• Own and prepare the monthly Marketing and Sales performance review presented to co-founders and Sales, Marketing and Growth leadership.

• Model and review Sales and Operations commission structures, including monthly calculations for the relevant teams.

• Provide regular and ad-hoc strategic financial analysis directly to founders and Heads of Department to support time-sensitive commercial, operational and investment decisions.

• Identify and evaluate cost‑efficiency opportunities across technology, suppliers and operating expenditure.

• Partner with budget owners to challenge assumptions, monitor spend and ensure resources remain aligned with business priorities

Board, Shareholder & Investor Reporting

• Develop Board and shareholder materials covering historical performance, forecasts, long‑range business plans, scenarios, sensitivities, risks and key strategic drivers.

• Translate detailed financial and operational performance into concise Board and shareholder narratives highlighting key drivers, risks, opportunities and strategic implications.

• Own preparation of quarterly management accounts for shareholder and investor reporting, working with Accounting to ensure consistency with the underlying financial statements.

• Respond to financial and performance‑related shareholder and investor queries and prepare supporting analysis as required.

• Support fundraising and due diligence processes through financial modelling, historical analysis, forecasts and preparation of supporting financial information.

Build & Scale

• Lead the ongoing development of Abacum as the company's FP&A platform, covering planning, forecasting, reporting and data integration.

• Develop and automate recurring financial, KPI and commercial reporting to improve reporting speed, accuracy and scalability.

• Partner with Data teams to define Finance data requirements, resolve reporting issues and develop reliable datasets and dashboards.

• Support the financial planning of future geographic expansion.

• Identify opportunities to use automation and AI‑enabled tools to improve the efficiency and quality of financial analysis, planning and reporting.

What You'll Bring

• 5–8 years in FP&A, strategic finance, investment banking, PE/VC or management consulting, ideally including time in a high‑growth startup or scale‑up

• Expert financial modelling skills (three‑statement, scenario and unit economics) and advanced Excel/Google Sheets

• Proven ability to present to senior leadership and board‑level stakeholders

• Strong commercial judgement: you ask "so what?" before anyone else does

• Comfortable with ambiguity, pace and building from scratch

• Degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting or a related field; CFA, ACCA, CIMA or CPA is a plus

• Experience in fintech, proptech, real estate or asset management

Why you should join Stake:

• Hybrid work environment

• Work directly with senior leadership in one of the region’s fastest growing start‑ups; you will get exposure to all functions at Stake and have the chance to learn from the very best in the space!

• Generous equity compensation; this aims to bring a high degree of ownership into your work. As Stake grows, you grow with it!

• Budget for learning and development; we want all our employees to constantly strive for personal and professional growth

• Best in class end of service savings scheme; through DIFC-sponsored DEWS programme

• Off‑sites and regular team events

Stake has a high performance culture where the bar is always rising. We bring on brilliant, ambitious and curious people who see the value in Stake and want to grow with us.