FP&A Specialist - Strategic Finance

Obsidian; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Garden leave

Non-compete

Job summary

Mercor is recruiting UK-based FP&A experts for a research project with a frontier AI lab. The role requires 6+ years in FP&A, strategic finance, or finance business partnering, with direct ownership of a P&L, annual budget, rolling forecast, and monthly variance process.

You will translate accounting actuals into operational decisions on spending, headcount, and growth, and help create high-quality planning scenarios while communicating financial tradeoffs to non-finance stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in FP&A, strategic finance, or finance business partnering.
• Direct ownership of a P&L, annual budget, rolling forecasts, and monthly variance analysis.
• Ability to translate accounting results into operational decisions on spending, headcount and growth.
• Experience with complex business types (digital media, entertainment, subscriptions, live events, multi-location).

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality financial planning scenarios for frontier AI FP&A projects.
• Explain financial tradeoffs to non-finance stakeholders and form clear recommendations.
• Support management reporting, budgeting consolidation, and variance analysis.
• Collaborate with project team on UK business-hour cadence and data delivery.

Job description

Mercor is recruiting UK-based FP&A Experts for a research project with a leading frontier AI lab.

We are seeking experienced finance professionals with 6+ years in FP&A, strategic finance, or finance business partnering.

Strong candidates have directly owned a P&L, an annual budget, a rolling forecast, and a monthly variance process, and can translate accounting actuals into operational decisions on spending, headcount, and growth.

Ideal candidates have experience at one or more of the following types of business:

• Digital media and advertising
• Entertainment
• Subscription or membership businesses
• Live events
• Multi-location consumer businesses
• Or another commercially complex business with a substantial FP&A function

Ideal candidates have experience with one or more of the following:

• P&L ownership and management reporting
• Annual budgeting and departmental budget consolidation
• Rolling forecasts and Income Statement projections
• Monthly variance analysis and budget-to-actual reportingCommitted-expense analysis and cost control
• Forecast assumption setting and scenario stress-testing

You’ll help create, review, and evaluate high-quality financial planning scenarios, leveraging your experience in FP&A, budgeting, and management reporting.

Strong candidates are comfortable explaining financial tradeoffs to non-finance stakeholders and turning a variance into a clear recommendation on what to do next.

Here are more details about the role:

• You will be contributing high-quality training data for frontier AI systems
• This is a full-time engagement running from 10 August 2026 to 4 September 2026
• The project team collaborates on a UK business-hours rhythm, with live team sessions each working day and occasional evening messages
• The project pays two weeks of garden leave at the end of the engagement, with a one month non-compete running concurrently
• Successful contributions increase the likelihood of being selected for future Mercor projects

The vetting process involves:

• Resume and work history screen
• Short interview evaluating FP&A and management reporting expertise

Please note: Candidates must be based in the United Kingdom and have the right to work in the United Kingdom.