Principal Revenue Operations Business Analyst

SmartStream; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

SmartStream is seeking a Principal Revenue Operations Business Analyst to own the commercial control environment, ensuring contracts, pricing, and deals are reviewed and compliant before commitments. You will manage deal pipelines, provide insights, and ensure accurate forecasting to enhance GTM effectiveness.

The role sits in Finance as the gatekeeper between commercial activity and financial integrity, collaborating with Sales, Legal, and senior leadership to protect revenue and terms.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a finance, commercial, or sales operations control role.
• Experience reviewing complex customer contracts and deals.
• Strong knowledge of IFRS 15 / ASC 606 and revenue recognition.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders constructively.
• Experience with CRM and contract lifecycle management systems.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end contract review and approval with full audit trail.
• Review pricing proposals for CFO approval and compliance.
• Develop digital operating model and governance for deals.
• Produce regular management reporting on contract status and approvals.
• Collaborate with Sales, Legal, Finance and leadership to mitigate risk.

Skills

CRM systems

Contract lifecycle management

Salesforce experience

Audit & compliance

Finance & revenue recognition

Stakeholder management

Education

Degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, or Law

Professional qualification (ACA/ACCA/CIMA)

Tools

Salesforce

CLM tools

Job description

Location: London/Bristol (Hybrid, 3 days office working)

We are seeking a Principal Revenue Operations Business Analyst to own and manage the company's commercial control environment, ensuring that all contracts, pricing, and deals are created, reviewed, approved, and compliant before any commitment is made. Post deal analysis will ensure actual results are tracked against the deal models, and deal models are continuous updated for accuracy and changes in circumstances.

In addition, the role will be responsible for ensuring effective management of deal pipeline operations ensuring accuracy of data, providing insights and ensuring accurate forecasting and enhancing GTM activities e.g. pricing adjustments or win/loss analysis to enhance effectiveness of GTM. The role will look to create a fully digital operation, with exceptions being handled as exceptions.

This role sits within the Finance function and acts as the critical gatekeeper between commercial activity and financial integrity. You will work closely with Sales, Commercial Review, Legal, Finance, and senior leadership to protect the business from contractual, pricing, and revenue recognition risk.

Job Responsibilities

You will be accountable for owning the end-to-end contract review and approval process, reviewing all customer pricing proposals, acting as gatekeeper for deal approvals, conducting customer audits, and creating a digital operating model using agentic first capabilities to ensure high quality outputs and efficient operation.

Sales Operations & Pipeline Management

• Ensure accurate and timely availability of pipeline data and insights
• Ensure appropriate insights are created to create high quality analysis of short-, mid- and long-term opportunities
• Ensure high quality forecasting outputs

Contract Review & Approval

• Own and manage the end-to-end contract review process; no contract to be signed without completed review and approval.
• Maintain a contract register and approval workflow with full audit trail and version control.
• Assess all customer contracts for commercial risk, policy compliance, and alignment with agreed terms.
• Liaise with Legal on non-standard or high-risk contractual clauses.
• Define and enforce commercial thresholds for CFO level sign-off.

Pricing Review & Control

• Review all new pricelist assumptions and calculations for CFO review and approval.
• Review and approve all customer pricing proposals against approved frameworks, margin thresholds, and discount authority matrices.
• Challenge pricing exceptions and accelerate where required.
• Maintain and update the company's pricing policy and discount approval framework.
• Monitor and report on pricing compliance, margin dilution, and discount trends.

Deal Review & Commercial Governance

• Ensure all deals are structured in accordance with revenue recognition principles (IFRS 15) before commitments are made.
• Creates deal models and analysis and review deal models for standard and bespoke contractual commitments, and partner with the Finance and business teams to develop accuracy and transparency of deal models, with regular post deal analysis and back-testing.
• Interface with sales team to ensure better win rates and commercial maximisation of opportunities
• Review deal structures for unusual payment terms or anything affecting revenue timing or recognition.
• Partner with Sales to ensure pipeline reporting accurately reflects contractual status and booking criteria.

Reporting & Process Improvement

• Produce regular management reporting on contract status, deal approvals, pricing compliance, and audit findings for the CFO.
• Continuously improve frameworks, templates, and tools used across the control function.
• Identify systemic risks or process gaps and propose solutions to strengthen the control environment.

Commercial & Contractual Acumen: Deep understanding of contract structures, commercial terms, and risk identification within complex customer agreements.

Pricing & Margin Control: Ability to assess pricing proposals against approved frameworks, identify exceptions, and enforce discount authority policies. Deal model creation and post deal analysis will be a key part of the role.

Analytical Rigour: High level of accuracy and attention to detail when reviewing deals, contracts, pipeline analysis, and audit findings, drawing upon a wide range of both financial and non financial data sources.

Revenue Recognition: Strong working knowledge of IFRS 15 and its application to deal structuring and booking criteria.

Stakeholder Influence: Confident in constructively challenging senior commercial stakeholders and escalating risk appropriately.

Communication & Reporting: Able to produce clear, concise reporting for CFO and Executive team.

Leadership & Team Development: Experience managing and developing small teams, allocating workload, and maintaining performance standards.

Process & Controls Mindset: Ability to design, implement, improve and digitise approval workflows, audit frameworks, governance processes, and contractual datasets.

Behaviours

• Operates with a high degree of integrity and commercial awareness.
• Constructively challenges without being obstructive.
• Balances speed of commercial execution with rigour and control.
• Builds trust across Finance, Sales, and Legal through transparency and consistency.
• Leads by example in setting standards of accuracy and accountability.
  

Desirable Skills

• Experience with CRM and contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems.
• Experience with sales force and associated tooling not least evidence of agentic operations
• Exposure to customer audit processes in a B2B environment.
• Professional qualification in finance, accounting, or law (e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent).
• Background in a fast-growth or commercially dynamic business environment.
• Familiarity with Salesforce or similar sales platforms.
  

Qualifications

• Professional qualification in finance, accounting, or law (e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent).
• Degree-level qualification in Finance, Accounting, Business, or Law (or equivalent experience).

Experience

Experience: 5+ years in a finance, commercial, or sales operations control role, ideally within a B2B environment; proven track record reviewing and approving complex customer contracts and deals.

Financial Controls: Demonstrated experience owning approval workflows and governance frameworks in a commercial setting.

Revenue Recognition: Practical knowledge of ASC 606 / IFRS 15 and its application to deal review and booking criteria.

Team Management: Experience managing and developing a small team with clear accountability and performance standards.

Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to influence and challenge senior commercial stakeholders constructively.

Equality Statement

SmartStream is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity and following practices which are free from unfair and unlawful discrimination.