Senior Financial Analyst

Public Library of Science; United States; Remote; USD 85,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k with employer match

Health, dental and vision insurance (1

Paid vacation and holidays

Parental leave

Remote work stipend for home office

Job summary

The Senior Financial Analyst at Public Library of Science supports budgeting, forecasting, and management reporting across the organization. You will drive annual budgets, monitor key metrics, and present concise financial commentary to leadership.

The role partners with teams to gather information and validate analyses, enabling informed decision-making. The position requires strong Excel skills, GAAP understanding, and the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis.
• Understanding GAAP and general ledger structures.
• Ability to translate financial data for non-financial stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Analyze actuals vs. budget and highlight risks & opportunities.
• Lead annual budgeting and quarterly forecast cycles with stakeholders.
• Create financial dashboards and commentary for executives.
• Support process improvements and build financial models.
• Ensure data integrity in reports and adapt to changing needs.

Skills

FP&A principles

Accounting literacy

Excel

Judgement

Communication

AI awareness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance/Accounting/Business

Tools

Netsuite Planning & Budgeting

Anaplan

Workday Adaptive Planning

Job description

*This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the UK and the following US states: FL, IL, MA, MD, NY, PA, TX, VA.

Role Summary

PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.

The Senior Financial Analyst plays a critical role in interpreting, translating, and communicating complex financial data to internal stakeholders. The role will drive annual budgets and financial forecasts, monitor key financial metrics, provide variance analysis, identify cost savings and efficiency opportunities, while functioning as a key business partner to teams across the organization. The role will work closely with stakeholders across the organization to gather information needed for budgeting, forecasting, and management reporting. FP&A leadership will provide oversight and support in validating analyses, reporting, and business commentary to ensure alignment with organizational activities and priorities.

This role requires a self-starter who can shift seamlessly back and forth from their regular workload and ad hoc requests, without sacrificing analytical accuracy. The role also supports a period of significant organizational transformation and requires flexibility in balancing recurring responsibilities with evolving business needs.

• Not applicable

Responsibilities

• Perform actual to budget variance analysis while highlighting risks & opportunities to plan.
• Lead and collaborate with key stakeholders in the annual budgeting process and quarterly forecasts
• Prepare and present clear, concise financial dashboards and commentary for executive leadership and stakeholders
• Drive process improvements
• Build and maintain financial models and support scenario planning
• Ensure the highest level of accuracy and data integrity in all reports, dashboards, and commentaries.
• Partner with stakeholders across the organization to gather and validate financial and operational information supporting budgets, forecasts, and management reporting.
• Support ad hoc financial analysis and reporting requests as needed.

Knowledge and Skills

• FP&A Principles – understanding of financial planning, rolling forecasts, budgets, and variance analysis.
• Accounting Literacy – understanding of GAAP, general ledger structures, and how debits and credits become financial statements
• Expert level proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• Experience with budgeting systems (Netsuite Planning and Budgeting, Anaplan, Workday Adaptive Planning, etc)
• Judgment and Prioritization – proven abilities to exercise sound business judgment, prioritize competing responsibilities, and discernment when handling confidential data.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate financial information into meaningful business insights for non-financial stakeholders.
• Strong desire to learn more about AI and how to utilize it in their day-to-day

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or related field is highly preferred.
• 4-7 years of progressive experience in Financial Planning & Analysis, Finance, or Accounting

Physical Requirements & Work Environment

• Prolonged periods stationary at a desk and working on a computer.
• Some national and international travel may be required.
• Some flexibility to work across time zones.

The base salary range we’ve established for these positions is (US): $85,000-$95,000. PLOS also offers a comprehensive benefits package summarized below.

BENEFITS:

US:

• 401k with employer match
• Employee sponsored health, dental and vision insurance (Dental and Vision 100% employer paid)
• Paid Vacation, 11 public holidays and sick leave
• Parental leave
• Birthday and three winter holidays days off
• Short term and long term disability insurance
• 2 days paid time off for volunteering per year
• Fully remote work environment with stipend on joining for home office

About PLOS

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst in open science, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse and build upon scientific knowledge.

Our work is supported by a highly skilled global in-house team, partnerships with local scholarly organizations, and the valued contributions of a diverse, international community of scientific researchers.

We’re committed to equal opportunity

We’re working to create a more equitable system of scientific knowledge and understanding. Removing barriers to inclusion and facilitating broad participation of voices is core to our success, inside and out.

Beyond accepting distinct perspectives, we seek and support divergent backgrounds among our staff because we know differences strengthen our teams, our work, and our communities. We strongly encourage applicants of all identities to join us as we work towards a future where science is open to all, for all.