Strategic Finance Manager

Circle; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Circle is seeking a Strategic Finance Manager to drive financial strategy across partnerships, monetization, and potential M&A. You will own executive‑level modeling, translate insights into actionable recommendations, and partner with Finance, Product, and Corporate Development to scale revenue initiatives.

Ideal candidates bring investment banking or private equity experience, strong modeling judgment, and a practical command of AI tools to accelerate analysis and automation in a fast‑growing

Qualifications

• 5-7 years of relevant experience in finance roles including 2-4 years in IB/PE plus 2+ years in FP&A/strategic finance.
• Elite financial modeling skills with executive-ready outputs.
• Strong commercial and strategic judgment to guide business decisions.
• Excellent executive communication to synthesize analysis into recommendations.
• Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders across Product, BD, Legal, Data, and Finance.
• Experience supporting partnerships, monetization, or growth initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex financial modeling for strategic priorities including partnerships, monetization, and M&A.
• Own product-level revenue models: transaction, subscription, services, unit economics.
• Build investment-grade models for executive decision-making and ROI analyses.
• Translate analysis into clear narratives for CFO/CCO reviews and board materials.
• Develop frameworks to evaluate build/buy/partner decisions and growth scenarios.
• Identify gaps in reporting and model architecture and propose practical solutions.

Skills

Financial modeling

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

AI in finance

Excel/Sheets modeling

Strategic finance / FP&A

Education

Bachelor's degree in finance or related field

Tools

Oracle

Salesforce

Workday

Job description

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through digital assets, payment applications, and programmable blockchain infrastructure. Circle’s platform includes the world’s largest regulated stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet‑scale financial innovation. Learn more at circle.com.

What You’ll Be Part Of

Circle is committed to visibility and stability in everything we do. As we grow as an organization, we’re expanding into some of the world's strongest jurisdictions. Speed and efficiency are motivators for our success and our employees live by our company values: High Integrity, Future Forward, Multistakeholder, Mindful, and Driven by Excellence. We have built a flexible work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

Circle is looking for a Strategic Finance Manager to help drive the financial strategy behind Circle's highest‑priority growth initiatives across strategic partnerships, product monetization, M&A, and other revenue. You will own complex, executive‑facing financial analysis that informs how Circle allocates capital, structures commercial opportunities, evaluates strategic transactions, and scales new products across the emerging internet of money.
You will report to the Sr. Manager, Strategic Finance and partner closely with Finance, Product, Business Development, Corporate Development, Legal, Accounting, Data, and executive leadership. This role requires a finance athlete who can move fluidly between detailed modeling and crisp storytelling: building the model, pressure‑testing the assumptions, translating the output into a clear recommendation, and driving alignment with senior stakeholders.
This role is designed for someone who has operated in high‑intensity financial environments and is ready to own strategic workstreams with significant ambiguity, visibility, and business impact. The ideal candidate brings investment banking and/or private equity training, strategic finance experience in a fast‑paced growth company, elite modeling judgment, strong executive presence, and a practical command of AI tools to accelerate analysis, automation, and insight generation.

What You’ll Work On

• Lead complex financial modeling for Circle’s strategic priorities, including major commercial partnerships, ecosystem incentives, new product launches, M&A, investment opportunities, and long‑range growth initiatives.
• Own product‑level financial models for revenue, including transaction revenue, subscription and services revenue, platform monetization, product unit economics, customer economics, and scenario‑based revenue forecasting.
• Partner with Product, Business Development, Corporate Development, and GTM leaders to evaluate new monetization models, partnership structures, pricing constructs, margin tradeoffs, and capital allocation decisions.
• Build and maintain investment‑grade models that can support executive decision‑making, including detailed revenue builds, sensitivity analyses, valuation frameworks, synergy cases, downside scenarios, cohort economics, and ROI / payback analyses.
• Translate complex analysis into clear, compelling executive narratives for CFO/CCO reviews, operating reviews, Board materials, strategic planning, and cross‑functional decision forums.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to senior leadership by identifying key drivers, risks, and tradeoffs across strategic initiatives, and by making clear recommendations rather than simply reporting outputs.
• Develop financial frameworks to evaluate build / buy / partner decisions, including market sizing, strategic rationale, integration considerations, investment requirements, and financial return profiles.
• Partner with Accounting, Legal, Tax, Treasury, and Data teams to ensure models reflect operational realities, accounting considerations, regulatory constraints, and data integrity requirements.
• Use AI and automation tools to improve the speed, quality, and scalability of financial analysis, including model QA, data synthesis, scenario generation, workflow automation, and executive‑ready output creation.
• Create repeatable planning and reporting infrastructure for emerging revenue streams, helping Circle scale from bespoke analysis to durable operating cadence as products mature.
• Proactively identify gaps in current reporting, model architecture, and decision‑making processes, and build practical solutions that raise the quality of strategic finance support across the organization.

Core Requirements

What you’ll bring to Circle:

• 5-7 years of relevant experience, ideally including 2-4 years in investment banking and/or private equity plus 2+ years in strategic finance, corporate development, or FP&A at a fast‑paced, high‑growth technology, fintech, crypto, payments, marketplace, or AI company.
• Elite financial modeling skills, with demonstrated ability to build robust, flexible, and executive‑ready models from ambiguous inputs across revenue, margins, unit economics, valuation, M&A, partnerships, and scenario planning.
• Strong commercial and strategic judgment, with the ability to evaluate not only what the model says, but what decision the business should make.
• Excellent executive communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex analysis into concise narratives, clear recommendations, and board / CFO‑ready materials.
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross‑functional stakeholders and drive alignment across Product, Business Development, Corporate Development, Accounting, Legal, Data, and Finance.
• Experience supporting strategic partnerships, product monetization, M&A, corporate development, new business incubation, or other high‑priority growth initiatives.
• High degree of ownership and comfort with ambiguity; able to independently structure problems, define the analytical approach, identify required inputs, and drive workstreams to completion.
• AI proficiency and curiosity, with hands‑on experience using AI tools to improve financial analysis, research, automation, data interpretation, and communication quality.
• Advanced Excel / Google Sheets modeling skills and strong Google Slides / PowerPoint presentation capabilities required.
• Bachelor's degree required; finance, economics, accounting, mathematics, engineering, or a similarly analytical field preferred.

Preferred Requirements

• Strong understanding of SaaS, fintech, payments, marketplaces, crypto, or platform business models; familiarity with stablecoins, digital assets, or financial infrastructure.
• Experience with Oracle, Salesforce, Workday or other financial and data systems.

Circle is on a mission to create an inclusive financial future, with transparency at our core. We consider a wide variety of elements when crafting our compensation ranges and total compensation packages.
Starting pay is determined by various factors, including but not limited to: relevant experience, skill set, qualifications, and other business and organizational needs. Please note that compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.
Base Pay Range: $140,000 - $185,000
equal opportunity employer We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, or any other protected status required by the laws in the locations where we hire. Additionally, Circle participates in the E-Verify Program in certain locations, as required by law.
Should you require accommodations or assistance in our interview process because of a disability, please reach out to [e-mail] for support. We respect your privacy and will connect with you separately from our interview process to accommodate your needs.