Senior Strategic Finance Associate at Earnest

Earnest’s mission is to make higher education accessible and affordable for everyone. We empower past, present, and soon-to-be students to maximize their financial futures through thoughtful guidance and impactful products.

We build tools that help people feel in control of their financial future, including:

• Private student loans - low rates, people-first service, and flexible payments.
• Student loan refinancing - break free from high interest rates or monthly payments.
• Scholarships - access to thousands of scholarships to help students pay less. 

The Senior Strategic Finance Associate position will report to the Strategic Finance Lead. 

As the Senior Strategic Finance Associate, you will:

• Work closely with other Finance staff as well as General Managers, Marketing team, and Operations team to develop budgets and forecasts and maintain those forecasts.
• Concentrate on marketing drivers including channel efficiency, funnel conversion, and campaign performance to identify opportunities for more efficient spending. Support reporting and analysis needs to highlight operational performance and measure alignment with strategic objectives.
• Responsible for maintaining 5-year strategic plan forecast, and annual budget alongside current-year monthly forecast for the Earnest business unit. 
• Make recommendations and express financial significance for both leveraging opportunities or mitigating risks.

Your Impact:

• Measure new business opportunities, financial outcomes for various financing vehicles, and prepare materials for Executive meetings, Board of Director meetings, and ad hoc requests from executive management.
• Support the production, maintenance, and development of models and processes performed for the financial planning, analysis, and forecasting of Earnest LLC and Navient Corporation
• Serve as departmental CFO to conduct monthly reviews with Marketing and Operations group leaders to bring financial insights. Help them understand monthly expense details, complete monthly forecasts, identify savings opportunities, and justify higher expense needs. 

About You: 

• Degree in Finance, Business or a related field
• 3+ years of experience in strategic finance, corporate FP&A. Investment banking, management consulting and private equity experience are a plus.
• High proficiency with Excel, Google Sheets, PowerPoint, and Financial ERP systems
• Experience working with C-suite level leadership (direct reporting, presentations, etc.) and comfortable speaking in large groups
• Experience building dynamic financial models and experience working with large data sets to disseminate trend analysis for forecasting / manipulating data to tell a story with supporting evidence
• Experience and/or knowledge of the lending industry, amortization tables, loan loss models, securitization structures, warehouse financing facilities and risk-based pricing
• Ability to build strong relationships of trust & influence, ability to lead work initiatives with cross-functional coordination with stakeholders

Even Better:

• Experience with Marketing is a huge plus. This includes return on investment (ROI) and Lifetime Value (LTV) of various marketing channels and campaigns, calculation of Cost per Acquisition (CPA), and spend forecast based on different scenarios.

About Us:

What makes an “Earnie” culture: 

• Drivers – Drivers are satisfied by making things happen, not coming along for the ride. They feel a strong sense of ownership for their projects and teams and demand high standards from themselves and others.
• Humility – Humble team players check their egos and consider the team’s needs above their own. They are self-aware of their strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Growth Mindset – People with a growth mindset approach challenges and failures as learning opportunities. They seek feedback to improve, give feedback to others, and genuinely want to perform well. 

Earnies are committed to helping students live their best lives, free from the stress of student debt. If you’re as passionate as we are about our mission, read more below, and let’s build something great together! 

Earnest believes in enabling our employees to live their best lives. We offer a variety of perks and competitive benefits, including: 

• Health, Dental, & Vision benefits plus savings plans
• Work anywhere in the U.S. 
• Mac computers + work from home stipend to set up your home office
• Monthly internet and phone reimbursement
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• RSUs
• 401(k) plan to help you save for retirement plus a company match
• Robust tuition reimbursement program
• $1,000 travel perk on each Earnie-versary to anywhere in the world 
• Competitive days of annual PTO
• Annual “my day” 
• Pet insurance!
• Competitive parental leave
• Plenty of Earnest swag, optional in person team gatherings, picnics, celebrations, and plenty of fun virtual events 

At Earnest, we are committed to building an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. Our belief is that a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging enables us to move forward with our mission. We are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team and encourage anyone to apply if your experience is close to what we are looking for.  

Earnest provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status disability or genetics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for the position in a manner consistent with the Fair Chance Ordinance.

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