Director of Financial Planning & Analysis
Impulse Space
Accounting & Finance
USD 185k-215k / year + Equity
Posted on Jun 3, 2025
As the Director of FP&A at Impulse, you will be responsible for leading budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling and strategic analysis across all parts of Impulse, with a specific focus on supporting complex manufacturing operations.
- Department
- Finance
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Location
- Redondo Beach
- Workplace type
- Onsite
- Compensation
- $185,000 - $215,000 / year
- Reporting To
Responsibilities
- Lead company-wide financial planning, forecasting, and annual budgeting processes, ensuring alignment with operational goals and timelines
- Partner with manufacturing, engineering, and operations teams to model unit costs, production margins, capacity utilization, and capital expenditures
- Partner with support functions to create, manage and track budget and forecast for each department and major projects
- Create analysis and help support “Make vs Buy” decisions
- Create and manage Cash Flow budgeting/forecasting
- Ability to produce budgets/forecasts based on accrual basis including Profit & loss, Balance sheet and Cash flow
- Develop and maintain KPIs and scenario models to support executive-level decision-making and long-term strategic planning
- Analyze variances in cost of goods sold (COGS), labor, materials, and manufacturing overhead — and translate them into actionable insights
- Analyze actual GAAP financials with budget and maintain updated forecasts in alignment with company’s direction
- Provide leadership in pricing strategy, revenue projections, and margin optimization for spacecraft programs
- Support build-out of financial systems and processes to enable better forecasting and reporting with a focus on scale, efficiency and transparency
- Support investor reporting, fundraising efforts, and board-level financial presentations
- Hire, lead and mentor a high-performing FP&A team, fostering growth and cross-functional collaboration
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, or a related field
- 8+ years of demonstrated experience in FP&A or strategic finance roles, with at least 3+ years in a leadership role
- Strong experience supporting manufacturing or hardware-based operations — preferably in aerospace, automotive, or high-complexity tech
- Proven ability to translate complex operations into financial models and communicate insights clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
- Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills; experience with ERP (e.g., NetSuite, SAP) and FP&A software (e.g., Adaptive Insights, Anaplan, or Tableau)
- Strong business acumen, analytical skills, and a proactive, detail-oriented approach
Preferred Skills and Experience
- MBA or CFA preferred
- Demonstrated experience in a high-growth manufacturing or aerospace company
- Demonstrated experience with inventory costing methods, WIP tracking, and capital project modeling
- Exposure to government contract finance (e.g., cost-plus, fixed-price)
Additional Information:
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
About Impulse Space
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
Our Hiring Process
Stage 1:
Application Received
Stage 2:
Resume Review
Stage 3:
Intro Phone Interview
Stage 4:
Technical Phone Interview(s)
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