Strategic Finance & Business Strategy Manager

About Us:

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity. We protect how people, data, and AI agents connect across email, cloud, and collaboration tools. Over 80 of the Fortune 100, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations trust Proofpoint to stop threats, prevent data loss, and build resilience across their people and AI workflows. Our mission is simple: safeguard the digital world and empower people to work securely and confidently. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

How We Work:

At Proofpoint you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity guided by our BRAVE core values:

Bold in how we dream and innovate

Responsive to feedback, challenges and opportunities

Accountable for results and best in class outcomes

Visionary in future focused problem-solving

Exceptional in execution and impact

The Role

Proofpoint is scaling through both organic growth and acquisition, with a transformative acquisition signed. Leadership needs product-level growth plans that are credible, evidence-based, and reconciled to corporate targets, so that planning reviews are about tradeoffs and strategic choices rather than assembling plans in the room. In this role, you will work directly with product and business leaders to shape how the company understands where its growth comes from, build a repeatable growth-planning capability that exists informally today, and see your analysis inform portfolio and planning decisions at the highest level.

You will be the strategic finance partner to Proofpoint’s business unit and product leaders, shaping how each business thinks about where its growth comes from and building the models that make that thinking defensible. You will own the development and analytical integration of product-level and Business Unit growth plans and the integrated growth model that connects them; the product and business leaders own the underlying strategies and growth commitments, and you make them explicit and testable. Core FP&A owns the P&L, the corporate plan, and the targets; you reconcile bottom-up plans to those targets, make gaps and the actions behind them explicit, and your analysis informs how targets are allocated across Business Units. You will partner closely with Topline & Sales FP&A, which owns the consolidated forecast. You will work alongside analytics and data engineering teams in the same organization, which provide the historical performance insight and governed data your models build on.

This is a senior individual contributor role at the manager level within the FP&A organization, reporting to a Senior Director.

Location: This is a hybrid role based in our Sunnyvale, CA HQ, 4 days a week.

Your Responsibilities

Business Strategy & Partnership

• Product Growth Plans: Partner directly with Product Management and BU leaders to develop product-level growth plans grounded in market opportunity, product strategy, competitive position, and commercial reality.

• Planning Facilitation: Facilitate working sessions that help product leaders articulate their growth thesis, evidence, and assumptions, then translate those into driver-based models interactively with them.

Integrated Growth Modeling

• Growth Model Ownership: Own and continuously improve the integrated product-level growth model supporting annual and long-range planning, producing ARR, NARR, renewal, retention, and expansion projections.

• BU Outlook & Reconciliation: Integrate bottom-up product plans into coherent BU growth outlooks, reconcile them to corporate planning targets, and make explicit the opportunities, assumptions, and actions required to address any gaps.

• Acquisition Integration: Support the integration of acquired businesses into the product and BU growth planning framework, aligning assumptions, metrics, and reporting periods.

Strategic & Commercial Analysis

• Commercial Scenarios: Evaluate the financial implications of packaging, monetization, and GTM alternatives in partnership with the functions that own those decisions.

• Strategic Analysis: Support market sizing, segmentation, scenario, and portfolio analyses that inform strategic planning and capital allocation.

• Executive Communications: Prepare executive-ready planning materials; surface unresolved assumptions and material inconsistencies with supporting analysis and alternatives.

What you bring to the team

Required

• 8+ years in strategic finance, product finance, FP&A, or strategy and operations.

• Advanced financial modeling: driver-based forecasts, integrated business models, scenario analysis.

• Deep understanding of SaaS and recurring-revenue economics (ARR, NARR, retention, churn, expansion, renewal).

• Demonstrated success partnering with product or commercial leaders to build plans they own and defend, not plans built for them.

• Structured problem solving and the ability to turn ambiguous business questions into quantitative frameworks.

• Strong facilitation and communication skills; comfortable explaining assumptions and implications to executives.

• Ownership of complex analytical deliverables across multiple cross-functional workstreams.

Preferred

• B2B SaaS, enterprise software, or cybersecurity experience.

• Experience with product-level or long-range planning, ARR/NARR models, or cohort analyses.

• Exposure to packaging, market sizing, or GTM strategy.

• Familiarity with planning systems (e.g., Adaptive), SQL, and BI tools.

What success looks like in year one

• Every product leader has a financially grounded growth plan they understand, believe in, and can explain to senior leadership.

• Product plans roll up to a coherent BU outlook reconciled to corporate targets, with gaps and the actions behind them explicit.

• Leadership reviews spend their time on tradeoffs, not on building the plan.

• Acquired businesses are planned on the same framework as the core company.
  

Why Proofpoint?

At Proofpoint, we believe that an exceptional career experience includes a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Here are just a few reasons you’ll love working with us:

• Competitive compensation

• Comprehensive benefits

• Career success on your terms

• Flexible work environment

• Annual wellness and community outreach days

• Always on recognition for your contributions

• Global collaboration and networking opportunities

Our Culture:

Our culture is rooted in values that inspire belonging, empower purpose and drive success-every day, for everyone.

We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. If you need accommodation during the application or interview process, please reach out to accessibility@proofpoint.com.

How to Apply

Interested? Submit your application along with any supporting information- we can’t wait to hear from you!

Consistent with Proofpoint values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets as set out below. Pay within these ranges varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The actual offer will be based on the individual candidate. The range provided may represent a candidate range and may not reflect the full range for an individual tenured employee. This role may be eligible for variable compensation and/or equity. We offer a competitive benefits package, including flexible time off, a comprehensive well-being program with two paid Wellbeing Days and two paid Volunteer Days per year, plus a three-week Work from Anywhere option.

Base Pay Ranges:

SF Bay Area, New York City Metro Area:

California (excludes SF Bay Area), Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington DC Metro, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, Virginia, and Alaska:

All other cities and states excluding those listed above:

Proofpoint Best Places to Work Awards

Proofpoint has been honored with six Best Places to Work Awards in 2024 by workplace culture leader Comparably, including Best Company Career Growth, Best Company Outlook, Best Global Culture, Best Engineering Teams, Best Sales Teams, and Best HR Teams.

About Us

We are the leader in human-centric cybersecurity. Half a million customers, including 87 of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint to protect their organizations. We’re driven by a mission to stay ahead of bad actors and safeguard the digital world. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

Our BRAVE Values:

At Proofpoint, we are BRAVE in everything we do, and our values aren’t just words—they shape how we work, collaborate, and grow.

We seek people who are bold enough to challenge the status quo, responsive in the face of ever-evolving threats, and accountable for delivering real impact.

We value those with a visionary mindset who anticipate what’s next and push cybersecurity forward, and we celebrate exceptional execution that ensures we continue to defend data and protect people.

Proofpoint is an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.

Build Meaningful Connections:

Find your network, your allies, and your biggest fans. We know that work is simply better when you’re surrounded by people who inspire you—who share ideas, cheer you on, and genuinely want to see you succeed. That’s why we offer social circles, sponsored networks, and connection points across teams and time zones—to help you find your people, build your community, and thrive together.

Do Your Best Work:

This isn’t just a job—it’s a mission to protect people and defend data in a world that never slows down. We’re building the future of human-centric cybersecurity, and that future belongs to all of us. We take ownership, move fast, and hold ourselves accountable—because that’s what it takes to stay ahead. And we do it together, winning as one.

Build success on your terms:

Be empowered to reach your full potential through meaningful challenges and personalized support—designed around you and your goals. Whether you're growing as a leader or leveling up from great to exceptional as an individual contributor, we’re here to help you get there.