Aimed at mid-level strategic finance professionals with cloud infrastructure and AI cost modeling experience, working in a hybrid San Francisco setting.
Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.
Original posting from Vercel via Greenhouse
About Vercel:
Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next.
For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.
Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents.
We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies like OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next.
About the Role:
We are hiring a Strategic Finance Manager, Product (EPD) to partner with Engineering and Product to drive unit economics, infrastructure efficiency, and margin expansion across Vercel’s consumption-based platform.
This role spans cloud infrastucture & token spend, as well as emerging AI workloads (inference, gateways, and compute-intensive services). You will define how we measure and optimize the cost and profitability of every request, workload, and AI interaction on the platform.
What You Will Do:
Infrastructure & AI COGS Ownership
Own financial visibility into compute, bandwidth, storage, and AI-related costs (e.g., inference, GPU/accelerated workloads)
Translate product and infrastructure usage (requests, execution time, tokens, etc.) into clear cost drivers
Partner with EPD to drive cost-efficient architecture and scaling decisions
Cost Visibility & Accountability
Build self-service cost tooling for Product and Engineering (cost per request, per workload, per AI query)
Enable teams to own and optimize their infrastructure footprint
Standardize cost attribution across products and multi-tenant systems
Efficiency & Margin Expansion
Lead infrastructure and AI efficiency initiatives (compute optimization, caching, vendor strategy)
Define north star metrics (e.g., cost per request, cost per AI call, cost per GB)
Embed cost efficiency into roadmaps and product decisions
Cost Allocation & Financial Rigor
Develop scalable cost allocation frameworks across products, customers, and workloads
Improve gross margin visibility, including AI product margins
Support auditability and IPO readiness
Cross-Cutting Workstreams
Unit Economics
Define product-level unit economics across Vercel’s product suite
Connect usage (requests, compute, tokens, etc) to revenue and COGS
COGS / Gross Margin Forecasting
Build driver-based models linking usage, revenue, and infrastructure costs
Forecast COGS across core platform and AI products for both PLG & SLG segments
Model margin impact of scale and efficiency improvements
Pricing & Packaging
Partner on usage-based and AI pricing models
Evaluate tradeoffs between growth, adoption, and margin
Ensure pricing is reflected in forecasts and unit economics
About You:
5-8+ years in Strategic Finance, FP&A, IB, or Consulting
Experience with consumption-based or cloud infrastructure businesses
Strong modeling skills; experience with driver-based forecasting
Ability to partner with technical teams and translate usage → financial insight
SQL / data tooling experience strongly preferred
Benefits:
Competitive compensation package, including equity.
Inclusive Healthcare Package.
Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills.
Flexible Time Off.
We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed.
The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $180,000-$220,000. Actual salary will be based on job-related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside of San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location. The total compensation package may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Vercel encourages everyone to apply for our available positions, even if they don't necessarily check every box on the job description.
Source: Vercel careers (Greenhouse)