Senior Manager, FP&A and Strategic Finance

Job description

Job Title: Senior Manager, FP&A and Strategic Finance Location(s): Remote (USA) Reports to: Chief Financial Officer About Us We’ve entered a new chapter at X Games. With new leadership, fresh momentum, and a clear vision, we’re building what’s next for action sports. Backed by MSP Sports Capital and ESPN/Disney, now operating as an independent company, we’re scaling fast—launching our league, expanding our events, pushing content forward, and building a global home for athletes and fans who live this culture. About the Role Own and operate the company's rolling three-year integrated financial model, along with the operational forecasting engines that feed it, as the analytical backbone for how we run the business and tell our story to investors. This is a hands-on-keys modeling role. The person in this seat is in the model every day, building it, breaking it, refining it, and making it the single source of truth that the CFO and the executive team plan against. Strategic judgment matters, but it is applied through the model, not in place of it. What you will own The integrated operating & financial model (your primary responsibility). A rolling, fully articulated three-statement model covering P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow, spanning three years and refreshed on a regular monthly cadence. The statements must tie cleanly and stay accounting-correct when assumptions flex, and the cash flow should articulate from the P&L and balance sheet rather than be hardcoded. This model is the spine that everything else plugs into and the thing investors will scrutinize, so its integrity is the job. The operational forecasting modules that drive it , including: Event cost unit economics. Per-event P&L and the unit-level cost build that lets us pressure-test where live event spend actually goes and where it can come down. Sponsorship revenue forecasting. Translating the pipeline (contracted, weighted, and open) into a forecast the model can consume. Ticketing forecasting. Demand, pricing, and revenue modeling at the event level. Merchandise forecasting. Sell-through and margin assumptions by event and channel. Media / broadcast strategy modeling. The long-range economics of the league IP transformation and the broadcast deal that anchors the out-years. Host market modeling. The economics of host-market arrangements and how they flow through event and consolidated results. Headcount & compensation modeling. A workforce plan by department showing fully-loaded cost (salary, payroll taxes, benefits, and bonus accrual) plus hiring cadence and ramp timing, built to flex cleanly. Planning & decision modeling. The analytical work that surrounds the model: the annual operating plan build (target-setting and the bridge from prior year), reforecast mechanics on a regular cadence, working-capital and liquidity modeling (e.g., collections and payment-timing drivers, the rolling short-term cash view, runway tracking), and discrete business-case models such as the ROI on a new event or host market, capital allocation choices, and scenario work, all built to plug back into the integrated model rather than existing as one-off spreadsheets. Investor, team owner and board support. Translating the model into the cash forecasts, scenario cases (base / upside / downside), and board materials our investors rely on, and being able to stand behind every number when they ask how it was built. Where This Role Sits This is the modeling engine of the finance org, and it works alongside two adjacent functions. The controller / accounting team owns the close, actuals, and the books. This role consumes actuals to true up the forecast and does not own the ledger. Clean handoffs between the two are essential, since the model trues up to the books, not the other way around. The financial systems analyst owns the data layer and the systems of record (the ERP and CRM environments). This role partners closely on model-to-system reconciliation so the forecast never drifts from source data, but the pipework itself sits with systems. Some FP&A process work, such as the monthly reporting cadence, variance commentary, and the planning calendar, is shared across the finance team rather than owned solely here. The deliberate design choice is to concentrate this person on the build, not load them with process ownership that pulls them out of the model. A cross-functional partnership with the Host Markets Development team will be a major part of this role, as we evaluate and model future markets for X Games expansion. Qualifications Deep financial modeling craft, ideally forged in investment banking, a buy-side seat, or an equivalent position, with genuine three-statement fluency. Management consulting backgrounds are also ideal, but preference will be given to candidates with strong modeling experience. Real accounting mastery means understanding how and why the statements flow. Comfort living in the detail day to day. This person is energized by building and owning the model. Sports, media, or live-events exposure is a strong plus given how much of the forecast is event-driven. Strategic instincts and strong communication are necessary because the model must inform decisions and survive investor scrutiny.