Financial Analyst III

Description: Onsite ( hybrid) - US - CA- Sunnyvale Max BR ***/hr Budget & Commercial Operations AnalystWe are seeking a highly organized and detail-oriented Contingent Worker to support vendor budget and commercial operations. This role is crucial in supporting the day-to-day financial management of vendor engagements — ensuring budget accuracy, timely purchase order setup, reliable tracking of vendor deliverables, and clean invoice and accrual treatment. The ideal candidate is a self-starter with a strong understanding of foundational financial processes, sound judgment on accounting treatment, and a commitment to meticulous record-keeping across a growing portfolio of vendor agreements. We expect this person to actively use AI tooling in their daily work and to treat the operational processes they inherit as candidates for improvement — identifying manual, repetitive, or error-prone steps and partnering with the team to automate them rather than simply absorbing the volume.Key Responsibilities This role will be responsible for executing key tasks related to vendor budget and commercial operations, including but not limited to: End-to-end ownership of initiating, processing, tracking, and maintenance of purchase orders in the ERP system, structured to match each agreement's payment shape (upfront, milestone, or per-delivery) Monitoring PO funding status and proactively following up on outstanding invoices and related exceptions, initiating top-ups before shortfalls block vendor payment Maintaining the running view of the approved budget envelope — approved, committed, executed, and remaining — and flagging when the pipeline approaches the ceiling Validating pricing on incoming vendor deals against the approved rate card taxonomy and escalating off-taxonomy pricing for sign-off Serving as day-to-day operational contact for vendors on delivery reporting, PO references, invoice format, service periods, and required reporting metadata Owning the delivery tracking log — capturing vendor, scope, delivery date, volume, and supporting detail for every reported delivery Driving deliveries through the review and acceptance workflow, chasing pending items and preventing backlog accumulation, and confirming acceptance before invoices are submitted for payment Validation of invoices against contract terms and approved parameters, ensuring accuracy of scope, volume delivered, rates charged, service period, and purchase order billed Route invoices for internal approvals and ensure timely processing for payment Reconciling and resolving discrepancies between invoices and delivery records by coordinating with vendors and internal teams, including handling credit memos and adjustment lines Owning the monthly accrual position for vendor spend — recognizing delivered-but-uninvoiced work, applying the correct accrual input type, and reconciling accrued vs. invoiced vs. paid Supporting quarterly forecast inputs for vendor spend, including timing of upfront versus delivery-linked payments Support the preparation of documentation and reports required for month-end close processes Tracking contract renewal and expiry dates and surfacing them ahead of decision deadlines Liaising with S2P, FP&A, Accounting, Sourcing, and Legal to ensure PO accuracy, alignment with approved budgets, and correct accounting treatment Maintain organized and accessible financial records and process documentation Assist with ad-hoc reporting and analysis requests from the finance and program teams Use approved AI and automation tooling to accelerate routine work — reconciliation, data extraction from vendor submissions and invoices, summarization, and drafting vendor correspondence — while retaining human review and accountability for any number or commitment that leaves the team Proactively identify manual, repetitive, or error-prone steps in the operational workflow and propose automation or process redesign opportunities, with a clear view of the time saved and the risk reduced Partner with the workforce planning and program teams to scope and test automations end to end, and support migration of manual trackers into supported systems as tooling matures Document processes clearly enough that they can be automated or handed over, and maintain that documentation as workflows change Ensure adherence to internal financial controls and company policiesQualificationsRequired 4+ years of experience in a finance, accounting, procurement, or vendor operations role with a focus on transactional processing Demonstrated working knowledge of accruals — able to explain and apply the difference between accrued, invoiced, and paid, and build a defensible month-end position where delivery and invoicing are out of sync Solid understanding of OpEx versus CapEx treatment — able to reason about how a given engagement should be classified, what drives capitalization versus expensing, and when to escalate to Accounting rather than deciding alone Strong cashflow literacy — understands the timing gap between contract execution, upfront payment, delivery, acceptance, invoice, and cash out, and how PO structure and payment terms drive it Proficiency with financial management systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and MS Office Suite / Google Suite (particularly advanced Excel/Sheets skills) Strong understanding of fundamental accounting principles (AP/AR, general ledger) and financial workflows (PO-to-Pay) Comfortable working with large datasets and operating in ambiguous environments Excellent organizational skills and a high degree of attention to detail Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with internal and external stakeholders, including holding a firm line on data quality and approval gates Works with a sense of urgency for critical business requests Customer service oriented person, focused on quality communication with a bias for action Demonstrated use of AI tooling in a finance or operations context, with sound judgment about where AI output can be trusted and where it must be verified — particularly for financial figures, vendor-facing communication, and anything entering a system of record Track record of identifying inefficiencies in an existing process and driving a concrete improvement, with evidence of the impact Comfortable working in spreadsheets and workflow tools at a level beyond basic data entry — building repeatable reconciliations, validations, and checks rather than re-performing them manually each cyclePreferred Experience working in a fast-paced corporate or technology environment Experience using Anaplan, AppSheet, Oracle, Airtable Past experience in managing procurement and finance operations for a specific line of business Comfort working alongside technical or research stakeholders who act as delivery reviewers Hands-on experience building lightweight automations — scripting, low-code or workflow automation platforms, or AI-assisted workflows — to replace manual operational steps Experience contributing to an automation or process-transformation initiative in a finance, procurement, or vendor operations functionCustom Fields: Name: Top 3 must-have HARD skills Value: See RSD notesName: Typical Day in the Role Value: See RSD notesName: Does this role deal with graphic and/or objectionable content to any extent? Value: NoName: Good to have skills Value: See RSD notesName: Story Behind the Need – Business Group & Key Projects Value: See RSD notesName: Compelling Story & Candidate Value Proposition Value: See RSD notesName: Team Name Value: NoneName: If yes, approximately how often might CW’s engaged by your team encounter graphic or objectionable content (imagery, video, or written) in the course of their work with your team? Value: NoneName: How will performance be measured Value: See RSD notes