Director, Strategic Finance

Company Description

Galileo is a nationally recognized summer day camp dedicated to empowering young innovators to change the world! Since 2002, we’ve inspired hundreds of thousands of kids across 90+ diverse communities, becoming a leader in the Innovation Education Movement.

At Galileo, innovation, purpose, and personal growth come together to create an environment where your unique talents shine, and your impact is celebrated. We’re committed to fostering a culture that champions inclusion for all, continually innovating to ensure every voice is heard. We have been named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work for in the Nation four times, including in 2024, and we’ve made the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area list over 12 times.

Come join us for a joy-filled summer in a mission-driven environment where you'll be part of something truly special!

Job Description

As the Director of Strategic Finance, you will shape the company’s financial direction and partner across departments to drive growth, improve decision-making, and ensure every strategic initiative is grounded in data-driven insight. This role sits at the intersection of finance, analytics, and business operations—you’ll pair sharp financial acumen with a deep understanding of how the business truly runs day to day.

You’ll operate as a player-coach on a small, scrappy team with big ambitions for growth.  Equal parts strategist and builder, you’ll model the business, analyze performance at the site level, design decision-support tools, and partner with leadership and cross-functional teams to improve efficiency and outcomes. The ideal candidate is as comfortable in front of executives as they are in Excel—able to influence decisions, simplify complexity, and build the systems and metrics that power growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Planning & Decision Support

• Lead annual and multi-year planning processes, aligning budgets and forecasts with company growth goals.

• Develop and maintain forward-looking financial and operational (e.g., staffing) models and scenario analyses to guide resource allocation, pricing, and investment decisions.

• Translate strategic priorities (e.g., expansion, pricing, scholarships) into clear financial implications.

• Ensure all financial planning and forecasting aligns with the seasonal nature of our business, supporting the unique rhythm of camp operations from strategic planning, to dynamic forecasting, to performance management.

• Act as a trusted advisor to leadership, clearly communicating financial insights, risks, and opportunities in plain language.

2. Operational Finance & Analytics

• Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, People, Technology, Supply Chain, and Field Operations teams to understand business drivers and identify opportunities for growth, efficiency, and ROI.

• Deliver actionable reporting and insights at the site level, reflecting the realities of 90+ unique camp locations, tracking enrollment, labor, utilization, and margins to identify risks and opportunities in real time.

• Build and refine simple, actionable KPIs and leading indicators that are analytically sound and operationally meaningful, with particular focus on:

  • Labor – Optimize hiring, deployment, and daily management of ~2,500 seasonal employees, Galileo’s largest cost driver and primary determinant of program quality

  • Unit maturity – Build and refine the “camp ramp” model to ensure new camps successfully scale from launch to maturity

  • Scale – Identify opportunities for operating leverage as Galileo grows, supporting improvements in org design, systems, and processes

• Champion a “business-first” approach to analytics: ensuring financial insights translate into stakeholder adoption and measurable action.

• Collaborate with end users to align financial tools and processes with the way the business actually operates.

3. Systems, Tools & Team Leadership

• Oversee the roadmap for strategic financial systems and reporting infrastructure in partnership with Technology and Data teams.

• Design lightweight, scalable tools and dashboards and recommend systems that improve data quality, visibility, and automation.

• Mentor and develop team members in and outside of Finance, fostering an analytical culture rooted in curiosity, rigor, and collaboration.

What We’re Looking For

1. Business Partnership Mindset

• A connector who builds strong relationships across teams and thrives on collaboration

• Willingness to spend time with end users to understand pain points and co-create better processes

• Preference for engaging direc