Strategic Finance Associate

About the role

Freeform builds AI-native manufacturing systems that unify software, hardware, and physics to produce industrial-scale parts at the speed of human ideation. By treating manufacturing as a single integrated system, we unlock a new era of innovation where complex hardware is designed, built, and scaled without limits.

We are looking for an Associate to join our Strategic Finance team and contribute to the financial infrastructure that drives company-wide decision-making. This is an early-career role with significant ownership and visibility. You will support the financial models that power our planning cycles, assist with M&A and partnership activity, and work alongside leadership as a hands-on analytical contributor. If you are eager to develop deep financial modeling skills in a fast-moving environment and want your work to have direct influence on a company scaling a world-changing technology, this role is for you.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the company's fully integrated financial model, including three-statement modeling, bottoms-up budget build, and rolling forecasts across all business units
• Lead monthly and quarterly variance analysis (actuals vs. budget vs. prior year), translating financial results into clear, executive-ready commentary for leadership and the Board
• Build and maintain customer and product-level pricing models, including unit economics, contribution margin by segment, and scenario/sensitivity analysis to support commercial decisions
• Lead financial modeling for M&A opportunities, including target evaluation, DCF/LBO valuation, synergy modeling, accretion/dilution analysis, and post-close integration tracking
• Own the long-range financial plan (3-5 year), converting strategic initiatives into detailed financial projections with well-documented assumptions and risk sensitivities
• Support structuring and evaluation of joint ventures and strategic partnerships, including economic modeling, waterfall/return attribution, and term sheet analysis
• Drive capital allocation frameworks across the business, helping leadership evaluate trade-offs between organic investment, M&A, and balance sheet decisions
• Prepare board materials, investor reporting, and ad hoc analyses for senior leadership and external stakeholders including venture and growth equity investors
• Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Sales, and Engineering to embed financial rigor into business decisions and provide real-time analytical support on strategic initiatives

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, accounting, or related field
• 2+ years of experience in investment banking, private equity, or a strategic finance role at a high-growth company
• Experience with variance analysis, budgeting, and financial reporting in an operating company context

Nice to Have

• MBA or advanced degree in finance or business
• Exceptional financial modeling skills
• Strong command of Excel; comfortable working with large, complex datasets and building dynamic, assumption-driven models
• Private equity or growth equity experience, particularly at the portfolio company level
• Experience working in a manufacturing, deep tech, or hardware-intensive business
• Experience with financial planning tools (Mosaic, Pigment, Adaptive, or similar)
• "No job too big or small" mindset - willing to roll up sleeves and build from zero

Location

• Based in Hawthorne, our vertically integrated facility brings technology development, R&D, and production together under one roof. We operate at the center of LA's deep tech ecosystem, surrounded by some of the most ambitious hardware innovation happening anywhere in the country.
• Our fast-paced, cross-functional environment is built on close collaboration, and as such, this role requires full-time onsite presence (five days a week), with very limited exceptions.