{"id":3398213,"url":"https://alion.io/job/studs-associate-director-fpa","title":"Associate Director, FP&A","company":{"id":1871701,"name":"Studs","domain":"studs.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/studs","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":92,"open_postings":3,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.333,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":41,"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"}},"role":"Finance","role_family":"Finance","seniority":"head","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["New York, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":155000,"max":175000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":175000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Microsoft Excel","optional":false},{"name":"Outlook","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T11:27:11Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-28","last_verified_at":"2026-10-31T16:34:53Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"Studs is a category-defining ear piercing and earring brand named one of “the 10 most innovative companies in retail for 2023” by Fast Company. Studs connects ear piercing with aftercare and earring shopping to create an end-to-end Earscaping® experience. We offer a better retail and digital experience that prioritizes safety and expertise in a cool, fun and welcoming environment, along with a wide earring assortment-all at an accessible price point.\nThe Associate Director, FP&A owns financial planning and analysis at Studs, with a focus on improving studio profitability, supporting disciplined expansion, and managing cash. Reporting to the CFO, this person builds and runs the annual budget, rolling forecast, and long-term financial plan directly, translating financial and operational results into clear recommendations. This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports at the outset; as the finance team grows, the planning function may report into this role.\nThis role partners with Retail, Operations, Marketing, Merchandising, and Accounting to connect business decisions to revenue, EBITDA, cash flow, and investment returns. It helps leadership set studio-level performance goals, allocate capital, and identify risks and opportunities early enough to act.\nThis is a hands-on role for someone who has worked in four-wall retail finance, builds models directly, works through imperfect data, challenges assumptions constructively, and follows through with business partners to improve results.\nSalary Range: $155,000 - $175,000 plus equity\nLocation: HQ (New York, NY) - Hybrid\nKey Responsibilities:\nFinancial Planning, Forecasting & Modeling\nOwn the annual budget and rolling forecast process across departments, including timelines, assumptions, and reviews with business leaders.\nOwn an integrated P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow forecast; partner with Accounting to assess liquidity, inventory and other working capital needs, and funding requirements.\nConnect studio and e-commerce revenue plans, operating expenses, and capital investments to company profitability and cash targets; identify gaps and recommend adjustments.\nBuild scenarios that test growth, profitability, and cash assumptions, making trade-offs and downside risks clear before decisions are made.\nImprove planning tools and processes so forecasts are accurate and assumptions are consistent; use AI, automation, and lightweight software development to streamline recurring work, strengthen reporting, and free up the finance team for higher-value analysis, with appropriate data safeguards and validation.\n\nPerformance Analysis & Business Partnership\nRun regular reviews of company, channel, and studio performance against plan and prior periods, explaining the drivers of results and surfacing risks and opportunities.\nPartner with Retail to set and track studio-level targets for revenue, EBITDA dollars and margin, labor productivity, and utilization; analyze performance by studio and cohort to identify opportunities across the fleet.\nPartner with Marketing and Retail to analyze traffic, conversion, customer acquisition and retention, and marketing returns; recommend investments that connect demand generation to studio capacity and profitable growth.\nChallenge plans constructively, agree on actions and owners with business partners, and track whether those actions improve results.\n\nStrategic Planning & Investment Analysis\nBuild the long-term financial plan and capital allocation analysis, helping leadership prioritize investment across new studios, existing studio improvements, marketing, and other growth initiatives.\nUnderwrite new studio investments with Real Estate and Retail, including buildout costs, sales ramp, operating profitability, cash requirements, and payback; compare actual results with the original investment case.\nEvaluate pricing, assortment, new services, and other strategic initiatives; establish financial success measures and compare actual results with expectations.\n\nReporting & Executive Visibility\nPrepare monthly, quarterly, and annual management reporting, forecasts, and performance analysis for leadership and the board; partner with Accounting, which owns the close and financial statements, to ensure consistent and reliable reporting.\nSupport the CFO in communicating the outlook, key risks, and recommended actions to senior stakeholders, and contribute to financing analysis, lender reporting, and fundraising or transaction diligence as needed.\nRequirements:\nBachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or a related field.\n6+ years of relevant experience in FP&A or strategic finance, including hands-on ownership of budgeting, forecasting, and long-term financial planning.\nFour-wall retail experience required: prior finance work in a multi-unit retail business with direct responsibility for store or studio-level P&L, labor, and unit economics.\nStrong financial modeling skills, including building integrated financial forecasts and studio-level investment models from scratch and translating results into business recommendations.\nSound financial judgment, strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and close attention to detail.\nExperience partnering with senior leaders, challenging assumptions constructively, and influencing decisions across teams.\nClear, direct communicator in writing and in person; comfortable explaining financial performance and recommendations to executive and board audiences.\nAdvanced Excel skills and proficiency with financial planning and reporting tools; experience working with ERP, point-of-sale, and operational data to build consistent performance reporting.\nComfortable building analyses directly, working through imperfect data, and holding business partners accountable for agreed actions; acts with integrity and responds openly to feedback.\nAbility to set priorities in a fast-paced, high-growth environment while staying hands-on and keeping the big picture in view. AI fluency preferred: comfortable using AI tools in daily work and building practical automations, scripts, or internal applications that improve the finance team’s speed and effectiveness.\nBased in New York, NY and able to work in the office three days per week.\nBenefits & Perks\nFlexible Work Environment (3 days in office, 2 days work from home)\nComprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance (including a plan option with $0 in-network mental health visits)\nAccess to Mental Health and Work/Life Resources including Online Therapy, Gender Affirmation Support Services, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP)\nVoluntary Life Insurance\nHealth and Commuter Tax-Advantaged Accounts\nStock Options in connection with the Company’s Equity Incentive Plan\n401(k) Retirement Savings Plan\nPaid Time Off, Paid Safe & Sick Leave, and Paid Parental Leave\nPaid Sabbatical After 4 Years of Service\nExclusive Employee Discounts on Piercings and Jewelry (we’ve got your friends and family covered too!)\nAccess to PerkSpot and additional benefits such as pet insurance, discounted tickets, personal finance coaching, healthy rewards, and more!\nStuds is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing a work environment that fosters diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity without regard to race, color, gender, age, creed, sex, religion, national origin, disability (physical or mental), marital status, citizenship, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, or any other legally protected status. Studs considers qualified applicants with criminal histories. We comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting discrimination in employment in every jurisdiction in which we operate. If you require an accommodation for the application process, please fill out this form.\nMassachusetts Applicants: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. \n\nClick here for the Studs Privacy Notice for California Applicants.","description_format":"text","description_chars":8117,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":6,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Flexible schedule","Life insurance","Parental leave","Retirement plans","Stock options","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Jewelry"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-28T13:19:57Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 2","filings_12m":2,"filings_prev_12m":1,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":157500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":41,"reasons":["conf:0","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-31T05:58:55Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":175000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/studs-associate-director-fpa","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/studs-associate-director-fpa.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-31T18:50:43Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":29517,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-01T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1871701},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1871701"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fstuds-associate-director-fpa"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fstuds-associate-director-fpa"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fstuds-associate-director-fpa"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/studs-associate-director-fpa\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fstuds-associate-director-fpa"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3398213}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"studs.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3398213},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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