Strategic Finance Manager, Retailer

Overview

Instacart’s Strategic Finance team partners across the business to drive disciplined growth and long-term value creation. Within this group, the Retailer pod supports our Retail Partnerships organization as we expand and deepen relationships with grocers and retailers across North America.

In this role you will be the finance lead for retailer deal flow—from first conversation and pricing strategy through signed agreement and post-close performance management. You will develop decision frameworks, build robust models, and advise senior leaders through high-stakes negotiations that shape Instacart’s revenue and margin profile.

You will collaborate closely with Partnerships, Legal, Revenue Operations, Accounting, Product, Data Science, and Analytics. This is a fast-paced, highly cross-functional role on a lean team of 7 across pods, ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguity, rolls up their sleeves, and communicates with clarity and conviction. We work together, move quickly, and put facts and transparency on the table to make the best decisions for our customers, shoppers, retailers, brands, and partners.

About the Job

• Lead financial modeling and scenario analysis for retailer partnerships, including revenue share structures, fee schedules, incentives, media and fulfillment economics; deliver clear, actionable recommendations to executives.
• Serve as the finance partner in negotiations—shaping pricing strategy, establishing guardrails, drafting approval memos, and aligning cross-functional stakeholders from term sheet to signature.
• Build and maintain partner- and portfolio-level forecasts and P&Ls define KPIs, instrument tracking, and drive monthly/quarterly performance reviews with Partnerships leadership.
• Design and operationalize scalable deal frameworks, templates, and a deal desk process that improves speed, consistency, and compliance across the Retailer organization.
• Partner with Data Science and Analytics to develop self-serve dashboards and insights that quantify tradeoffs, surface risks, and accelerate decision-making.
• Evaluate and prioritize strategic investments and experiments; define hypotheses, measurement plans, and success criteria to inform go/no-go decisions.
• Coach and mentor analysts within the pod to elevate modeling rigor, business judgment, and executive-ready storytelling (no direct reports).

About You

Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in strategic finance, corporate finance, investment banking, private equity, or management consulting with a focus on commercial deals or partnerships.
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Advanced financial modeling skills in Excel or Google Sheets, including multi-scenario and sensitivity analyses for complex, multi-year agreements.
• Proven track record owning the finance workstream end-to-end for complex commercial agreements—from initial scoping and pricing through signature and post-close performance tracking.
• Hands-on experience partnering with Sales/Business Development and Legal to structure and negotiate contract terms that balance growth and unit economics.
• Strong command of accounting fundamentals and unit economics; ability to build and reconcile partner- and portfolio-level P&Ls and cash flow impacts.
• Ability to communicate complex analyses and recommendations clearly to senior executives in written and verbal formats.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or relevant advanced degree.
• Experience in marketplace, consumer internet, retail, or B2B SaaS business models.
• Proficiency in SQL and familiarity with BI tools and building AI workflows (e.g., complex Claude prompts).
• Experience building pricing frameworks, rate cards, and scalable deal desk processes.
• Familiarity with revenue recognition and partnership accounting considerations for multi-element arrangements.
• Demonstrated success managing a fast-moving pipeline with multiple concurrent deals and cross-functional stakeholders.