Senior Financial Analyst, Program Finance

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats. 

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview:

Program Finance is seeking a Senior Financial Analyst to own financial forecasting and reporting across funded programs and IRAD projects. This role partners with Program Management, Mission Operations, Business Development, and R&D to maintain a clear picture of the projects competing for shared labor and equipment resources. You'll build financial models to support pricing proposals, maintain forecasts for greenlit projects to help program managers track profitability, and provide the program forecasts and estimates-at-completion that support revenue recognition and customer audits.

Responsibilities:

• Own financial tracking for funded programs and IRAD projects — labor hours, labor cost/burden, travel, and other direct costs
• Partner with Program Management, Mission Operations, and R&D to build budgets and staffing plans before project kickoff, maintaining a shared, up-to-date view of labor and equipment demand across projects competing for the same resources
• Assign project/charge codes at the inception of each program or IRAD project, against defined project code criteria, and ensure setup across timekeeping, procurement, and accounting systems
• Monitor purchase orders and accounting actuals against each project code to confirm proper charging and catch mischarges early
• Validate labor charging to each project (e.g. correct labor categories and rates) in coordination with Cost Accounting, which owns cost pools and rate development
• Build financial models and cost estimates in support of pricing proposals for new funded work
• Maintain forecasts for greenlit projects and calculate program margin (fee/funding less fully burdened labor, travel, and ODCs) at key milestones and close-out, giving program managers the analysis they need to manage program P&Ls
• Maintain a portfolio-level view across active funded programs and IRAD projects, flagging resource conflicts, at-risk margin, or funding issues before they become problems
• Own program estimates-at-completion used in revenue recognition, and support customer audits with program-level cost data, in coordination with Revenue and Cost Accounting

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field
• 3+ years of relevant experience in program finance, cost/project accounting, or FP&A, ideally in a government contracting, R&D, or defense/aerospace environment
• Strong Excel/financial modeling skills; experience with ERP/timekeeping systems and project/charge code setup
• Working knowledge of fully burdened labor rates (fringe, overhead, G&A) and how they flow into pricing and program margin
• Comfortable operating across a portfolio of concurrent, fast-moving projects with competing resource demands

Preferred Requirements:

• MBA or advanced degree in a finance-related discipline.
• Familiarity with FAR/CAS cost allowability as it relates to IRAD, NRE, or demonstration/prototype efforts
• Familiarity with government contract types (FFP, T&M, cost-type) and how program costs and estimates-at-completion feed revenue recognition on customer-funded work
• Experience with NetSuite, Salesforce, and/or Datarails

Why CHAOS?

• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
• Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
• Our Perks: Free daily lunch while you're working onsite, fully-stocked kitchen, unlimited PTO, casual dress code
• Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
• Team Growth: 500+ employees and counting across 5 global offices

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. 

#LI-onsite