Senior Associate, R&D Finance

About Rippling Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system. Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds. Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes. We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @ Rippling.com addresses. About the role Rippling is expanding its product portfolio into new areas, moving beyond its current pricing model into product lines with different cost structures, infrastructure economics, and pricing constructs. This means building financial frameworks where there is limited precedent, and the person in this role will play a key part in developing them. We are looking for a Senior Associate to serve as a finance partner to Rippling's R&D organization. You will own the financial models that underpin our infrastructure spend, develop unit cost frameworks for new product lines, and work closely with Engineering and Product leadership to drive cost discipline and investment efficiency. This role has meaningful executive visibility and is well-positioned to grow with the business. What you will do Own the financial models that govern Rippling's infrastructure footprint, including bottoms-up forecasts, tracking actuals, and translating complex cost drivers into clear business narratives Develop unit cost frameworks and efficiency metrics for new product lines that operate outside Rippling's current pricing model, requiring first-principles thinking about cost attribution and margin structure for an increasingly AI native product experience Establish month-end reporting processes and controls, partnering with Accounting to ensure accuracy and speed in our close cycle Partner directly with Engineering and Product leadership to evaluate infrastructure investment decisions, identify cost efficiency opportunities, and hold the business accountable to its financial commitments Build and maintain budget and forecasting models that balance near-term cost discipline with the flexibility needed to support a rapidly evolving product roadmap Use technology, including AI productivity tools and data querying, to automate reporting and help the finance function operate at scale What you will need Required 4+ years of experience in high-growth technology, strategic finance, investing, and/or investment banking Advanced financial modeling and analytical skills; ability to structure ambiguous, open-ended problems and drive them to a clear conclusion Working knowledge of cloud infrastructure cost dimensions. You understand how compute, storage, and data transfer costs behave and can model them at a unit level Self-starter mentality, comfortable operating with limited guidance in a fast-moving environment, with a strong desire to own outcomes rather than just analyze them Strong cross-functional communication skills, including the ability to work effectively with engineering and product audiences on financial topics Nice to have Prior experience at AWS, GCP, Azure, or a cloud infrastructure company Familiarity with observability or cloud cost management tooling (e.g., Datadog, CloudHealth, Vantage) Experience modeling consumption-based or usage-based pricing economics SQL proficiency and experience working with large datasets to build financial insights Hands-on experience with AI productivity tools (e.g., Claude, Claude Code) How success is mea