Director, FP&A and AI Finance

With over 59 stores and the largest avocational cooking program in the US, Sur La Table offers an unsurpassed selection of exclusive and premium-quality goods for the kitchen and table – and the culinary expertise and inspiration to go along with it. Whether the job entails interacting with our customers, driving digital growth, or providing vital behind-the-scenes support, we’re all here for the same reason – to roll up our sleeves and create happiness through cooking and sharing good food.  As our Director, FP&A and AI Finance, you will serve as a key strategic partner to Sur La Table's leadership team, translating financial data into clear, actionable insight that drives business decisions across retail, ecommerce, and culinary programming. This role exists because Sur La Table needs a financially rigorous leader who can also transform how FP&A works — deploying AI-driven automation to reduce manual lift and accelerate the quality of reporting and forecasting. You will own the full budget and forecast cycle, lead a high-performing team, and build the modern financial infrastructure that keeps a fast-moving omnichannel brand ahead of its plan.   At 6–12 months, success looks like a forecast process that runs faster and more accurately than before, AI-powered tools actively replacing manual workflows, and a finance team that is better developed and more capable than when you arrived.   This is a lean team. You will own a lot, move fast, and make decisions with full end-to-end responsibility. What You'll Do:

Financial Planning & Forecasting

Drive the annual budget process across all channels and departments, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and operational plans.

Lead the monthly forecast process, proactively identifying opportunities and risks and communicating them clearly to senior leadership.

Support fleet management with financial analysis, including ROIC analysis on capital investments and new store decisions.

AI & Process Transformation

Lead AI-driven process transformation across the FP&A function — prototyping and deploying automated workflows, agent-based solutions, and always-on reporting tools that reduce manual work and accelerate insight delivery.

Leverage technology to evaluate and extract data that informs decision-making and continuously improves financial infrastructure.

Cross-Functional Partnership

Develop strong partnerships with business leaders to understand key operational drivers and deliver clear, actionable financial insights.

Partner with Business Development to provide financial modeling and analysis on new business opportunities.

Team Leadership & Development

Build, lead, and develop an efficient, high-performing FP&A team — setting clear expectations, managing workflow, and coaching team members to grow in their roles.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Finance or a related field.

10+ years of progressively responsible FP&A experience, including multiple full budget cycles.

Hands-on AI experience applied within finance workflows — concrete wins such as building automated reporting pipelines, deploying agent-based tools (e.g., n8n, Claude Code, ChatGPT), or creating custom solutions that replaced manual FP&A processes. You can walk us through exactly what you built and the business impact it had.

Direct FP&A experience in an omnichannel retail environment — supporting both physical store and ecommerce P&Ls.

Strong command of corporate finance and accounting principles, with the ability to move comfortably between the P&L, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cash Flows and explain complex concepts to non-financial audiences.

Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint).

Proven ability to build complex financial models from scratch and bring financial dimension to ambiguous business problems.

Track record of building and developing high-performing teams, with strong workflow management and ability to keep deliverables on track across a team.

Rigorous attention to accuracy, with the ability to put processes in place that ensure financial information is presented correctly across the team.

Excellent presentation and communication skills, with experience leading large group meetings and presenting to senior leadership.

Intensely curious and proactive — you dig deep to understand business processes, uncover solutions to problems, and connect financial information to operations.

Player-coach leadership style — equally comfortable building models and synthesizing analysis as delegating and developing team members.

Demonstrated ability to influence senior leadership decisions and drive tangible outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications:

MBA and/or CPA preferred.

Experience evaluating, implementing, or improving financial planning and reporting systems (e.g., Adaptive, Anaplan, NetSuite Planning).

Why Join:

Strategic Visibility: As the finance leader for Sur La Table, you will present directly to the brand's CFO and senior leadership team — your analysis and recommendations will shape real investment decisions across stores, ecommerce, and culinary programming.

AI at the Frontier of Finance: This role puts you at the leading edge of how FP&A functions are being rebuilt. You will have the mandate and the resources to deploy AI-driven automation in a real business environment — building a body of work that is genuinely differentiated.

Full Ownership: You will own the budget, the forecast, the team, and the transformation agenda. There is no one above you in this function on a day-to-day basis — you set the standard and drive the outcomes.

Competitive Benefits: Paid time off policies, 401(k) match, medical/dental/vision and a variety of supplemental policies, and employee discounts across our portfolio of brands including Sur La Table cooking class perks.

Interview Process:

1. Recruiter Screen: A conversation with our recruiting team to align on the role, your background, and mutual fit.
2. AI & Finance Assessment: A short take-home challenge to understand how you approach financial modeling and AI-driven workflow design.
3. Hiring Manager Interview: A deep-dive conversation with the Sur La Table CFO focused on your FP&A leadership experience, AI finance work, and strategic thinking.
4. Leadership Panel: In-person or virtual interviews with Sur La Table and Finance leadership, exploring cross-functional collaboration and your vision for the FP&A function.
5. Reference Checks: Conducted in parallel with the final stages where possible.
6. Offer: We move quickly for the right candidate.