We Are
Ansys Government Initiatives (AGI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Synopsys, provides advanced engineering simulation and digital mission solutions supporting U.S. national security, defense, space, and microelectronics programs. AGI operates where commercial technology innovation meets government mission requirements, with finance leadership playing a critical role in enabling compliant growth, disciplined execution, and operational resilience.
You Are
You are a strategic, business-focused finance executive who has led finance organizations where financial decisions directly affect national security customers, competitive positioning, operational resilience, and enterprise growth. You are comfortable functioning as a CFO for a mission-critical business while operating within a matrix organization to the parent company finance function and shared services teams.
You understand that finance in a defense and government contracting environment is not only about reporting results; it is about making deliberate choices on investment, pricing, forecasting, controls, cost structure, compliance, capital allocation, and risk. You know how to translate complex financial, contractual, and regulatory obligations into operationally sound business processes that enable leaders to move with confidence.
You have earned credibility with executive leaders, program teams, finance shared services, auditors, and parent company stakeholders by balancing speed with compliance, supporting growth while protecting enterprise assets, and preserving contractual integrity. You operate comfortably at both altitudes: advising the VP & GM and senior leadership on business strategy while also ensuring the financial operating cadence, controls, forecasts, and decision support are accurate, timely, and actionable.
What You'll Be Doing
Finance Leadership & CFO-Level Business Partnership
- Function as the CFO-like finance leader for AGI, serving as the principal financial advisor to the VP & GM, AGI executive leadership team, and parent company finance stakeholders.
- Develop and execute the finance strategy for AGI, aligning financial planning, forecasting, reporting, controls, investment decisions, and operating rhythms with business priorities and government program requirements.
- Lead executive-level financial reviews, business performance discussions, long-range planning, annual operating plans, quarterly forecasts, headcount planning, cost optimization, and investment tradeoffs.
- Translate financial results, risks, and opportunities into clear business recommendations for senior leaders, parent company finance, board/proxy governance participants, auditors, and business partners.
Matrix Organization to Parent Company & Shared Services
- Operate effectively in a matrix organization to the parent company finance function, partnering with corporate FP&A, controllership, accounting, tax, treasury, procurement, payroll, revenue, systems, internal audit, and shared services groups.
- Build strong operating mechanisms with parent company finance and shared services to ensure AGI gets scalable, compliant, andtimelysupport whilemaintainingclear business ownership and AGI-specific decision accountability.
- Represent AGI requirements in parent company planning, budgeting, systems, controllership, policy, and reporting processes, ensuring finance delivery reflects the needs of a defense-oriented operating model.
- Partner with parent company finance leaders tomaintainalignment on financial policies, controls, reporting, revenue recognition, internal audit expectations, and enterprise governance.
FP&A, Forecasting, Financial Reporting & Business Decision Support
- Own AGI financial planning and analysis, including annual budget, long-range plan, rolling forecast, monthly business reviews, variance analysis, KPI reporting, scenario modeling, and executive dashboards.
- Develop driver-based financial models for revenue, bookings,ARRor recurring revenue metrics where applicable, program costs, laborutilization, headcount, margin, working capital, and cash flow.
- Providebusiness insights that improve P&L performance, pricing discipline, cost structure, investment prioritization, program profitability, and resource allocation across AGI.
- Partner with Sales, Contracts, Legal, Product, Security, Program Management, and Operations to evaluate growth initiatives, proposal economics, non-standard deals, strategic investments, and risk-adjusted profitability.
Government Contracting Finance, Compliance & Controls
- Lead finance support for an organization serving Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, aerospace, defense, space, microelectronics, and federal customers, emphasizing mission assurance and compliant execution.
- Partner with Legal, Contracts, Compliance, Security, and parent company finance to support federal acquisition, DFARS/FAR, cost allowability, indirect cost, labor charging, contract accounting, export control, and audit-readiness expectations as applicable.
- Maintain strong financial governance, internal controls, documentation, and management review processes that support GAAP, corporate policy, SOX/internal control requirements, and government contracting expectations.
- Support audit readiness and responses for internal audit, external audit, customer inquiries, government agency reviews, and other compliance matters, ensuring issues are surfaced, tracked, and remediated with discipline.
Commercial Finance, Deal Support & Growth Enablement
- Partner with sales and business development teams to assess opportunity economics, pricing, discounting, deal structure, license or SaaS terms, renewal dynamics, customer profitability, and margin impact.
- Provide strategic finance support during proposal, capture, contract negotiation, program ramp, and post-award execution phases, balancing commercial speed with contractual, financial, and compliance requirements.
- Develop financial analyses for new markets, product offerings, customer segments, strategic partnerships, acquisitions, integrations, and investments that support AGI growth goals.
- Improve forecast accuracy, contract financial visibility, revenue predictability, and cross-functional decision quality through disciplined operating cadence and data-driven insights.
Team, Systems, Process & Governance
- Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing finance team or matrixed finance operating model with strong ethics, accountability, customer service, analytical rigor, and business partnership.
- Improve finance processes, reporting tools, planning systems, controls, data quality, BI dashboards, and operating routines to increase efficiency, visibility, and decision velocity.
- Establish finance metrics that matter, not metrics that simply look good in presentations, enabling executive visibility into performance, risk, cash, margin, bookings, revenue, program execution, and operational resilience.
- Use AI-enabled and automation tools responsibly to improve forecasting, reporting, variance analysis, and financial insight generation whilemaintainingcontrol, privacy, and human oversight.
The Impact You Will Have
- Your finance leadership will enable AGI to compete for and deliver high-value government and commercial opportunities with sharper forecasts, stronger controls, and better investment decisions.
- Your CFO-level partnership will give AGI executive leadership clear visibility into financial performance, business risk, program economics, and growth tradeoffs.
- Your matrix partnership with the parent company will ensure AGI receives the benefits of enterprise-scale finance systems and shared services while preserving the business intimacy required for a mission-driven subsidiary.
- Your governance, controls, and audit-readiness frameworks will reduce organizational risk and help leaders pursue opportunities with confidence in the financial operating model.
- Your data-driven operating cadence will improve decision quality across sales, programs, product, legal, contracts, security, operations, and executive leadership.
What You'll Need
- 12+ years of progressive finance, FP&A, controllership, corporate finance, business finance, or government contracting finance experience, including senior leadership responsibility in a complex organization.
- Demonstrated success serving as a CFO, divisional CFO, business unit finance leader, or senior finance partner for a business with material revenue, complex customers, regulated requirements, or matrixed enterprise support.
- Experience in aerospace, defense, federal contracting, national security, software/SaaS, advanced technology, semiconductor, engineering simulation, or similarly regulated industries strongly preferred.
- Strong knowledge of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, revenue, bookings, margin analysis, cost controls, cash flow, headcount planning, capital allocation, management reporting, and executive decision support.
- Working knowledge of U.S. GAAP, corporate controls, SOX/internal controls, audit readiness, business systems, and finance operations; familiarity with FAR/DFARS, CAS, DCAA/DCMA, labor charging, indirect rates, or government program finance is highly desirable.
- Bachelor's degree in Finance , Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related fieldrequired; MBA, CPA, CMA, CFA, or equivalent credential preferred.
- Ability to work with U.S. government customers and within a defense-oriented operating environment; active or prior U.S. security clearance is preferred where applicable.
Who You Are
- Strategic thinker with strong business acumen, financial judgment, and the ability to make decisions with incomplete information while balancing risk and opportunity.
- Clear, confident communicator who translates financial complexity into business terms that resonate with executives, operators, parent company stakeholders, auditors, and government-facing teams.
- Collaborative and influential in a matrix organization, able to build trust across AGI leadership, parent company finance, shared services, Legal, Contracts, Program Management, Sales, Product, Security, and Operations.
- Disciplined operator who can create a reliable finance cadence, diagnose performance issues, simplify complexity, and hold the organization accountable to measurable outcomes.
- High-integrity leader who protects confidentiality,maintainscontrol discipline, and models sound judgment in high-stakes financial, contractual, and compliance situations.
The Team You'll Be Part Of
You will join a high-growth AGI leadership team focused on enabling secure, compliant, and scalable growth across federal, defense, space, microelectronics, and commercial markets. The role will partner directly with the VP & GM and AGI leadership while operating in close matrix alignment with the parent company finance organization and relevant shared services functions. The right leader will help establish the financial operating model required for AGI to scale with discipline, transparency, and confidence.
At Synopsys, we want talented people of every background to feel valued and supported to do their best work. Synopsys considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, military veteran status, or disability.
In addition to the base salary, this role may be eligible for an annual bonus, equity, and other discretionary bonuses. Synopsys offers comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits as part of a competitive total rewards package. The actual compensation offered will be based on a number of job-related factors, including location, skills, experience, and education. Your recruiter can share more specific details on the total rewards package upon request. The base salary range for this role is across the U.S.
