First Student is North America's largest student transportation provider - nearly $5 billion in revenue, 45,000 buses, and 60,000+ employees across the US and Canada, backed by EQT's infrastructure investment thesis. Recognized by TIME as one of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2026 and by Fast Company as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies in 2025 (#6 in Transportation), we move the most precious cargo in the world safely to school every day.
The Senior Finance Director, FP&A is the VP of Finance's primary partner in leading the enterprise FP&A function - owning day-to-day execution across planning, forecasting, reporting, and analysis; consolidating financial performance across all seven regions; and producing the financial intelligence the VP, CFO, and CEO use to run the business. First Student operates with a flat leadership culture, and this role carries regular direct exposure to the CFO and CEO through financial reporting, planning discussions, and strategic reviews.
Beyond execution, this leader drives two transformation priorities: evolving enterprise forecasting into a system-driven, AI-enabled process, and shifting the finance team's output from financial variance reporting to KPI-based business driver analysis that connects financial outcomes to the operational decisions behind them.
REPORTING & TEAM STRUCTURE
Reports to the VP, Head of Finance, who holds enterprise accountability for FP&A, Pricing, Regional Finance, CapEx, and Leveraged Cash Flow. Leads a team of six across three functions:
Director, FP&A - primary analytical partner, with one Analyst and one indirect Analyst.
Finance Manager, SG&A - HQ SG&A planning and monitoring, with one Analyst.
Finance Manager, Systems & Planning - FP&A systems, tools, and process infrastructure, with one Analyst.
Works alongside seven Senior Regional Finance Directors and the Senior Finance Director, Pricing in a peer-level consolidation partnership.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Enterprise Budgeting, Forecasting & LCF
Lead the enterprise annual budget and rolling forecast, coordinating submissions across all seven regions and HQ into a coherent plan aligned with corporate and EQT objectives.
Lead enterprise Leveraged Cash Flow (LCF) planning and forecasting in alignment with EQT's infrastructure investment framework.
Drive forecast accuracy by challenging assumptions and working with regional and HQ finance leaders to close gaps.
Forecasting Transformation
Transform First Student's forecasting into a system-driven, AI-enabled process. The contract portfolio's natural rhythm - ~two-thirds stable, one-third in active renewal - enables a two-speed approach:
System-driven, light-touch rolling forecast for the stable portfolio, leveraging automation and AI with minimal manual effort.
Semi-annual, human-intensive cycles during renewal season, where finance, pricing, and regional teams collaborate on assumptions, risk, and opportunity.
Shift the team's primary output from forecast maintenance to insight generation - proactively surfacing risks, opportunities, and recommendations for leadership.
Variance Analysis & KPI-Based Driver Reporting
Deliver routine P&L, CapEx, and LCF performance reports to the VP, CFO, and CEO, and prepare Board and EQT reporting packages with driver-based executive narratives.
Lead the transition from variance-to-plan reporting to a KPI-driver framework - connecting financial outcomes to the operational metrics (retention, renewal rates, ridership, cost per bus) that caused them.
Develop and maintain standardized reporting templates, dashboards, and KPI frameworks across all reporting cycles.
CapEx Planning
Regional Consolidation, SG&A, STIP & Pricing
Consolidate regional P&L, CapEx, and LCF submissions into enterprise-level views; serve as the primary HQ FP&A point of contact for planning assumptions and reporting standards.
Oversee HQ SG&A planning and monitoring; partner with functional leaders on bottom-up budgets and flag risks to plan early.
Lead STIP financial planning - target-setting, accrual modeling, and payout projections - and maintain accurate accruals through forecast cycles.
Partner with the Senior Finance Director, Pricing to incorporate contract pricing and renewal retention assumptions into enterprise financial plans.
QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate runs a disciplined planning and reporting cadence while improving the systems and analytics behind it - combining executive presence, technical finance judgment, and the ability to build trust across regional finance, pricing, operations, HR, and senior leadership.
Bachelor's in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field; MBA or CPA strongly preferred.
10+ years of progressive FP&A experience in a corporate or enterprise finance role within multi-site, service, contract, or transportation industries.
Proven expertise in enterprise financial consolidation, budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis across P&L, CapEx, and Cash Flow.
Experience modernizing FP&A through system-driven forecasting or advanced analytics; familiarity with Anaplan, Pigment, OneStream, or similar AI-enabled planning platforms is a strong plus.
Proficiency in SAP, Oracle, or equivalent ERP; Hyperion or comparable CPM platform; advanced Excel and financial modeling required.
Experience with KPI-based driver variance frameworks; familiarity with SG&A planning, CapEx, LCF modeling, and STIP financial planning.
Proven executive communication - synthesizing complex multi-region financials into clear narratives for C-suite, board, and private equity audiences; PE-backed environment experience preferred.
Collaborative, organizationally agile people leader with a track record of developing high-performing finance teams.
SUCCESS IN THIS ROLE
30 Days - Execute all daily FP&A routines and reporting cadences; build key HQ and regional relationships; gain fluency in First Student's financial structure, systems, and business model.
90 Days - Independently manage all core FP&A deliverables; identify highest-priority transformation opportunities; establish credibility with the CFO, CEO, and regional partners through accurate reporting and sharp analysis.
12 Months - Lead the full enterprise fiscal year budget cycle (commencing February) from regional submissions through executive presentation; deliver measurable progress on the forecasting transformation and KPI-driver reporting roadmap.
IMPACT OF THE ROLE
The Senior Finance Director, FP&A is the VP of Finance's most important operational partner - ensuring the enterprise financial picture is always accurate, current, and decision-ready - while leading the shift from mechanical reporting to strategic advising, and from financial variance to business driver insight. As First Student grows its EV fleet, expands its footprint, and delivers on EQT's infrastructure thesis, the quality of enterprise financial planning has never mattered more.
"We carry the most precious cargo in the world. The finance function that supports this mission must be equally extraordinary."
Compensation ranges from $170,000 - $190,000 depending on experience.
First for a reason:
At First Student, we are a family of 60,000+ employees who take pride in safely transporting more than 5 million students and passengers to and from their destinations each day! Our family of brands include Transco, Total Transportation, Maggies Paratransit, and GVC II. Our employees are at the forefront of safety and innovation; they create and implement the most advanced training and technology the transportation industry has to offer.
In the state of Washington, all technician and driving positions, including but not limited to van drivers and any other position requiring employees to drive a company-owned vehicle, are considered safety-sensitive and are therefore subject to drug and alcohol testing, including cannabis.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status. First is also committed to providing a drug-free workplace. First will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance, and any other fair chance law. Philadelphia's Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance Poster is at this link or upon request https://www.phila.gov/media/20210423160847/Fair-Chance-Hiring-law-poster.pdf.
