Financial Analyst, Principal

Your Role

The Operations Finance team is responsible for financial analysis, budget preparation, financial control, forecasting, reporting and for evaluating alternate financial plans. The Principal finance analyst will report to the Director of Operations Finance . In this role you will be managing two individual contributors. You will ensure financial stewardship over operations and serve as the trusted advisor to the executive operations leadership. This includes analysis of key strategic initiatives to drive business results and operating leverage. This position will be the lead finance partner for two of the organizations critical business units.

Responsibilities

Your Work

In this role, you will:

· Monitor and measure cash flow and regulatory capital

· Collect and evaluate data, develop and maintain financial models, analyze results and conduct scenario analyses to forecast balance sheet, cash flow and regulatory capital

· Reconcile data results from different sources and combine them into integrated reports spanning cost, quality, utilization, and risk profile metrics

· Follow and conduct audit processes and review internal controls to ensure financial transactions are accurate, timely and comply with accounting standards, principles and company policy

· Participate on internal workgroups and committees to provide analytical insight and support for the implementation and enhancement of new programs, products, and services

· Quarterly forecast updates and annual planning; effective communication and presentation of financial plan to senior management, with interpretation of strategic goals and detail needed to support achievement of those goals

· Work with, and manage team members to effectively track budget and forecast details, results, explain variances, identify risks/opportunities and solutions

· Make data driven decisions by providing clear and accurate financial summaries in support of achieving financial and operational targets.

· Partner with management, cross-functional operations teams, and senior finance personnel to understand strategic initiatives and how they impact the budget

Qualifications

• Required Knowledge and Experience
• Bachelor’s degree or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree
• 10 years of progressive finance analytics experience, including setting analytical strategy for a domain, governing KPI
• definitions, and leading enterprise-level reporting and decision support
• Demonstrated leadership of complex, cross-functional initiatives using structured project management practices (e.g., define scope, milestones, risks, and stakeholder cadence) with delivery of measurable outcomes (cost, margin, cash, or productivity impacts)
• Demonstrated advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel (Pivot Tables, VLookups), Word, Access, and PowerPoint.
• Hands-on experience using core finance systems and data sources relevant to the role (e.g., Oracle/ERP, Essbase/EPM, or similar), including building standardized extracts, validating data quality, and establishing repeatable reporting processes

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

About Blue Shield of California and the Ascendiun Family of Companies

As of January 2025, Blue Shield of California became a subsidiary of Ascendiun. Ascendiun is a nonprofit corporate entity that is the parent to a family of organizations including Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan; Altais, a clinical services company; and Stellarus, a company designed to scale healthcare solutions. Together, these organizations are referred to as the Ascendiun Family of Companies.

At Ascendiun, we believe in a brighter future for healthcare. As the parent to a family of four innovative healthcare companies, we’re reimagining what’s possible. Ascendiun is guided by the goal of transforming a dysfunctional American health care system into one worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable for everyone.

To achieve our mission, we foster an environment where all employees can thrive and contribute fully to address the needs of the various communities we serve. We are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive workplace that upholds our values and advances our goals.

Our Values:

• Honest. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and integrity standards. We build trust by doing what we say we're going to do and by acknowledging and correcting where we fall short.

• Human. We strive to listen and communicate effectively, and showing empathy by understanding others’ perspectives.

• Courageous. We stand up for what we believe in and are committed to the hard work necessary to achieve our ambitious goals.

Our Workplace Model:

We believe in fostering a workplace environment that balances purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility - providing clear expectations while respecting the diverse needs of our workforce. Our workplace model is designed around intentional in-person interaction, collaboration, connection, creativity and flexibility:

• For most teams, this means coming into the office two days per week.

• Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location, out of state employees, and employees in certain member-facing roles should work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

• For employees with medical conditions that may impact their ability to work in-office, we are committed to engaging in an interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to ensure their work environment is conducive to their success and well-being.

The Company reserves the right to require more presence in the office based on business needs, and requirements are subject to change with periodic reviews.

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.