Commercial Analyst
Navigator
Location: London (Hybrid)
Reports to: Chief Financial Officer
About Us
Navigator is a fast-growing advertising technology business operating at the intersection of media, data, and commercial strategy. We work with publishers, advertisers, and data partners to deliver measurable outcomes across digital channels. As we scale toward our next major growth phase, financial rigor and commercial insight are central to how we operate and how we tell our story to investors and the board.
You will join a lean, high-performing finance team alongside the CFO and Financial Controller, in a business where the quality of your output is visible, valued, and consequential.
The Role
We are looking for a Commercial Analyst to join the finance function, reporting directly to the CFO. This is not a support role. The right person will own the commercial reporting and analytical infrastructure of the business, take full accountability for the accuracy and quality of their output, and operate with a level of independence that means the CFO is a challenger and a sounding board, not a safety net.
You will own the weekly and board-level reporting rhythm, lead deeper analytical work that shapes commercial decisions, and over time set the agenda for what questions this business should be asking about its own performance. You will work closely with the CFO, the Financial Controller, and the wider business.
We are looking for one profile: an experienced analytical operator who has already owned a number, defended a forecast under pressure, and delivered board-ready output without being chased. The learning curve here is Navigator, not the craft.
Key Responsibilities
Commercial and Revenue Analysis
- Own the commercial performance view: revenue trends, pacing, client profitability, and margin. The number is yours to stand behind.
- Build and maintain client-level profitability models that reflect the true economics of Navigator’s commercial relationships, not just invoiced revenue.
- Own the investigation and resolution of divergences between recognized revenue and invoiced amounts. Work with operations to fix the root cause, not just flag the symptom.
- Interrogate data partner costs against contractual commitments. Identify where Navigator is overpaying, under recovering, or carrying risk it has not priced.
Recurring Reporting
- Own the weekly financial and commercial performance report for the CEO and Board Chair. You write it, you stand behind it. The CFO reviews; does not rebuild.
- Lead the analytical contribution to the bimonthly board pack. Translate data into a narrative that is clear, defensible, and decision-ready for senior stakeholders.
- Maintain and continuously improve the frameworks and models that underpin recurring reporting. If something takes longer than it should, fix it.
Forecasting and Modelling
- Own the commercial forecast. Build the model, own the assumptions, defend the number. The CFO challenges your thinking; the forecast is yours.
- Partner with the Financial Controller to ensure consistency between operational reporting and the finance books.
- Lead structured analysis through budgeting and planning cycles, bringing rigor and a commercial perspective to forward-looking assumptions.
Process and Analytical Infrastructure
- Identify inefficiencies in analytical and reporting workflows and fix them, not just flag them.
- Build and maintain dashboards that provide reliable, standardized visibility across key commercial metrics.
- Document analytical processes and raise the analytical bar across the finance function.
The First Year: Roadmap to Success
Month
Focus
Key Objectives
1 to 2
Orientation and Rapid Assessment
Understand the business model, revenue architecture, and commercial relationships. Map the data landscape, identify gaps in existing reporting, and form an independent view on one commercial question the data raises but nobody has answered. Build relationships with the CFO, Financial Controller, and operations team.
3 to 5
Full Ownership of Recurring Reporting
Own the weekly CEO and Board Chair report outright. Take the lead on the bimonthly board pack. The CFO reviews but does not rebuild. Establish a reliable, low-friction reporting rhythm and begin surfacing the analytical questions that sitting data does not yet answer.
6 to 9
Deep Commercial Analysis
Complete structured analysis of client profitability, revenue recognition accuracy, and data partner cost efficiency against contractual commitments. Deliver findings with clear recommendations that influence commercial decisions, not just inform them. Own the commercial forecast.
10 to 12
Analytical Leadership
Set the analytical agenda. Bring the CFO questions worth investigating, not just answers to questions already asked. Build forward-looking models, stress-test commercial assumptions, and lead the annual budgeting cycle. The commercial picture of Navigator is clearer, more accurate, and more actionable than when you arrived.
By the end of year one, the commercial picture of Navigator will be clearer, more accurate, and more actionable than it was before you arrived. That improvement will be directly attributable to you.
About You
Experience and Skills
- 5 to 8 years of experience in commercial finance, financial analysis, or a related analytical discipline, within a technology, media, or advertising business.
- You have owned a forecast through a difficult trading period and defended it to a senior stakeholder. You know what that feels like.
- You have closed a month-end, identified a material discrepancy, and resolved it without being asked twice.
- Demonstrable experience building financial models that drove decisions, not just documented history.
- Working knowledge of revenue recognition principles and the ability to identify and resolve discrepancies between operational and financial data.
- Advanced proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets, and confident use of BI tools such as Looker or equivalent.
- Comfortable reaching defensible conclusions from imperfect or incomplete data. You do not wait for ideal conditions.
How You Work
- You have incorporated AI tools into your daily workflow. You use them to eliminate routine work so your time goes on judgement, interpretation, and communication. If you are not already working this way, this role is not the right fit.
- You are accountable for the quality of your output, not just the effort that went into it. There is a difference, and you know it.
- You communicate with clarity and confidence, whether writing a one-page summary for a board chair or a detailed reconciliation note for a finance team.
- You surface issues before you are asked about them. The CFO should never discover a problem you already knew about.
- You set your own agenda. You bring questions to the CFO, not just answers.
- You are comfortable with ambiguity and operate well in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment.
Why Join Us
- Impact: You will own the commercial analytical function of a business entering its next major growth phase. Your output goes directly to the CEO and board.
- Accountability: A genuine mandate with your name on the output. Not a support function.
- Growth: A clear path toward a Head of Finance Analytics or senior finance leadership role as Navigator scales.
- Flexibility: Hybrid working and a culture that measures output, not presence.
- Collaboration: Work alongside a CFO who values rigour, autonomy, and clear thinking, and who will challenge yours.
How to Apply
Please send your CV and a short cover note explaining what you have owned, what you have delivered, and why Navigator is the right next move. We are not looking for potential. We are looking for someone who has already done the hard version of this job and is ready to own it here.
Navigator is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.
…