Description
Software Strategic Sourcing Advisor, Senior Commercial Analyst
Wanted: dynamic and creative individuals ready to connect with a like-minded team. You’ll enjoy all the autonomy you need to help our clients make their digital infrastructure faster and more effective. Free reign for free spirits doesn’t mean you’ve got to go it alone. Over 1400 teammates from around the globe are eager to help you out when things get down to wire. Their expertise will put you on the winning path and keep you there. So get ready to kickstart your career with a team that’s connected – connected by freedom.
Position Overview
ISG is seeking a Software Advisory Senior Commercial Analyst with 3+ years of experience in financial analysis, financial and commercial modeling, forecasting, scenario analysis, benchmarking, pricing analysis, and business case development, preferably within enterprise technology, software, or a consulting environment.
This role combines the capabilities of a financial analyst with enterprise software commercial and market analysis. The successful candidate will analyze complex software investments, develop financial and commercial models, evaluate alternative scenarios, identify cost optimization opportunities, quantify financial risks and opportunities, and translate quantitative findings into clear, actionable recommendations for clients.
The Analyst will support client engagements involving enterprise software, SaaS, and cloud. This role requires the ability to work with financial, operational, contractual, pricing, licensing, and utilization data and convert that information into meaningful financial and commercial insights.
A key component of the role is developing pro forma cost models and scenario analyses that help clients understand the financial implications of software licensing structures, demand assumptions, pricing alternatives, contract terms, cloud consumption, and potential changes to their software environments.
Deep software licensing or sourcing experience is not required; however, candidates should demonstrate strong financial and quantitative capabilities, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to quickly learn complex software commercial models and licensing constructs.
This position reports to a Director of Software Advisory. Individuals in this role are expected to work independently, take ownership of assigned analytical workstreams, collaborate closely with Software Advisory team members, interact professionally with clients, and maintain a high standard of analytical accuracy, documentation, and quality.
Practical Financial Analysis Assessment
As part of ISG's interview process, candidates for this position will be asked to complete a practical Excel-based financial analysis and modeling exercise.
The assessment is designed to evaluate the candidate's ability to:
- Analyze and organize a financial or commercial dataset.
The exercise is intended to assess practical financial analysis, analytical reasoning, Excel proficiency, and problem-solving capabilities, rather than knowledge of a specific software provider or licensing model.
Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate how they structure an analysis, develop assumptions, validate their work, and translate quantitative findings.
Requirements
- Travel: Minimal travel is anticipated for this position. Occasional travel may be required based on specific client or business needs.
- Location: Remote position based in the United States.
- Ability to independently manage deadlines and deliver high-quality analytical work in a client-facing consulting environment.
- Ability to work effectively with multiple stakeholders across client organizations.
- Financial Analysis & Modeling
- Develop and maintain sophisticated financial, pricing, and commercial models supporting enterprise software investment decisions.
- Develop financial baselines, forecasts, multi-year projections, and pro forma financial scenarios using client financial data, contractual commitments, demand assumptions, and market benchmarks.
- Perform variance, trend, scenario, sensitivity, and what-if analyses to identify financial drivers and evaluate alternative business outcomes.
- Analyze actual and forecasted technology expenditures and identify the underlying drivers of variances to budgets, forecasts, and financial plans.
- Develop total cost of ownership (TCO), return on investment (ROI), cost-benefit, cash-flow, and business case analyses for software investments and strategic alternatives.
- Perform price, volume, mix, growth, utilization, and unit-cost analyses to identify key drivers of software spending.
- Quantify financial risks and opportunities associated with contract renewals, technology migrations, cloud adoption, licensing changes, vendor consolidation, and alternative investment strategies.
- Data Analysis & Decision Support
- Work independently with large, complex, incomplete, and potentially unstructured datasets from multiple client and third-party sources.
- Organize, cleanse, normalize, reconcile, and validate financial, pricing, contractual, licensing, utilization, and operational data.
- Identify data inconsistencies, missing information, anomalies, and potential errors and determine appropriate approaches for resolving or addressing them.
- Develop reasonable and defensible assumptions when complete information is unavailable and clearly document those assumptions within the analysis.
- Translate ambiguous or complex business questions into structured analytical frameworks and financial models.
- Identify material trends, relationships, financial risks, opportunities, and cost drivers within large datasets.
- Independently validate calculations, assumptions, inputs, and outputs to maintain a high standard of analytical accuracy.
- Translate quantitative findings into clear, actionable business insights and recommendations
- Develop financial dashboards, KPIs, management reporting, and executive-level decision-support materials.
- Software & Commercial Analysis
- Analyze enterprise software, SaaS, and cloud investments and their associated financial and commercial structures.
- Evaluate software provider proposals to identify financial risks, cost optimization opportunities, pricing differences, and potential savings.
- Analyze perpetual, term, subscription, SaaS, and cloud consumption pricing models.
- Normalize vendor pricing, licensing, usage, and contractual data to enable meaningful comparisons across proposals and scenarios.
- Conduct financial and commercial benchmarking to assess pricing, discount levels, unit economics, contractual structures, and overall market competitiveness.
- Develop scenario models that allow clients to understand the financial implications of different growth assumptions, consumption levels, contract terms, pricing structures, and software strategies.
- Support commercial negotiations through fact-based financial analysis, scenario modeling, pricing benchmarks, and negotiation economics.
- Conduct research on software providers, technology markets, pricing models, licensing structures, and industry trends to support analytical assumptions and recommendations.
Required Skillsets
- 3+ years of relevant professional experience in financial analysis, FP&A, technology finance, commercial analysis, corporate finance, pricing analysis, transaction advisory, management consulting, strategic sourcing analytics, or a related quantitative discipline.
- Experience supporting IT, technology, software, cloud, or other complex commercial environments is strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience building financial models and conducting quantitative analyses used to support business, investment, or commercial decisions.
- Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis, business case development, ROI, and total cost of ownership modeling.
- Working knowledge of financial concepts including OpEx, CapEx, accruals, capitalization, depreciation/amortization, cash flow, and cost allocation.
- Demonstrated ability to independently translate complex or ambiguous business questions into structured financial analyses.
- Demonstrated ability to work with large, incomplete, or unstructured datasets; identify appropriate assumptions; reconcile discrepancies; develop structured financial models; and translate the resulting analysis into clear business recommendations.
- Strong quantitative, critical-thinking, and problem-solving capabilities with a high level of attention to detail and data accuracy.
- Ability to challenge assumptions, identify inconsistencies, reconcile conflicting information, and independently validate financial and commercial data.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex financial concepts to non-financial and technical stakeholders.
- Experience developing and presenting financial analysis and recommendations to senior management and executive stakeholders.
- Strong interpersonal, organizational, and time-management skills.
- Ability to operate independently while collaborating effectively within project and client teams.
- Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and analytical workstreams in a consulting environment.
- Strong client-service orientation and collaborative working style.
- Software Experience
- Experience analyzing enterprise technology, software, SaaS, or cloud investments is strongly preferred but is not required to be the candidate's primary area of expertise.
- Knowledge of enterprise software commercial models, licensing metrics, subscription economics, cloud consumption models, and enterprise agreements is beneficial.
- Experience supporting or participating in enterprise software license negotiations is a plus, but is not a requirement for this position. Candidates with strong financial analysis, financial modeling, and commercial analysis capabilities who do not have direct software negotiation experience are encouraged to apply.
- The primary focus of this role is financial analysis, financial and commercial modeling, commercial analysis, and decision support. Software licensing, sourcing, and negotiation knowledge can be developed as part of the role.
- Microsoft & Analytical Skills
- Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency is required, including formulas and functions, PivotTables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, IF statements, data validation, conditional formatting, charts, and manipulation of large datasets.
- Demonstrated ability to independently build, modify, review, and audit financial models in Excel, including forecasting, scenario modeling, sensitivity analysis, variance analysis, and comparative analysis.
- Ability to take raw financial and operational data and independently transform it into a structured analytical model.
- Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Word and Teams is required for client deliverables, documentation, communication, and collaboration.
- Experience with Power Query and/or Power BI is preferred.
Education
- Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Finance, Accounting, Mathematics, or Statistics is required.
- Advanced degrees or professional certifications in finance, accounting, mathematics, statistics, analytics, or a related quantitative discipline are preferred but not required.
At ISG, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our clients, and our communities. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. ISG is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. The more diverse and inclusive we are, the better our work will be.
The duties and responsibilities described in this job description may not be a comprehensive list. Additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time and/or the scope of the job may change as necessitated by business demands.
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