Mercurtainment: Budget analyst
arenaMidlothian (VA)
About the role
Budget Analyst The Senior Budget Analyst in our Geometry Dash Company plays a critical role in managing the financial planning, forecasting, and budget operations of the studio. This role partners closely with production teams, publishing, live-ops, marketing, and executive leadership to ensure projects stay on schedule and within financial targets.
Responsibilities
Budgeting & Forecasting:
Lead the development of annual and quarterly budgets for game projects, departments, and studio-wide operations.
Partner with Producers, Game Directors, and Department Leads to track burn rates, headcount planning, and milestone cost projections.
Build dynamic financial models for multi-year game development cycles (pre-production, production, QA, launch, live-ops).Forecast revenue, operating expenses, and cash flow for new titles and ongoing live-service games.
Financial Reporting:
Prepare monthly variance analyses with insights into underruns, overruns, staffing changes, and production delays.
Deliver executive-level dashboards summarizing project KPIs, development budgets, and profitability expectations.
Present findings to the CFO, Studio Head, and Production Leadership.
Production & Project Support:
- Track external development spending, outsourcing budgets, contractor usage, and vendor payments.
- Monitor costs related to engines (Unity/Unreal licensing), servers, cloud usage, platform fees, and marketing campaigns.
- Assist Producers in building milestone budgets and scenario planning (delays, scope changes, feature cuts, live updates).Process Optimization
- Improve financial tools, cost-tracking templates, and predictive models to support accurate decision-making.
- Implement best practices for budget governance and financial controls across multiple game teams.
- Collaborate with Business Intelligence to integrate financial data with player metrics (ARPU, retention, DAU impacts).Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work with HR on headcount planning and hiring forecasts.
- Support Marketing with campaign budgeting and ROI analysis for UA (User Acquisition).Partner with Legal and Procurement on vendor contracts and licensing agreements.
Required Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field (MBA or CPA a plus).57+ years of experience in financial analysis, budgeting, or FP&A game industry or entertainment sector strongly preferred.
Strong financial modeling skills (Excel/Sheets, forecasting tools).Experience with ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle) or budgeting platforms.
Ability to translate complex financial data into actionable insights for non-finance teams.
Excellent communication and presentation skills.
Before you apply
Applying takes about a minute. These four things decide how fast it moves after that.
Your profile is current
It's what we read first. Occupations, seniority and locations matter more than a long history.
Two examples you can talk through
Not a portfolio — just two pieces of work where you can explain the decisions and what you'd change.
A number in mind
What you're on now and what would make you move. We negotiate better when we know both.
Your notice period
Employers plan around it, and it's the question that stalls offers most often.
Once you apply, someone reads it and calls you before anything reaches the employer — usually within two working days.
More like this