When software developer Rachita Sundar’s first job out of college required her to interview clients about how and why they would use the systems she and her team were creating, Sundar found she was more interested in client business practices and operations than she was in their software. She soon traded coding, interfaces and debugging for balance sheets, capital gain and cash flow by enrolling in a finance-focused MBA program.
With an MBA in hand, Sundar leveraged a Microsoft internship into a nearly 13-year career with the company, beginning as a financial analysis and controls manager before rising to senior finance director at Microsoft U.S.
Ready for new challenges, Sundar joined marketing technology provider HubSpot in 2021. There, she led FP&A before being named senior vice president of finance, the position she held when she left in late 2024 to join experience management provider Qualtrics as CFO.
Rachita Sundar
CFO, Qualtrics
First CFO position: 2024
Notable previous employers:
- HubSpot
- Microsoft
- Wipro Technologies
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
SANDRA BECKWITH: You left college with an electrical and electronics engineering degree, but soon returned to school for an MBA. What caused that shift?
RACHITA SUNDAR: I thought I was going to spend my career as a software developer and engineer. As part of my first job in that field, I gathered client product requirements. It was my first exposure to how businesses operate and are run, and I was fascinated by what I was learning.
That’s when I decided to get my MBA. I focused on finance because it felt like the right fit with my engineering background, while my decision to work in the technology sector comes from my passion for that field. My engineering skill sets that include structured thinking and logical decision-making have served me well in finance.
What made you the right candidate at the right time for the Qualtrics CFO role?
I have helped scale large products that included Office 365 at Microsoft as well as that company’s cloud computing platform, Azure. When I joined Azure, it was a $500 million business. When I left seven years later, it was almost $10 billion. HubSpot was a $900 million business when I joined. Today, it’s nearly a $3 billion business.
Qualtrics needs someone with this experience for its next chapter.
What lured you away from HubSpot to Qualtrics?
It’s a new and developing category with a lot of growth opportunity for us as a category leader, and that’s appealing.
In addition, I’ve always pivoted my moves around learning in a fast-paced environment. Qualtrics offers both. I knew from the interview process that I’d enjoy working with the people here, too.
I also asked myself, “Can I help them win?” I have shaped my career around helping businesses scale, so I think I can.
Was becoming CFO always your career goal after you got your MBA? If so, how did it influence how you approached your career? If not, when did you decide to shift to the CFO track?
It wasn’t. I got my MBA in my mid-20s and at that point in my career, I focused on learning and being challenged.
The first time it came to mind was during my work with Microsoft’s Azure business when the SaaS industry was starting to take off. Scaling that business when the industry was nascent and growing meant working cross-functionally across engineering, marketing, and sales to help recommend the right investment decisions.
That cross-functional experience made me think I’d like to be a CFO, so I began staging my career moves to get experiences that would bring me closer to that role.
How does your background – especially your experience at Microsoft – affect how you do your job at Qualtrics and how might it differ from someone who came to the CFO role with different experiences?
People like me who come from large companies such as Microsoft, P&G and GE have strong foundations. Those companies invest in early talent with development programs that build the necessary skill sets. Microsoft taught me what “good” looks like, so I have that reference point as I help build to that level in these scaling companies.
The flip side of it is people without Fortune 500 experience are usually better able to work with scrappy tools and processes. I had to make that shift when I moved from Microsoft to HubSpot, and it wasn’t easy. Now that I’ve operated in both environments, I can bring them together at Qualtrics.
What advice would you give to others in finance hoping to become CFOs?
Somebody told me early on at Microsoft that the best investment you can ever make is in yourself. I agree. You want to always be learning. Early in your career, pivot on experiences and push yourself to do something you’ve never done before. As you get more senior in your career, develop leadership skills.
Build a community, too. Nobody succeeds alone, right? You need your family, friends, mentors, sponsors, and team to help you learn.
