Posted Date: Oct 9 2024
This role is an embedded Finance Partner with primary finance interface for the pre-clinical sciences group within R&D and is a key member of these leadership teams.
This group is made up of around 400 FTEs (£130m) and have a broad range of activities across early, mid and late phase project development.
Scope includes financial planning, decision support, process and funding model simplification, financial management, governance.
Accountable to provide financial leadership and support to Pre-clinical sciences team. In particular, making decisions together to optimise resources to progress the pipeline, managing risks and opportunities and deliver on the financial targets that the group has committed.
Manages a yearly budget of over £130m (IPE); with commitments that must be managed over a multiyear horizon.
Decision support:
- Provide leadership and strategic Finance advice to the key business partners within PCS and respective leadership teams by proactively identifying opportunities and raising challenges to meet business objectives and mitigate risks.
- Provide management insight and guidance using standard management reports and knowledge of the business.
- Provide strategic analysis and direction based on internal and external information.
- Sponsor and lead initiatives as a core member of the various Leadership Teams.
- Support and assess business development, due diligence, third-party deals, partnerships, business evaluation and divestment proposals, managing BD commitments within budget as required.
- Execute post-acquisition integration planning and restructuring, as required.
Financial management and governance:
- Approve management accounts for the various PCS Functions (actual, forecasts, budgets). Contribute to balance sheet reviews as needed.
- Accountable for identification and balancing of financial risks and opportunities to ensure delivery of Opex and capex aligned to financial plans.
- Support the forecasting/budgeting process; Budget, Updates and Soft landing.
- Lead all the financial aspects of 3-year plans, annual business plans and their related funding requests.
- First point of contact for business colleagues with all financial management issues. Proactively engage with senior stakeholders and customers to understand customer needs, current and emerging gaps and prioritize areas for improvements in the areas of Actual and Forecasts/Plan.
- Support implementation of procurement, working capital, treasury and tax strategies in consultation with Controller Team, Corporate and Centres of Excellence.
- Deliver overall contribution to the financial and business performance.
- Review the resource planning and project resource allocation.
- Approve monthly reports, budgets, plans and forecasts and provide commentary on key variances/business drivers and any actions required.
Influence and build relationships:
Build trust and credibility with Business Partners and members of their Leadership team / (Department VPs and Heads).
Build strong relationships with:
- Finance Central Teams (IPE/EPE support, ACT, Planning & Capital Finance).
- Deal Structuring and Global Business Development.
- GSC site leadership and above site functions.
- R&D Operations.
- HR.
Process Improvement and simplification:
- Champion simplification projects and implementation of best practices.
- Contributor to systems implementation or system changes for R&D Finance, as required.
- Partner with Business Operations to lead and deliver identified projects.
Why you?
Basic Qualifications:
We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:
- Bachelor’s Degree and/or professional finance qualification (e.g., ACCA, ACA, CIMA, CPA).
- 5 + years experience working in a finance function, including providing financial partnership to a business area or team.
- 5 + years experience including analysis, evaluation, forecasting, strategic planning and decision making.
- Experience using systems and processes as they affect the financial results (i.e. SAP, JDE, Hyperion, etc.).
Preferred Qualifications:
If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:
- MBA, preferably in Management, Finance or Accounting.
- Strong Analytics training or experience.
- Strong problem-solving skills.
- Experience managing or working with a global team and global stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze and compare complex data from multiple sources.
- Demonstrated ability to determine and communicate the legal, financial and ethical interpretation of industry regulated principles.