Associate Director, R&D Finance

This is what you will do:
The Assoc. Director R&D Finance will provide finance partnering support to the Bone & NF1 and Rare Cancer Therapeutic Areas Leader and his/her respective Global Program Teams (GPTs), providing financial advice, ensuring financial rigor and challenging financial performance . Working with multiple GPTs, you will be accountable for the robust evaluation of projects by providing high quality financial input to product investment decisions and expert financial analysis on financial performance and its risks.
During project investment decisions you will guide ALXN leaders on the financial impact of development plan decisions. This includes briefing key stakeholders at or in advance of Development Review Committee Meetings and Late-Stage Portfolio Committee (LSPC) investment decisions.
The role will also serve as the finance partner for the Global Patient Safety (GPS) function. In this capacity, you will partner with the GPS leadership team to provide wide financial leadership and insight at a portfolio level, including portfolio analytics, financial resourcing, dashboards, governance, process improvement and support to drive productivity initiatives.
Finally, the role will provide R&D Finance leadership subject matter expertise on the forecasting for the short and long-term plan and play a significant role in support decisions related to Portfolio Prioritization.
We are seeking an individual with a solid record of contributions leading to improved financial performance, heightened productivity, and enhanced internal controls. The role will require interactions and collaboration throughout the Alexion/AstraZeneca organization including Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A), Global Financial Services, and senior R&D leadership. The individual will also work closely with the EU Hub team to provide support and assure consistency of reporting and resources allocation for Clinical Operations for the International markets. The role will require a high level of learning agility and the ability to work across diverse business areas in R&D and Manufacturing environments. It will require the ability to navigate in a complex matrixed business model, operate with a high degree of autonomy and influence decisions with greater impact.
You will be responsible for:

• This position will have a broad range of responsibilities including delivering solid financial controlling support, business partnering, financial analysis, insights generation, trade off recommendations, and resource allocation decision support. This individual will play a pivotal role in management reporting for senior leadership, and quarterly/annual forecasting and planning processes.
  

Principal Responsibilities

• Deliver monthly financial reporting and analysis including Senior Management reports and financial summaries.
• Drive business insight and influence decision making through monthly program reports including content, format, & distribution so to add value to business partners including stakeholder understanding and value of the reports.
• Serve as the finance lead for forecasting, budget planning and tracking the costs for the Bone & NF1 and Rare Cancer Therapeutic Areas
• Work closely with cross functional teams and R&D business leaders to identify and implement opportunities for efficiencies.
• Support project to drive Pipeline insights through a stronger connection between operational data (patient, site, and country data) and financial performance. Leverage this data to improve clinical trial budgeting in partnership with key R&D functions.
• Prepare ad hoc reporting and analyses for key metrics and special projects.
• Leadership of the R&D 10-year strategic forecasting process and portfolio prioritization, including subject matter expert on valuation methodology and modeling.
  

Behavioral Characteristics

• Strong communication skills with the ability to work with and influence cross-functional management
• High sense of urgency and ability to identify creative solutions to advanced, time sensitive problems by balancing achievement of process objectives with practical considerations.
• Strong customer service focus, with a drive to ensure that we exceed the expectations of our customers
• Strong ability to implement best practices in back-office operations; commitment to driving competitive advantage while managing costs, improving quality, and managing risks
• Commitment to delivering quality results and overcoming obstacles and challenges in a time-sensitive environment
• Ability to juggle and prioritize multiple work streams while remaining calm and effective under pressure
  

You will need to have:

• 7+ years’ experience in Finance/Controlling position
• Experience in Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology industry
• Interpersonal skills with ability to work with others as well as independently
• Strong competences in accounting
• Good Computer skill (MS Excel, Power Point, SAP)
• Knowledge of a consolidation and financial planning systems (BPC, Hyperion, COGNOS, Anaplan)
• Fluency in English both written and oral mandatory
• The duties of this role are generally conducted in an office environment. As is typical of an office-based role, employees must be able, with or without an accommodation to use a computer; engage in communications via phone, video, and electronic messaging; engage in problem solving and non-linear thought, analysis, and dialogue; collaborate with others; maintain general availability during standard business hours.
  

We would prefer for you to have:

• Experience in R&D Finance roles in medium or big size companies is a strong plus
• Master’s Degree in accounting, finance or business administration or CPA preferred