Finance Lead - Sanofi Account - French speaker in Seer Green

Role Summary

As Finance Lead, you will own the financial relationship with one of our largest strategic accounts headquartered in France.

You\'ll be the senior finance voice in the room with our client, shaping budgets, forecasts, and commercial decisions that directly influence how the account performs.

You will be communicating regularly in French.

This is a high-autonomy role for someone who enjoys partnering with operations, commercial, and client finance leaders, translating complex delivery into clear financial decisions, and building the kind of trust that makes you the go-to person in every client conversation.

Responsibilities

Financial Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting —

Lead development of annual and in-year client budgets in collaboration with operational leaders and client finance teams.

• Own rolling forecasts, including monthly reforecasts, variance analysis, and identification of financial risks and opportunities.
• Maintain full visibility of forecast vs. actuals across all spend categories and client locations.
• Ensure financial plans align with contractual scope, pricing models, and operational delivery plans.
• Purchase Order and Contract Governance —

Ensure timely receipt, validation, and tracking of client purchase orders against approved budgets and contractual entitlements.

• Reconcile purchase orders to forecasts, invoices, and contracts, proactively resolving discrepancies.
• Maintain clear, auditable linkages between budgets, contracts, purchase orders, and invoices.
• Financial Close and Journaling —

Own monthly financial close activities for assigned client sites, including accurate accruals and cost allocations.

• Ensure journals are complete, accurate, and compliant with internal controls and external accounting standards.
• Partner with central finance and accounting teams to resolve close issues efficiently and within deadlines.
• Spend Management and Financial Analysis —
• Manage and report on financial performance across multiple spend categories, including:
• Contracted services
• Headcount and labor
• Ad hoc time and materials
• Parts and pass-through costs
• Provide clear cost drivers, trend analysis, and forward-looking insights to support financial and operational decisions.
• Client Interface and Stakeholder Management —

Act as the primary finance contact for the client account, engaging directly with senior operations and finance stakeholders.

• Present financial performance, forecasts, risks, and opportunities in client reviews, governance forums, and ad hoc discussions.
• Build trusted client relationships that balance commercial rigor with a partnership mindset.
• Commercial Support and Margin Management —

Support pricing, costing, and margin analysis for new business, scope changes, and contract amendments.

• Assess the financial impact of operational changes, service model adjustments, and productivity initiatives.
• Ensure commercial decisions are supported by robust financial analysis and appropriate governance approvals.
• Operational Decision Support —

Provide financial insight to operations teams to support workforce planning, service delivery trade-offs, and productivity analysis.

• Translate operational metrics into clear financial implications to enable evidence-based decision-making.
• Sourcing and Procurement Support —

Partner with sourcing and procurement teams to deliver spend analysis, vendor comparisons, and cost models.

• Support identification, validation, and tracking of savings against baseline budgets and forecasts.
• Billing and Revenue Assurance —

Perform weekly and monthly billing reviews to ensure invoices are accurate, timely, and contractually compliant.

• Ensure billing aligns with agreed pricing models, contracts, and purchase orders.
• Resolve billing discrepancies and disputes efficiently while maintaining strong client confidence.
• Governance, Controls, and Process Excellence —

Define, document, and implement financial processes and SOPs where gaps exist.

• Ensure adherence to internal forecasting, approval, and financial governance frameworks.
• Maintain audit readiness in a regulated services environment.
• Leadership and Team Development —

Lead, coach, and develop a small team of finance analysts supporting the account.

• Set clear expectations, review outputs, and build capability in forecasting, analysis, and stakeholder engagement.

What You Bring

• Significant finance experience in a client-facing or account-based role, ideally including budgets, forecasts, billing, and commercial support for sizeable accounts or portfolios.
• Background in services, managed services, or professional services with complex delivery and billing models.
• Comfort working across multiple stakeholders — operations, commercial, sourcing, and client finance — and translating between them.
• Strong judgment, a partnership mindset, and the ability to hold your own in senior client conversations.
• Nice to Have
• Experience supporting pharmaceutical, biotech, or other regulated industries.
• Exposure to multi-site and multi-country service delivery models.
• Experience with long-term outsourcing or managed services contracts.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field — or equivalent professional experience.
• Professional accounting qualification (CPA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent) preferred.
• Fluent in French and English, both spoken and written.
• Core Competencies
• Financial governance and control in complex services environments
• Executive-level client communication and stakeholder management
• Forecasting, variance analysis, and financial risk management
• Commercial acumen and margin optimization
• Process definition, SOP development, and governance discipline
• Leadership and development of high-performing finance teams
• High attention to detail combined with strategic perspective
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