Senior Finance Director – Digital & Tech Enterprise Capabilities & S/4 HANA Program

GlaxoSmithKline
Site Name: UK – London – New Oxford Street
Posted Date: Feb
In today’s rapidly evolving world, digital and technology play a pivotal role in driving innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage across all industries. The transformative power of digital solutions and technological advancements has reshaped the way businesses operate, enhancing connectivity, streamlining processes, and unlocking new opportunities for growth and development. At GSK, we recognize that embracing digital transformation is essential to staying ahead in the healthcare industry.

As the Senior Finance Director for the S/4 HANA and Enterprise Capabilities – Digital and Tech, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the financial and operational strategy of these critical areas during a time of rapid digital disruption. There has never been a more exciting time to see how technology can disrupt and change how GSK competes against other global pharma.

This role is pivotal in partnering with the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and his leadership team, to drive and deliver key enterprise-wide initiatives. These will include the multi-year global deployment of S/4 HANA, input into the integration of any business development activity, operating model or technological decisions such as cloud adoption, and providing strategic oversight across the enterprise wide Digital & Tech functions. You will influence and direct procurement strategies for key contract negotiations, work closely with BusOps to prioritise demand and have input into many topics (e.g operating model components).

This role demands a strategic commercial thinker, coupled with a strong financial acumen. You will demonstrate executive level financial leadership and strategic thought, where you will influence beyond financial parameters, as the CTO is accountable for many global initiatives. Demonstrating the ability to operate and influence beyond the numbers is absolutely core, given the complexity of global priorities; whilst being able to communicate clearly to senior non-finance stakeholders.

You will function as the independent adviser across topics, from enterprise risk, strategy, performance, and program execution. You will be expected to have a point of view, and to contribute as a peer and a trusted partner across a broad range of enterprise and commercial topics.

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior Finance Director to support key enterprise-wide investments that are now at critical stages for GSK. The largest of which is the S4 HANA program that encompasses our commercial, pharma manufacturing and vaccines businesses, helping to establish operating models across all areas of our group.

• Build high trust, high challenge relationships across key senior stakeholder groups within the business units, Digital & Tech, and Finance.
• Direct the creation of execution plans to ensure decision makers understand scenarios, alternative options, risk, and benefits (again going beyond the financial scope into delivery and execution – this context is critical to enable prioritisation decisions to be effective).
• Be the independent, enterprise voice in the room that helps pull multiple perspectives together to ensure the right decision is made. You will need to play an active leadership role, challenging and uniting multiple stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Financial Leadership: Provide comprehensive financial oversight, aligning financial strategies with business objectives to drive growth and efficiency. With brilliant articulation of the resulting business outcomes/ value
  • Input into decision making that drives critical business outcomes, such as operating model changes; investment into AI/ GenAI use cases and emerging technologies.
  • P&L management & capital allocation into key investments – including directing procurement strategies for negotiation of key contracts.
• Partnership with CTO and VP ERP Delivery: Collaborate closely with the Chief Technology Officer (SVP) to ensure financial strategies and decisions support the overarching technology goals and innovations.
  • Understand context and strategy to help prioritisation of initiatives.
  • Convert tech deliverables into outcomes that support the business, and therefore why they are a priority.
  • Articulate the value from the enterprise for the deployment of new capabilities (GenAI, AIML etc).
• Visible Leadership: Develop a wide network of contacts that can help identify and resolve issues proactively as they arise.
  • Leverage internal and external networks to ensure that multiple perspectives are brought to the table as part of decision making.
• Risk Management: Identify and mitigate operational & financial risks associated with this remit, ensuring robust internal controls and compliance measures.
• Team Leadership: Mentor and develop a high-performing finance team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence.
  • Inspire a team of experienced finance partners to operate independently and flourish to meet their full potential.

Why you? Basic Qualifications: We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• Required to hold a qualified professional qualification (e.g. CIMA, ACCA).
• Significant progressive experience in financial leadership roles, where you have partnered on a day-to-day basis with very senior non-finance stakeholders.
• Experience of either working in a Digital/ Tech/ IT functional lead, leadership of a large scale transformation (where you have driven a business outcome).
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to influence and drive change at a senior level.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across diverse teams.

Closing Date for Applications: 25 February 2025

Please take a copy of the Job Description, as this will not be available post closure of the advert. When applying for this role, please use the ‘cover letter’ of the online application or your CV to describe how you meet the competencies for this role, as outlined in the job requirements above. The information that you have provided in your cover letter and CV will be used to assess your application.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive. We prevent and treat disease with vaccines, specialty and general medicines. We focus on the science of the immune system and the use of new platform and data technologies, investing in four core therapeutic areas (infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/ immunology and oncology).

Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves – feeling welcome, valued, and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we are open to all talent. In the US, we also adhere to Affirmative Action principles. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to neurodiversity, race/ethnicity, colour, national origin, religion, gender, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, disability, genetic information, military service, covered/protected veteran status or any other federal, state or local protected class ( US only).

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

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