Director Financial Planning

Job Description

The Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Lead is a pillar of the local Finance organization and a critical partner to the Business. The incumbent is a member of the Finance Local Leadership Team and as such contributes with his/her financial expertise to the decision-making process and strategic direction of the local organization. The incumbent should quickly adapt to new ways of working and technologies to help drive innovative solutions.

Our Finance team brings together our financial perspectives into our overall strategic and tactical decision making.

The FP&A Lead provides ongoing finance business support to the local organization by managing and overseeing all local planning, forecasting & reporting activities and providing insights into key business drivers. Through his/her unique position the FP&A Lead sees the organization end to end which enables him/her to monitor the financial state of the business utilizing appropriate KPIs, evaluating risks and opportunities as well as providing guidance on expense management.

What we look for…

• Must have excellent leadership skills, a strong focus on quality and ethics, as well as multi-tasking capability.
• Must be analytical, innovative, confident, and influential.
• Communicate new ways of working / strategies throughout the Finance organization and throughout the business.
• Contributes to the building of capability within her/his organization, in the continuous improvement of Finance division, namely in what regards new digital tools.
• Participate actively in any improvement discussions, contributing as per experience of any internal challenges in her/his field and outside her/his organization.

Major Activities:

• Works closely with Finance Director, Managing Director and Leadership Team on short and long-term direction of the local organization by providing decision support and collaborating in the management of the subsidiary.
• Manages and coordinates all market planning and reporting activities and cooperates with regional Business Support Center in Prague as needed to complete tasks.
• Manages and submits forecasts and associated supporting documents and ensures guidance and timelines are followed.
• Manages budget and strategic planning efforts, generates, and delivers content for local market reviews.
• Manages and leads a high performing group of Local FP&A
• Actively explore new ways of working within his/her Team in collaboration with other areas that can drive value for our customers focusing on Business Support / analytics
• Pursue automated solutions that can speed execution time by reducing manual efforts for the FP&A Team
• Collaborates on financial presentations to local and regional leadership to inform on the financial state of the business.
• Manages monthly actual reporting, dashboards and KPI measurements.
• Manages execution against financial targets and communicates in a timely manner in case of necessary corrective actions.
• Financial Evaluation of Business Cases and ad hoc financial analysis based on business needs.
• Proposes action plans and strategies to optimize local P&L: challenges status quo, constantly searches for opportunities
• Supports monthly close procedures in strong collaboration with Controller Accounting Lead managing monthly Sales and Expenses accruals
• Oversees local eIIMS process and local demand forecasting process
• Takes the responsibility for forecasting accuracy of local subsidiary

Skills and Experience required:

• Fast learning curve
• Ability to self-train in any innovative solution to meet the financial needs of the next generation.
• Ability to build innovative reports (PowerBI, Dataiku…).
• Ability to drive automation significantly daily and monthly routines.
• Ability to interact, negotiate, influence within a matrix organization at different levels of the company.
• Complete understanding of why simplification or new innovative methods, as well as forecast accuracy, are important in the work.
• Bachelor's degree, such as Business School, Master's degree preferred. Minimum 10 years of experience in Controlling Successful team management experience required.
• Ability to interact and negotiate at all levels of the company, particularly with Senior Management, inter-division, and at the Corporate level.
• Very good relationship skills.
• Ability to have a strategic vision, to interact and negotiate with external partners (Joint Ventures, Business Development, Auditors, etc.);
• Ability to manage the complexity of a matrix organization and to manage uncertainty and ambiguous situations.
• Good oral and written communication.
• Bilingual in English and French.
• Good knowledge of French and US accounting rules.

LANGUAGES:

• French and English

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Analytical Thinking, Business Financial Planning, Change Management, Decision Making, Economic Research, Finance, Financial Acumen, Financial Evaluations, Financial Modeling, Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A), Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Investments Analysis, People Leadership, Pharmaceutical Industry, Preparation of Financial Reports, Relationship Building, Strategic Business Advice

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

12/8/2025

• A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID:R374573