Director, Strategic Finance

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

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Director, Strategic Finance

We are seeking an Director, Strategic Finance to own day-to-day program management and execution of Bold Moves, our portfolio of company-wide strategic growth initiatives, while bringing the financial rigor and quantitative judgment to ensure each initiative delivers measurable business value. This highly visible role drives roadmap, execution, and outcomes across multiple workstreams that span functional teams and senior leadership, with a distinct emphasis on quantifying impact, modeling tradeoffs, and tracking value realization. The ideal candidate is a hands-on program leader who pairs strong program management with financial acumen and comfort working in the numbers.

Reporting into the Senior Director of M&A (program owner) and partnering closely with Finance, business, and functional leads, this individual will own Bold Moves end-to-end—setting the cadence, driving prioritization, modeling and tracking financial outcomes, surfacing risks, and preparing executive-ready updates and recommendations grounded in data. This role is the operating and analytical engine of the program, with the program owner setting direction and engaging leadership.

Position is fully remote, though additional consideration will be given to candidates situated near our hubs (New York, SF, Chicago, Carmel, Boston, Lambertville) and who are able to come into our office on an as needed basis.

Key Responsibilities

Own the Cadence & Drive Accountability:

• Run the biweekly cadence and working sessions to unblock progress and maintain momentum.
• Drive accountability across follow-ups, owners, and deadlines.
• Apply sound judgment to flag risks early and provide data-backed resolution options.

Own Program Execution End-to-End:

• Own Bold Moves end-to-end—roadmap, execution, and outcomes—across all initiatives.
• Drive prioritization and alignment with business leads, sequencing work to deliver against financial and operational targets.
• Maintain a single, clear roadmap with unambiguous owners, status, and dependencies.
• Track and monitor deliverables, resolve blockers, and escalate issues to keep initiatives on track.

Financial Analysis & Value Realization:

• Build and maintain financial models to quantify initiative impact—cost savings, revenue growth, and operational improvements—and track delivery against targets.
• Develop business cases, ROI analyses, and scenario models to inform prioritization and sequencing tradeoffs.
• Translate operational progress into financial terms, owning the value-realization view for each Bold Moves initiative.
• Partner with Finance to align initiative targets with budget, forecast, and reporting.

Governance & Executive Reporting:

• Surface risks, delays, and misalignment with clear, decision-ready resolution options.
• Prepare executive-ready updates, financial dashboards, and recommendations for leadership reviews.
• Standardize reporting templates and maintain initiative health and value-tracking dashboards.
• Provide concise updates, risk assessments, and decision points to senior leadership.

Stakeholder Engagement & Alignment:

• Lead structured working sessions with functional owners to drive clarity and execution.
• Partner with Bold Moves leads to ensure initiatives meet outcomes and financial targets.
• Manage diverse stakeholder needs and keep cross-functional teams aligned.

Requirements

• 7–10+ years of experience spanning program management and financial analysis in complex, cross-functional environments
• Strong financial acumen and quantitative skills, with the ability to build models, interpret financial and operational data, and translate initiatives into measurable business value
• Proven track record owning and driving large-scale strategic initiatives end-to-end, with accountability for financial outcomes
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling proficiency; experience with FP&A, corporate finance, consulting, or M&A a strong plus
• Experience and comfortability working closely with C-level or senior executives and cross-functional teams
• Ability to communicate effectively across all levels of the organization, manage diverse stakeholder needs, and exercise sound judgment to drive initiatives forward
• Able to work autonomously, push for clarity, and drive accountability without close oversight
• Familiarity with managing through ambiguity and balancing strategic thinking with operational execution
• CPA, CFA, MBA, or equivalent analytical credential a plus; experience in professional services environments a plus