Career Category
Operations
Job Description
Position Summary
The Manager, R&D Business Operations - Budget Management & Execution is responsible for leading the end-to-end budget planning, forecasting, execution, and reporting processes for one or more R&D functions. The role serves as a trusted business partner to functional leadership, R&D Finance, and cross-functional stakeholders, ensuring financial plans accurately reflect portfolio priorities, operational requirements, and evolving business needs.
The Manager provides financial analysis, decision support, and operational oversight to enable effective resource allocation and financially responsible execution. This role also drives consistent application of budget management processes, systems, controls, and reporting standards across the supported organization.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the end-to-end budget management and execution process for one or more VP-level R&D functions.
- Coordinate annual budget planning, long-range planning, quarterly forecasts, leadership updates, and periodic financial exercises.
- Own the budget-management cadence, including complete line-item visibility for planned spend, commitments, actuals, forecast and closed-with-Finance status.
- Translate business strategies, portfolio priorities, resource plans, and operational assumptions into actionable financial forecasts.
- Partner with functional leadership and R&D Finance to ensure budgets and forecasts reflect the latest business priorities and anticipated spend.
- Lead recurring budget reviews with RAEs, functional leads and Finance. Identify variance, unused funds, forecast risk, engagement funding needs and required actions.
- Provide timely financial reporting, variance analysis, trend analysis, and identification of financial risks and opportunities.
- Develop financial scenarios and business cases to support investment, resource allocation, portfolio, and operating-model decisions.
- Maintain accurate alignment between planned activities, financial forecasts, commitments, and actual transactions within applicable planning and reporting systems.
- Oversee and coordinate budget execution activities, including purchase orders, accruals, cost entries, invoice resolution, funding transfers, and financial coding.
- Set operating standards, SLAs and escalation pathways for MyBuy/Ariba, supplier onboarding, PO, invoice, ePayment, accrual, transfer and closeout workflows.
- Monitor financial performance and proactively recommend corrective actions to address forecast variances, emerging risks, or execution challenges.
- Resolve escalated budget, procurement, transaction, and financial process issues in partnership with Finance, Procurement, suppliers, and business stakeholders.
- Prepare clear and concise financial updates for functional leadership, including key assumptions, decisions required, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
- Serve as a subject-matter expert for budget planning, forecasting, financial systems, and budget execution processes.
- Establish and maintain effective relationships across R&D functions, Finance, Global Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Management, and transactional support teams.
- Ensure budget processes and documentation comply with applicable Amgen financial controls, procurement requirements, policies, and operating procedures.
- Drive simplification, standardization, automation, and continuous improvement of budget management processes, tools, and reporting.
- Provide guidance, coaching, and work direction to Budget Management team members or business partners, as applicable.
- Complete people-management responsibilities, including performance and development activities, when the role includes direct reports.
- Oversee direct report(s) workflow execution and resolve escalated procure-to-pay, supplier, payment, coding, scope and policy issues in partnership with Finance, GSS, Procurement, Legal and suppliers.
Decision-Making Authority
- Advises functional leaders on budget priorities, forecast assumptions, financial risks, and resource trade-offs.
- Challenges financial assumptions and recommends adjustments based on business priorities, actual performance, and emerging trends.
- Determines appropriate analytical approaches and reporting required to support business decisions.
- Prioritizes budget execution activities and coordinates resolution of issues affecting financial deliverables.
- Escalates material financial risks, control concerns, and unresolved execution issues to appropriate leadership.
- Supports consistent interpretation and application of budget management processes and standards.
- Evaluate material forecast variances, questionable costs, supplier redlines, payment discrepancies and control concerns. Determine corrective action or escalate to the appropriate owner.
Key Deliverables
- Accurate and timely annual budgets and quarterly forecasts.
- Functional financial reporting and leadership decision support.
- Act as the financial steward and trusted advisor to RAEs, Finance, Procurement and vendors. Translate data into clear budget decisions, trade-offs and next steps.
- Variance, trend, risk, and opportunity analyses.
- Financial scenarios and business-case analyses.
- Timely completion of accruals, purchase-order maintenance, and other finance-driven activities.
- Accurate mapping of transactions and commitments to planned activities.
- Documented financial assumptions, decisions, and required actions.
- Standardized and compliant budget management processes and controls.
Basic Qualifications
One of the following:
- Bachelor's or Master's degree and 8 - 12 years of business operations, finance, accounting, or related experience; or
In addition:
- Experience leading complex projects, processes, programs, or cross-functional teams.
- Demonstrated experience with budget planning, forecasting, financial analysis, or financial operations.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience working with financial planning or enterprise resource planning systems, including Anaplan, SAP, Ariba, OPTS and other financial tools.
- Strong written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting financial planning and execution within the biopharmaceutical, life sciences, or R&D environment.
- Knowledge of R&D operating models, portfolio planning, resource planning, and financial governance.
- Experience managing budgets for complex, global, or matrixed organizations.
- Experience with financial planning, procurement, purchase-order, reporting, and analytics platforms.
- Demonstrated ability to develop business cases, financial scenarios, forecasts, and management reporting.
- Strong understanding of accruals, commitments, actuals, cost centers, financial coding, and variance management.
- Experience working with Finance, Procurement, suppliers, and shared-service organizations.
- Experience with process improvement, automation, digital reporting, or dashboard development.
- Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders and drive outcomes without direct authority.
- Prior experience coaching or developing employees or less-experienced team members.
Core Competencies
• Financial and business acumen
• Stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration
• Analytical thinking and problem-solving
• Sound judgment and decision support
• Budget planning and forecast management
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines
• Project and process management
• Continuous improvement and change agility
• Attention to detail and commitment to data quality
• Accountability for high-quality, timely results
• Executive communication and presentation
• Ability to operate effectively within a global, matrixed organization
.