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Position Title: Senior Financial Analyst, R&D Finance
Location: San Diego, CA (Hybrid)
Reports To: Associate Director, Finance – R&D
FLSA Status: Exempt
Position Summary:
The R&D Finance Business Partner provides finance support for a complex portfolio of R&D functions, programs, strategic initiatives, and R&D leadership team members. The role works with R&D and Finance leadership to translate technical and operational activity into clear financial insight, improve forecast accuracy, evaluate investment trade-offs, and support resource decisions across operating expense, headcount, and capital investment.
This position operates as an individual contributor in a matrixed environment with limited day-to-day direction. Success requires strong financial rigor, sound business judgment, clear communication, and the ability to build trusted partnerships while maintaining appropriate financial challenge and discipline.
*This is a full-time role, Monday through Friday, with an expectation of 2–3 in-office days per week and additional on-site presence as needed. The individual must reside in the San Diego area and be able to commute to our corporate offices.
Essential Functions:
The following are the essential functions of the role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.
- Provide finance partnership for a complex set of R&D functions, programs, and R&D leadership team members, building trusted relationships while maintaining appropriate financial challenge and discipline.
- Manage key components of annual planning, quarterly forecasting, monthly close, long-range planning inputs, and recurring management reporting for assigned R&D areas.
- Analyze operating expense, headcount, purchase orders, accruals, and capital expenditure performance; explain key variances; identify risks and opportunities; and recommend actions to improve business outcomes.
- Leverage AI and advanced analytics tools responsibly to improve forecasting accuracy, automate routine financial processes, increase operational efficiency, and generate actionable business insights.
- Develop leadership-ready narratives that translate complex R&D activity, shifting program scope, capital timing, and financial trade-offs into clear messages and recommendations.
- Coordinate capital planning and tracking activities, including project-level analysis, timing of equipment receipt, Construction in Progress recognition, depreciation timing, and distinction between sustainable savings and timing-related rephasing.
- Help resolve cross-functional issues by identifying process gaps, forecast risks, unclear ownership, data quality concerns, and decision points; escalate with recommended options when broader alignment is needed.
The responsibilities listed above are essential, but not exhaustive. Additional duties may be assigned based on business needs.
Decision-Making and Impact
Works independently within established Finance policies and processes to determine analytical approaches, develop forecasts, assess variances, and recommend actions for assigned R&D areas. Decisions and recommendations influence resource allocation, operating expense, headcount, capital timing, forecast accuracy, and leadership understanding of financial risks and trade-offs. Escalates decisions when the scale, ambiguity, or cross-functional impact extends beyond the role’s authority.
Key Competencies:
- Financial Acumen and Analytical Rigor - Applies sound financial principles and disciplined analysis to produce accurate, decision-relevant insights.
- Business Partnership - Builds credible relationships with R&D and Finance stakeholders while providing balanced challenge, guidance, and follow-through.
- Clear Communication - Distills moderately complex financial and operational information into concise, audience-appropriate messages and recommended actions.
- Judgment and Escalation - Makes sound decisions within scope, recognizes risk and ambiguity, and escalates issues at the appropriate time with practical options.
- Accountability and Execution - Independently manages priorities, meets commitments, and delivers reliable work across recurring cycles and ad hoc needs.
- Continuous Improvement and Learning Agility - Adapts to changing priorities and uses technology, including AI-enabled tools, to improve quality, efficiency, and ways of working.
Supervisory Responsibilities
None.
Minimum Qualifications:
All minimum qualifications are job-related and consistent with business necessity.
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related professional experience; 3 years with a relevant master’s degree; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience with budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial modeling, reporting, and management presentations.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
Preferred Credentials:
- MBA, CPA, CFA, or another relevant advanced degree or professional credential.
- Experience supporting R&D, product development, portfolio management, capital planning, or life sciences/genomics organizations.
- Experience with enterprise financial systems such as SAP, OneStream, Cognos, or similar platforms.
- Ability to use AI-enabled tools effectively and responsibly to increase productivity, improve analysis quality, and streamline reporting or documentation workflows.
#LI-HYBRID
The estimated base salary range for the Senior Financial Analyst (San Diego / Hybrid) role based in the United States of America is: $82,500 - $123,700. Should the level or location of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable base pay range may be updated accordingly. The range reflects long‑term growth in the role; therefore, most candidates are hired between the minimum and middle of the range. Placement depends on experience, skills, location, and internal equity. Additionally, all employees are eligible for one of our variable cash programs (bonus or commission) and eligible roles may receive equity as part of the compensation package. We offer a wide range of benefits as innovative as our work, including access to genomics sequencing, family planning, health/dental/vision, retirement benefits, and paid time off.
We are a company deeply rooted in belonging, promoting an inclusive environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute to our mission. Built on a strong foundation, Illumina has always prioritized openness, collaboration, and seeking alternative perspectives to propel innovation in genomics. We are proud to confirm a zero-net gap in pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race. We also have several Employee Resource Groups (ERG) that deliver career development experiences, increase cultural awareness, and offer opportunities to engage in social responsibility. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, creed, color, gender, religion, marital status, domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, pregnancy, military or veteran status, citizenship status, and genetic information. Illumina conducts background checks on applicants for whom a conditional offer of employment has been made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws. Background check results may potentially result in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. The background check process and any decisions made as a result shall be made in accordance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws. Illumina prohibits the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process. If you require accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact accommodations@illumina.com. To learn more, visit: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf. The position will be posted until a final candidate is selected or the requisition has a sufficient number of qualified applicants. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.