Head of US Finance - Job ID: 1465 - Ascendis Pharma

Ascendis Pharma is a dynamic, fast-growing global biopharmaceutical company with locations in Denmark, Europe, and the United States. Today, we're advancing programs in Endocrinology Rare Disease and Oncology.

Here at Ascendis, we pride ourselves on exceptional science, visionary leadership, and skilled and passionate colleagues.

Guided by our core values of Patients, Science, and Passion, we use our TransCon® drug development platform to fulfill our mission of developing new and potentially best-in-class therapies to address unmet medical needs.

Our culture fosters a place where skilled, adaptable, and highly resourceful professionals can truly make their mark. We offer a dynamic workplace for employees to grow and develop their skills.

This position will be a senior member of the Global Finance Leadership Team and the US senior Commercial Leadership team.  As the lead Business Partner to the US General Manager and his/her respective leadership team and the entire US Commercial Organization, this is a high-visibility, high impact position that will drive and generate critical business and financial decision support and will play an integral role in establishing and driving processes such as in Business Advice, Budgeting/Forecasting, Gross-to-Net, Management Reporting, Government Reporting and ad hoc analyses as the organization grows.

The team is organized in two categories:

•              Commercial Finance (Gross to Net and Government Pricing), and

•              Business Finance (FP&A)

The team works closely with the US-based Global Finance Operations team, who supports with Financial Accounting (e.g., revenue recognition, reporting, US tax liaison). The role is based in Princeton, New Jersey and will report directly to the SVP Global Finance, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Close collaboration with Ascendis Pharma CFO.

Key Responsibilities

• You will lead a skilled team of people and will engage in detail were needed
• Provide financial and strategic business partnership and decision support to the US Commercial Organization as well as the Finance Leadership
• Establish and maintain key Commercial processes and policies in areas such as: Revenue Forecasting, Pricing/Discounting, Gross-to-Net, Revenue Recognition, Government Pricing, Expense Tracking, etc.
• Develop, analyze, interpret and present Revenue insights to various stakeholders within the organization, with the ability to adapt messaging depending on the audience, from executive level to the line manager level.
• Support Investor Relations with interpretation on US commercial performance and outlook
• Reporting and Compliance: Interact with group reporting on technical accounting matters, ensure compliance with local reporting requirements, and collaborate with Group Tax on ad hoc basis
• Develop, analyze, interpret and present financial results to various stakeholders within the organization, with the ability to adapt messaging depending on the audience, from executive level to the line manager level.
• Partner with Commercial to lead the development of a Monthly Commercial Business Review process
• Establish and define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (Business and Financial Metrics) and reports to manage and measure business performance in the most effective manner
• Proactively and creatively seek out opportunities to generate business cases to evaluate various options and assess their respective financial and business impact
• Create and present analyses and recommendation to key Ascendis Senior Management
• Track and understand the competitive landscape
• Help optimize financial processes and planning within the US Commercial function, e.g. based on data provided by external parties or contained within disparate systems
• Support and provide input into Global Financial processes and timelines; actively communicate with Business Partners to ensure they adhere to requirements
• Key stakeholder for Financial Systems implementations, such as EPM (Enterprise Performance Management), BI (Business Intelligence) and DW (Data Warehouse) tools as part of building out the necessary Finance technology infrastructure

Requirements

• Minimum 15+ years’ finance and leadership experience; must have demonstrable success within commercial stage biotech and/or pharmaceutical industry
• Bachelor’s degree required; CPA/MBA is preferred
• Ability to think bigger picture across different functional areas of the business and help arrive at the best decision for the overall organization
• Ability to incorporate multiple perspectives and variables to analyze issues to reach an opinion and recommendation on best path forward
• Ability to clearly articulate pros and cons of different available options and propose recommendations
• Experience in Gross to Net revenue recognition and forecasting
• Experience in Government Pricing and Reporting
• Experience and familiarity with ERP, MDM, Planning/Reporting and BI technologies
• Hands-on, with the ability to transition from strategic thinking to tactical execution
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills, can multi-task in a dynamic and fast-paced environment with changing priorities
• Understanding of GAAP/IFRS accounting principles is required
• Ability to travel up to 15% Domestically and internationally

Preferred Skills

• Experience in a multi-national corporation supporting users across different geographies
• Advanced skills in MS Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, PowerBI

A note to recruiters:

We do not allow external search party solicitation.  Presentation of candidates without written permission from the Ascendis Pharma Inc Human Resources team (specifically from: Talent Acquisition Partner or Human Resources Director) is not allowed.  If this occurs your ownership of these candidates will not be acknowledged.

Benefits

• 401(k) plan with company match
• Medical, dental, and vision plans
• Company-offered Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) insurance
• Company-provided short and long-term disability benefits
• Unique offerings of Pet Insurance and Legal Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employee Discounts
• Professional Development
• Health Saving Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various incentive compensation plans
• Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance  
• Mental Health resources
• Paid leave benefits for new parents