Description
The Director, Business Operations leads the business and financial management of DPTF (Digital Platforms and Technology Foundations) as a function.
The role owns the budget, cost transparency and operational governance through which DPTF runs itself, gives leadership an accurate view of spend, forecast and operational health, and keeps the function's own processes efficient and well controlled.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the DPTF budget and forecast cycle, ensuring the function's cost base is planned, tracked and reported accurately and to the enterprise finance timetable.
- Own enterprise unit economics and cost-to-serve for DPTF - cost per product, service and capability - supported by a maturity roadmap, enabling value-based decision making.
- Own the DPTF cost and allocation model, taxonomy and business-operations tooling strategy, so that financial, portfolio, performance and value reporting reconcile to one source of truth.
- Lead the operational governance of DPTF as a function, including the operating cycle, the business planning cycle and the management reporting that keep the function running.
- Partner with Finance Business Partners and the enterprise Finance function on budgeting, forecasting, accruals and financial control, representing DPTF in those forums.
- Challenge spend against plan across the domains, bringing variance, risk and opportunity to leadership with supporting evidence.
- Own the funded establishment for DPTF, tracking budgeted positions, vacancies and the permanent and contractor mix as a cost position.
- Provide operational and financial insight to the DPTF Leadership Team, covering cost, headcount, contractor and vendor spend, and the operational health of the function.
- Work with the Director, Planning & Performance so that financial information reconciles with the investment, value and performance picture and leadership sees one consistent view.
- Ensure DPTF operates within GSK financial policy and control requirements, including approval routes, purchase governance and audit readiness.
- Drive process automation and simplification across business operations, embedding AI and analytics to accelerate forecasting, cost analysis and management reporting.
- Lead and develop the business operations team, including the Business Operations Manager, and build capability across the federated technology finance community.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Finance, Business, Accounting, Technology Management, or a related field.
- Deep experience in technology finance, business operations, commercial management or a comparable discipline.
- Proven experience owning the budget and forecast for a large technology function or business unit.
- Experience building cost transparency, including unit cost or FinOps reporting.
- Experience running the operating rhythm and management reporting of a function.
- Experience managing a funded establishment.
- Experience setting central financial standards applied by teams outside direct control.
- Experience partnering with an enterprise finance function on budgeting, forecasting and financial control.
Preferred Qualifications
- Professional certifications desirable.
- Experience driving automation and simplification of financial and operational processes.
- Familiarity with technology business management practice and with AI enabled analytics applied to forecasting and reporting.
- Strong financial acumen, able to own a large cost base and explain it clearly to audiences without a finance background.
- Excellent executive communication skills.
- Ability to lead and develop a distributed team and a federated professional community.
Work Arrangements: This role offers a hybrid working model, with a mix of on-site and remote work.