Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

ESCAPE Bio, Inc. (“ESCAPE”) is a clinical stage, Precision Neurology biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapies to treat genetically defined, neurodegenerative diseases.  We have a diverse pipeline of novel and best-in-class small molecule therapeutics in major areas of unmet need.  We are building the leading neurodegenerative disease company focused on neurodegenerative orphan populations. ESCAPE has a strong investor base and management team and has a pipeline of early stage clinical development programs.

Position Description

We are seeking an experienced Director of Financial Planning & Analysis (“FP&A”) who will partner with the leadership team, functional heads, and project teams to guide the growth of ESCAPE.  Based in South San Francisco and reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, ESCAPE is seeking an FP&A Director who can lead our FP&A function and support our growing finance needs. The individual will work hand in hand with our research and program teams and be responsible for planning, reporting, and scenario analysis as well as managing the FP&A team. The position requires strong analytical, communication, cross functional collaboration, and leadership skills.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Provide strategic financial advice to the project teams by partnering to develop development plans, scenario modeling, cost tradeoffs, key vendor selections and other decision support analyses
• Build processes, structure and reports for budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning
• Build, manage and maintain updated short-term and long-term financial models
• Support the selection and successful implementation of FP&A system to enable scalability of processes for a rapidly growing company, as appropriate
• Drive timely and accurately reporting to monitor monthly and quarterly financial changes, headcount, forecast, capital expense tracking, and other financial reporting
• Proactively gather, analyze, prepare and summarize insights to program and management teams  
• Collaborate regularly with ESCAPE’s accounting team to ensure alignment between budget and actuals, including allocations, coding, and variance reporting
• Prepare regular financial analysis reports, present findings to senior leadership and develop materials for Board Meetings
• Regularly update the executive team and cross functional partners on their status of their financials and budgets; Serve as a go-to person for program and research teams for finance and forecasting
• Perform cash forecasting to inform financing needs
• Develop KPIs to support financial awareness and fiscal responsibility
• Other duties and projects assigned as needed

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in accounting, finance, or related fields with 10+ years of experience in finance related roles, previous biotech, pharmaceutical, or life science FP&A experience a plus; M.B.A. is a plus
• Excel power user, experience with Netsuite
• Excellent knowledge of US GAAP accounting and SOX requirements
• Financial planning systems/software experience
• Demonstrated experience in developing forecasting models, ad hoc analytical modeling and experience with financial planning systems
• Proactive and can-do attitude with unquestionable ethics and integrity a must
• Detail oriented, solution driven with excellent written and verbal communication analytical, and presentation skills
• Track record of effectively partnering across the organization with a collaborative style working across internal and external teams a must
• Experience serving as a business partner to departments and senior leadership

Communication & Interpersonal Skills

• Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively tailor communication to varying levels within the organization;
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to work well with and effectively influence others