For 75 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we'll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.
Job Summary
We are seeking a proactive and entrepreneurial Commercial Finance Manager to establish and lead the commercial finance function for our growing Manufacturing Services business unit. This is a newly created role offering a unique opportunity to build the commercial financial support model from the ground up. The successful candidate will develop frameworks, tools, and processes to drive financial visibility, commercial rigor, and strategic decision-making in a dynamic, high-growth environment.
The Manufacturing Services unit provides solutions in Biologics Testing, Microbial Services, and contract manufacturing of Cell and Gene therapies for our biopharmaceutical and biotech clients. This role will serve as the key finance partner to commercial leaders, supporting pricing, revenue growth, and margin improvement.
Key Responsibilities:
Build and Lead the Commercial Finance Function
Design and implement commercial finance processes, tools, and reporting specific to Manufacturing Services
Define KPIs, dashboards, and review cadences to support operational and strategic decision-making
Establish scalable practices for pricing, project evaluation, and client financial analysis
Strategic Business Partnering
Serve as the primary finance liaison to the Manufacturing Services commercial leadership team
Provide financial insights for pricing strategies, proposals, contract negotiations, and margin improvement
Collaborate cross-functionally with Commercial, Project Management, Operations, Legal, and revenue recognition teams.
Forecasting, Planning & Reporting
Lead the revenue budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning processes for the business unit
Deliver monthly performance reviews with variance analysis, commercial commentary, and risk/opportunity identification
Create models for scenario planning, and pricing strategies
Deal Support & Revenue Optimization
Partner with Business Development, Client Services and Project Management to evaluate proposals, SOWs, and change orders
Partner with the Revenue Recognition COE to ensure compliance (ASC 606) and alignment with financial policies
Monitor project-level profitability and support actions to enhance gross margins
Financial Control & Governance
Develop and maintain internal controls over project tracking, margin analysis, and billing processes
Support audit, SOX, and compliance requirements as needed
Identify and implement improvements in systems and workflows
Job Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field (MBA or CPA preferred)
5-8+ years of progressive experience in commercial finance
Prior experience in life sciences, CRO/CDMO, specialty manufacturing, or complex project-based environments highly preferred
Skills & Competencies:
Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build structure in an evolving environment
Strong financial modeling, commercial analysis, and communication skills
Deep understanding of revenue recognition, margin dynamics, and pricing methodologies
Comfortable influencing across functions and levels in a matrixed organization
Proficiency with financial systems and advanced Excel; BI tool experience a plus
Compensation Data
The pay range for this position is $140K - $160K USD annually. Please note that salaries vary within the range based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, education, certifications, and location.
About Corporate Functions
The Corporate Functions provide operational support across Charles River in areas such as Human Resources, Finance, IT, Legal, Sales, Quality Assurance, Marketing, and Corporate Development. They partner with their colleagues across the company to develop and drive strategies and to set global standards. The functions are essential to providing a bridge between strategic vision and operational readiness, to ensure ongoing functional innovation and capability improvement.
About Charles River
Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients' clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.
With over 20,000 employees within 110 facilities in over 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client's unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world.
At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people's lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly worked on 80% of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past five years.
We're committed to providing benefits that elevate your quality of life. Based on your position these may include: bonus/incentives based on performance, 401K, paid time off, stock purchase program, Health and wellness coverage, employee and family wellbeing support programs, and work life balance flexibility.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Charles River is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, family status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
It is unlawful in some states (including Massachusetts) to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
If you are interested in applying to Charles River Laboratories and need special assistance or an accommodation due to a disability to complete any forms or to otherwise participate in the resume submission process, please contact a member of our Human Resources team by sending an e-mail message to crrecruitment_US@crl.com. This contact is for accommodation requests for individuals with disabilities only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.
For more information, please visit www.criver.com.
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