Clinical FP&A Analyst

ALPFA Medical; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

ALPFA Medical seeks a senior FP&A leader to own clinical budgeting, forecasting and financial modeling across trials. You will manage accruals, month-end close and reporting, while partnering with Clinical Operations on cost optimization and decision support.

Focal duties include long-range planning, scenario modeling, executive reporting, and developing standardized budgeting processes. Strong Excel and NetSuite skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in financial planning, financial analysis.
• 10+ years supporting accounting, month end close, accruals, invoice and expense tracking.
• Experience with U.S. GAAP, expense accruals and financial reporting.
• Strong understanding of clinical trial operations, CRO contracts, site payments and vendor cost structures.
• Experience managing complex clinical trial budgets and financial forecasts.
• 10+ years of experience supporting clinical operations within medical device, biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry.
• Advanced Excel skills, including complex financial modeling, scenario analysis and forecasting.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Clinical financial ownership: lead budgeting, forecasting and KPI development for trials.
• Financial accounting and controls: accruals, monthly close support, invoicing and reporting.
• Strategic FP&A and business partnership: long-range planning and executive reporting.
• Prepare monthly/quarterly/annual forecasts and variance analysis across studies.
• Develop financial models for each clinical study, including enrollment and site costs.
• Monitor vendor contracts, CROs and site payments; optimize costs.
• Provide insights to support resource allocation and trial prioritization.
• Collaborate with Clinical Operations and senior leadership on financial decisions.

Skills

Excel

Financial modeling

Forecasting

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Independence

Education

Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting or related field

Tools

NetSuite

Job description

The position will have three primary areas of responsibility:

• Clinical financial ownership (40%) — Clinical trial budgets, forecasting, expense tracking, CRO/vendor financial management, and clinical program financial modeling.
• Financial accounting and controls (40%) — Clinical accruals, monthly close support, invoicing and reconciliations, and financial reporting accuracy.
• Strategic FP&A and business partnership (20%) — Long-range planning, scenario modeling, executive reporting, and financial support for clinical operations decisions.

The position will report to the CFO while maintaining a strong dotted-line partnership with the Director of Clinical Operations.

(1) Clinical Financial Ownership:

• Lead financial planning, budgeting and forecasting for all clinical trials
• Develop and maintain detailed financial models for each clinical study, including patient enrollment, site activation, monitoring, T&E and study completion costs
• Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual clinical expense forecasts, actuals to budget reporting and analytics identifying key variances.
• Identify opportunities for cost optimization and partner with Clinical Operations to evaluate study timelines and their financial impacts of enrollment acceleration, delays or protocol changes.
• Develop key performance indicators (KPI’s) to monitor clinical trial financial performance.
• Provide financial insights to support resource allocation, trial prioritization, and trial funding decisions.

(2) Financial Accounting and Ownership:

• Manage clinical trial accounting across multiple studies and trials that tracks and analyzes expenses with clinical research organizations (CROs), clinical sites, investigators and all third-party vendors
• Ensure accurate monthly clinical expense accruals and financial reporting in accordance with U.S. GAAP
• Review clinical vendor invoices, purchase orders, and contractual payment schedules.
• Manage, monitor and issue all invoicing with site start up, patient fees and invoiceable with all related accrual accounting. Reconcile clinical trial expenditures against vendor contracts, milestones, and approved budgets.
• Monitor patient enrollment costs, procedure costs, site payments and clinical milestones.

(3) Strategic FP&A and business partnership

• Support Long-range planning, scenario modeling, any ad-hoc management reporting
• Develop standardized clinical trial budgeting and cost-tracking processes
• Develop and enhance clinical financial reporting processes, tools and dashboards

Job Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting or related field
• 10+ years of progressive experience in financial planning, financial analysis
• 10+ years of experience supporting accounting, month end close, accruals, invoice and expense tracking
• Strong understanding of clinical trial operations, CRO contracts, clinical site payments and vendor cost structures
• Demonstrated experience managing complex clinical trial budgets and financial forecasts
• 10+ years of experience supporting clinical operations within the medical device, biotechnology industry or pharmaceutical industry
• Experience with U.S. GAAP, expense accruals and financial reporting
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including complex financial modeling, scenario analysis and forecasting
• Experience with NetSuite is preferred
• Strong analytical and financial modeling capabilities
• Ability to translate clinical operational data into actionable financial insights
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to work independently and with senior leadership without direct authority
• Strong attention to detail
• Strong business partnership and cross-functional collaboration skills