Director, Global Operational Accounting

Pfizer • Memphis, TN

22h

About The Position

The Director, Global Operational Accounting is responsible for the strategy, performance, operational oversight, and continued transformation of Pfizer’s global cash, bank, payroll, and intercompany accounting activities. The role provides end-to-end leadership across these areas, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting, effective internal controls, consistent global processes, and strong partnership with stakeholders across Controllers, Finance, Treasury, Tax, People Experience, Digital, and Global Business Services.

The Director establishes and executes the global vision and strategy for Cash, Payroll, and Intercompany Accounting, focusing on operational excellence, standardization, simplification, automation, and scalable processes. A central accountability is advancing the organization toward an AI-enabled and increasingly AI-native accounting operating model using intelligent automation, predictive insights, and exception-based management. The Director is the principal escalation point for complex accounting, operational, control, technology, and service-delivery matters in scope, and ensures acquisitions, divestitures, system implementations, digital initiatives, AI solutions, and other transformation activities are appropriately designed, governed, integrated, implemented, and operationalized.

As a member of the Global Accounting Leadership Team, the Director contributes to broader Global Accounting and Controllers strategies and priorities. The role leads and develops a geographically dispersed team and builds succession and talent pipelines. Responsibilities span global cash and bank accounting, payroll accounting, intercompany accounting, financial close, controls and compliance, transformation and AI, business partnership, and organizational leadership.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline.
• 8+ years of significant progressive experience in accounting, controllership, finance operations, or related areas.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP and internal-control principles.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex accounting or finance processes in a global organization.
• Demonstrated people-leadership experience, including leadership of geographically dispersed or multicultural teams.
• Experience managing financial close, account reconciliations, analytical reviews, audit support, and control compliance.
• Strong business-partnering and stakeholder-management capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead transformation, process standardization, automation, digital enablement, continuous improvement, or financial-system initiatives, including translating emerging technology into practical accounting outcomes.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, and executive-communication skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, resolve complex issues, and deliver results within demanding financial-reporting timelines.
• Permanent work authorization in the United States; U.S. work visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Nice To Haves

• CPA or equivalent professional accounting qualification, such as ACCA or CIMA.
• Advanced degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related discipline.
• Public accounting experience.
• Direct experience with cash and bank accounting, payroll accounting, or intercompany accounting.
• Experience with SAP, financial consolidation and reporting platforms, BlackLine or comparable financial-close and account-reconciliation platforms, and workflow or automation technologies.
• Experience identifying or deploying generative AI, agentic AI, advanced analytics, intelligent automation, or other emerging technologies within accounting, controllership, or finance operations.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, divestitures, integrations, separations, or large-scale finance-transformation programs.
• Experience overseeing outsourced or shared-service accounting operations.
• Working knowledge of local statutory accounting requirements within a multinational organization.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and operational oversight for end-to-end global cash, bank, payroll, and intercompany accounting activities.
• Establish and execute short- and long-term strategies for Global Cash, Payroll, and Intercompany Accounting in alignment with Global Accounting, Controllers, Finance, and Global Business Services.
• Maintain global process ownership, governance, accountability, and performance expectations across in-scope activities.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex accounting, operational, control, technology, and service-delivery matters.
• Ensure timely, complete, and accurate accounting and reporting in accordance with applicable standards, corporate policies, and close requirements.
• Lead global cash and bank accounting, including recording, reconciliation, review, resolution of activity, governance of reconciliations and journal entries, and remediation of risks or deficiencies.
• Partner with Treasury, finance teams, shared-service organizations, and banking stakeholders to resolve cash and bank accounting issues and support changes to banking structures, treasury processes, payment platforms, and financial systems.
• Lead global payroll accounting and reporting, ensuring accurate entries, reconciliations, analytical reviews, and reporting within close timelines.
• Oversee payroll accounting issue resolution and partner with People Experience, Payroll Operations, Tax, Treasury, finance teams, and service providers on handoffs, process changes, and local statutory requirements.
• Lead end-to-end global intercompany accounting, including transaction recording, reconciliation, confirmation, settlement support, mismatch resolution, and reporting.
• Establish governance for timely resolution of intercompany differences and aged balances, and ensure appropriate accounting and controls for charges, allocations, settlements, and related balance-sheet accounts.
• Provide accounting leadership for intercompany impacts of acquisitions, divestitures, legal-entity changes, restructurings, system implementations, and transfer-pricing or operating-model changes.
• Ensure in-scope activities meet operational-excellence standards and comply with service-level agreements, close calendars, accounting policies, and control requirements.
• Maintain internal controls, process documentation, work instructions, and SOX control documentation; support audits, statutory requirements, and remediation of control observations.
• Monitor close performance, reconciliations, aged items, control execution, and key performance and risk indicators; coordinate with the Global Close Center of Excellence on period-end progress and escalations.
• Use BlackLine, automation, analytics, and AI-enabled monitoring to strengthen reconciliation governance, identify exceptions and risk indicators, and support timely resolution with appropriate human review and accountability.
• Lead a multi-year transformation roadmap toward an AI-enabled and increasingly AI-native accounting operating model across Cash, Payroll, and Intercompany Accounting.
• Drive global process standardization, simplification, optimization, automation, and digital enablement, including opportunities for generative AI, agentic AI, advanced analytics, workflow orchestration, and intelligent automation.
• Champion exception-based management through touchless processing, intelligent matching, predictive insights, and AI-enabled decision support where appropriate.
• Partner with Digital, Finance Transformation, enterprise AI teams, process owners, and control stakeholders to design and deploy sustainable, secure, governed solutions.
• Establish governance, documentation, human oversight, and risk-management practices for responsible AI and automation in accounting and financial reporting.
• Serve as business sponsor for the BlackLine strategy and optimization roadmap, including Account Reconciliations, Transaction Matching, Intercompany capabilities, Journal Entry Management, and relevant controls and compliance functionality.
• Drive global BlackLine adoption and value realization, and establish measures and governance routines for platform utilization, automation, reconciliation effectiveness, exceptions, productivity, controls, service quality, and transformation progress.
• Oversee accounting and operational readiness for financial-system implementations, migrations, outsourcing, acquisitions, divestitures, integrations, separations, and organizational or service-delivery changes.
• Build relationships and define effective handoffs across Controllers, Global Accounting, Treasury, Tax, People Experience, Payroll Operations, Digital, Global Business Services, regional finance, BlackLine stakeholders, and external service providers.
• Influence stakeholders across a complex global matrix, translate complex issues into clear risks and recommendations for senior leaders, and represent Global Accounting in cross-functional governance forums.
• Lead, coach, and develop a geographically dispersed global team; establish goals, performance expectations, decision rights, and accountability.
• Create an inclusive, engaged environment focused on shared accountability, collaboration, operational discipline, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Develop current and future leaders, maintain succession plans, build required accounting, operational, analytical, automation, AI, digital, and leadership capabilities, and optimize organizational resources.

Benefits

• 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution.
• Paid vacation, holiday, and personal days.
• Paid caregiver/parental and medical leave.
• Medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage.
• Participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan with a 20.0% bonus target of base salary.
• Eligibility to participate in Pfizer’s share-based long-term incentive program.
• Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director