Lead Expert, Finance Operations and Process Automation

Merck • Burlington, MA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

An exceptional opportunity has arisen within our Life Science Finance Systems team. In this role, you will own the finance operations backbone that keeps reporting accurate and on time, and you will use the capacity that a well-run operation creates to automate routine work with AI. You will partner closely with internal teams and our delivery partners to keep the numbers right and to move routine checks off people and onto tools.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, Information Systems, or a related field
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in financial operations, controlling, or FP&A, owning recurring reporting cycles end to end
• A track record of automating manual work (scripting, rules, macros, or pipeline tooling)

Nice To Haves

• Passionate about data-driven decision making, financial operations, and governance.
• Working knowledge of agentic AI in a finance context, with judgment on where it fits
• Experience with Snowflake and Foundry, and visualization tools like Tableau; SAP and finance-systems exposure (MCloud, CSR, or equivalent) a plus
• Deep understanding of finance operations, reconciliation, and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Strong reconciliation and data-validation discipline, and experience implementing governance and accuracy best practices
• Skilled in Lean, Six Sigma, or other process improvement methodologies would be an advantage.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, suitable for an audience that reaches senior leadership

Responsibilities

• Owning the Life Science finance operations backbone end to end: GCOH, daily sales reporting accuracy, annual business segmentation, and reconciliation across the daily operation through to the Pacing View reporting that reaches senior leadership.
• Running the annual cost and reallocation cycle hands-on, including the reallocation logic and annual restatement, in coordination with Group Accounting and our delivery partners.
• Setting the standard and cadence for the partner teams that execute the operational work, making the structural and accuracy decisions, and resolving exceptions.
• Cataloging the manual checks across the operation and converting the deterministic ones into automations that run continuously, applying AI to the language and pattern work such as summarizing and anomaly detection.
• Building on our existing stack (My Insights Agent, Project Recall, SG&A Commentary AI, and Claude Code with the Foundry MCP) with the data and AI team, and reporting the capacity returned while holding the accuracy bar.
• Owning established operational cycles, decide how they run, and build the automation that frees the team for higher-value analysis.
• Piloting automations on the highest-friction steps and scaling the ones that prove out, working closely with our data and AI teams.

Benefits

• We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress! Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!

What This Job Offers

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