Senior Financial Analyst (San Diego / Hybrid)

Illumina•San Diego, CA

1d•$82,500 - $123,700•Hybrid

About The Position

The R&D Finance Business Partner provides finance support for a complex portfolio of R&D functions, programs, strategic initiatives, and R&D leadership team members. The role works with R&D and Finance leadership to translate technical and operational activity into clear financial insight, improve forecast accuracy, evaluate investment trade-offs, and support resource decisions across operating expense, headcount, and capital investment. This position operates as an individual contributor in a matrixed environment with limited day-to-day direction. Success requires strong financial rigor, sound business judgment, clear communication, and the ability to build trusted partnerships while maintaining appropriate financial challenge and discipline. This is a full-time role, Monday through Friday, with an expectation of 2–3 in-office days per week and additional on-site presence as needed. The individual must reside in the San Diego area and be able to commute to our corporate offices.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related professional experience; 3 years with a relevant master’s degree; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Experience with budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial modeling, reporting, and management presentations.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.

Nice To Haves

MBA, CPA, CFA, or another relevant advanced degree or professional credential.
Experience supporting R&D, product development, portfolio management, capital planning, or life sciences/genomics organizations.
Experience with enterprise financial systems such as SAP, OneStream, Cognos, or similar platforms.
Ability to use AI-enabled tools effectively and responsibly to increase productivity, improve analysis quality, and streamline reporting or documentation workflows.

Responsibilities

Provide finance partnership for a complex set of R&D functions, programs, and R&D leadership team members, building trusted relationships while maintaining appropriate financial challenge and discipline.
Manage key components of annual planning, quarterly forecasting, monthly close, long-range planning inputs, and recurring management reporting for assigned R&D areas.
Analyze operating expense, headcount, purchase orders, accruals, and capital expenditure performance; explain key variances; identify risks and opportunities; and recommend actions to improve business outcomes.
Leverage AI and advanced analytics tools responsibly to improve forecasting accuracy, automate routine financial processes, increase operational efficiency, and generate actionable business insights.
Develop leadership-ready narratives that translate complex R&D activity, shifting program scope, capital timing, and financial trade-offs into clear messages and recommendations.
Coordinate capital planning and tracking activities, including project-level analysis, timing of equipment receipt, Construction in Progress recognition, depreciation timing, and distinction between sustainable savings and timing-related rephasing.
Help resolve cross-functional issues by identifying process gaps, forecast risks, unclear ownership, data quality concerns, and decision points; escalate with recommended options when broader alignment is needed.