Finance leader with a focus on controlling in Healthcare, Life Sciences & Chemicals

#Atreus solves complex management challenges in transformation situations. Whether in line, project, or program management, we deliver results when it really counts – reliably and at speed. The #Atreus interim managers, who are precisely matched to each specific challenge, are experienced managing directors, line managers, project and change managers, and results-oriented implementers.

We support our clients in addressing entrepreneurial challenges such as restructurings, innovation initiatives, and rapid growth, as well as in the execution of demanding projects and international assignments, with highly qualified #Atreus managers and/or entire teams at the first and second management levels.

To expand our manager network, we are looking for experienced finance leaders with a focus on Controlling / FP&A for project assignments across the DACH region, often also in an international context.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a finance business partner – supporting the P&L in Healthcare, Life Sciences and Chemicals.
• Drive budgeting and rolling forecast processes for manufacturing, CAPEX, R&D, and commercial functions with a strong focus on short-cycle reforecasting and scenario planning (capacity, demand, pricing).
• Implement clear margin and profitability analysis (product, portfolio, customer); set up lean, decision-oriented reporting with a focus on value drivers and cost-to-serve.
• Provide hands-on support for CAPEX decisions (e.g., capacity expansions, technical upgrades, digital initiatives) through business cases, NPV/ROI calculations, and sensitivity analysis.
• Support R&D and product development / portfolio optimization from a financial perspective (project costing, milestone tracking, prioritisation).
• Support pricing and contract decisions (e.g., CDMO agreements) through pragmatic profitability and risk assessments.
• Take full operational ownership of manufacturing controlling across multiple sites; ensure stable monthly closings including variance analysis and follow-up on corrective actions.
• Rapidly assess and enhance existing cost accounting and standard costing frameworks.
• Act as a strong business partner to operations, engineering, quality, and regulatory; ensure that controlling processes effectively support GMP/GxP and EHS requirements.
• Actively manage working capital (inventory, receivables, payables) with a focus on raw materials, intermediates, and finished goods; identify and execute short-term improvement levers.
• Establish and refine operational KPIs (yield, scrap, batch success rate, OEE, throughput, inventory turns, logistics costs) and link them to actionable management dashboards.
• Strengthen internal controls and data quality at plant level; ensure audit readiness and reliable financial data for internal and external audits.

Profile

• Experienced finance business partner supporting stakeholders across the entire value chain, including commercial functions aligning financial insights with business strategy.
• Broad finance profile with the ability to leverage deep expertise in specific areas to support business priorities.
• Proven hands-on experience in controlling/FP&A, ideally with responsibility for a plant or multiple units.
• Strong practical understanding of cost structures and processes.
• Solid track record in variance analysis, and implementation of corrective measures.
• Good working knowledge of relevant regulatory frameworks (GMP/GxP, REACH) and their operational and financial implications.
• Strong systems expertise (e.g., SAP CO, product costing, process orders, batch management, BW/BI or similar) and high data affinity.
• Working style: pragmatic, hands-on, execution-focused, with the ability to quickly create transparency and implement improvements on the ground.
• Strong business and operations orientation, with the ability to communicate credibly and effectively with manufacturing, engineering, and quality teams.
• High resilience and sound judgement in a context of regulatory scrutiny, long development cycles, and complex global supply chains.
• Ability to drive transparency in cost and margin structures and challenge the status quo across plants and functions.
• Proven leadership of controlling teams, with a strong focus on talent development and succession.

You can relate to the responsibilities above?