Position Summary

The FP&A Manager will report to Sr. Director, FP&A, and will be responsible for the successful execution of FP&A activities including budgeting, BVA, forecasting, reporting and decision support. This role will work with cross-functional Vera Therapeutics team members including R&D, finance and accounting, and other business functions. This role requires a strategic thinker with strong analytical skills, a deep understanding of clinical finance, and the ability to translate complex financial and operational analysis into clear, audience-appropriate messaging. This is a highly visible role that provides financial insights critical to executive decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the dedicated finance business partner to functional leaders leading budgeting, forecasting, long-range planning, and variance analysis.
• Communicate financial analysis in a clear, operationally grounded way, discerning the message based on audience.
• Own and maintain clinical trial financial models incorporating protocol design, CRO budgets, investigator grants, enrollment assumptions, site activation schedules, and visit-based cost drivers to support forecasting and scenario planning.
• Analyze clinical trial expense variances against study operational metrics (e.g., enrollment rates, site activations, protocol amendments, vendor activity) to identify drivers of variances. Prepare study-level financial summaries that reflect the operational dynamics, and present the message in a clear thoughtful manner.
• Review and validate clinical trial forecasts generated within Auxilius, ensuring operational assumptions are accurate and financial outputs appropriately reflect study execution.
• Build multi-year trackers to track preclinical/discovery spend, including milestone-based investment tracking.
• Review purchase requisitions and purchase orders to ensure financial accuracy and support standardized procure-to-pay processes.
• Partner with Accounting on month end close, month-end accruals and perform procedures to ensure account and department coding is consistent.
• Support automation initiatives that improve forecasting accuracy, reporting efficiency, and data quality across FP&A processes.
• Develop trusted relationships with functional leaders, to provide financial recommendations that support operational decision-making.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, or a field related to drug development.
• 5-7+ years of experience, biopharma or life science industries.
• Demonstrated experience building clinical trial cost forecasting and financial models (e.g., CRO budget grids, site activation and enrollment-driven cost projections, investigator grant models) within a biopharma or life sciences setting.
• Highly collaborative with exceptional consulting, project management, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Exceptional organizational skills with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Proactive and passionate about building processes and tools in a growing biotech.
• Strong interpersonal skills with excellent oral and written communications.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including experience developing sophisticated financial models and scenario analyses.
• Experience with NetSuite, Adaptive Planning and purchase-to-pay systems or systems of similar stature.
• Strong presentation development skills using Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Ability to operate in alignment with Vera’s core values.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Auxilius or similar clinical trial financial management/accrual automation platforms.
• Experience automating workflows and building dashboards.