Executive Director, Finance

Syst Immune Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company located in Redmond, WA. It specializes in developing innovative cancer treatments using its established drug development platforms, focusing on bi-specific, multi-specific antibodies, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Syst Immune has several assets in various stages of clinical trials for solid tumor and hematologic indications. Alongside ongoing clinical trials, Syst Immune has a strong preclinical pipeline of potential cancer therapeutics in the discovery or IND-enabling stages, representing cutting-edge biologics development.

Position Summary
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The Executive Director, Finance will serve as the business partner and the strategic finance leader supporting Syst Immune's global clinical programs. This role partners closely with Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Alliance Management, Accounting, and senior executives to drive financial strategy, optimize resource allocation, provide robust forecasting, and ensure transparency of clinical trial costs. The leader will manage a team of finance professionals and have the accountability for end-to-end financial oversight of clinical development, including budgeting, trial cost modeling, vendor financial management, alliance finance, and FP&A support for the Clinical organization.

Key Responsibilities
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Alliance Finance

• Manage alliance finance responsibilities for partnered clinical programs, ensuring consistent budgeting, reporting, and cost-sharing in collaboration with external partners.
• Provide joint program financial updates, coordinate budget alignment with partners, and ensure accurate execution of cost-sharing terms and financial governance.
• Support cross-company working groups with transparent reporting, financial models, and documentation.

Clinical study budgeting and cost management

• Lead creation, review, and refinement of clinical trial budgets across all phases, ensuring alignment with study design, timelines, and operational assumptions
• Develop detailed cost models, enrollment-driven forecasts, and operational expenditure projections for all clinical studies.
• Partner with Clinical Operations, Medical, Regulatory, Drug Safety, Biometrics, and Program Management to ensure financial accuracy behind trial-level assumptions.
• Oversee financial aspects of contracts with CROs, laboratories, vendors, and other clinical service providers, ensuring pricing competitiveness, change order management, and efficient use of clinical resources.
• Oversee the finance team in invoice processing and manage invoice payment process with transparency and accuracy

Strategic leadership and FP&A

• Provide strategic financial guidance and decision support informed by clinical development plans and regulatory strategy.
• Provide financial leadership for portfolio decision-making, scenario planning, risk assessment, and long-range clinical resource planning.
• Oversee the clinical finance team in annual operating planning, quarterly forecasts, variance analyses, headcount planning, and functional financial reporting for the clinical development organization.
• Deliver monthly reporting packages for R&D leadership and the executive team, with insights into trial spend, vendor accruals, study progression, and financial risks/opportunities.
• Ensure compliance with internal financial policies and support audit requests related to clinical development spend.

Team Leadership & Development

• Build and lead a high-performing clinical finance team with strong business partnership capabilities.
• Champion continuous improvement of financial processes, analytics, and tools to improve accuracy, efficiency, and visibility of clinical financial data.

Required Qualifications and Behaviors
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• 12+ years of progressive finance experience in biotech/pharma, with significant exposure to clinical development, R&D FP&A, and alliance finance in a biotech or biopharma company.
• Demonstrated experience building and managing clinical trial budgets and vendor financial oversight.
• Strong understanding of global clinical development processes, clinical operations, and regulatory pathways (consistent with expectations of clinical development leaders).
• Exceptional…