Director, Business Operations

At GSK, we unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We are a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We’re proud to be leading a healthcare revolution, and we’re looking for people who can help us deliver on our ambition.

The Director, Business Operations leads the business and financial management of DPTF (Digital Platforms and Technology Foundations) as a function. The role owns the budget, cost transparency and operational governance through which DPTF runs itself, gives leadership an accurate view of spend, forecast and operational health, and keeps the function's own processes efficient and well controlled.

The role leads the central business operations team, including the Business Operations Manager, and sets the standards that the federated Tech Finance Managers apply within the platform domains. Components of the DPTF operating model are held across Technology Business Operations and integrated by the Head of Technology Business Operations. This role holds the financial and business administration components, covering the cost base, the funded establishment and how the function runs itself day to day.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the DPTF budget and forecast cycle, ensuring the function's cost base is planned, tracked and reported accurately and to the enterprise finance timetable. 

• Own enterprise unit economics and cost-to-serve for DPTF - cost per product, service and capability -  supported by a maturity roadmap, enabling value-based decision making. Own the DPTF cost and allocation model, taxonomy and business-operations tooling strategy, so that financial, portfolio, performance and value reporting reconcile to one source of truth. 

• Own the domain technology finance standard that the federated Tech Finance Managers apply, including the required central submissions, their cadence, and the escalation where a domain’s data falls below standard. so budget, forecast and cost data is consistent and comparable across domains. 

• Lead the operational governance of DPTF as a function, including the operating cycle, the business planning cycle and the management reporting that keep the function running. 

• Partner with Finance Business Partners and the enterprise Finance function on budgeting, forecasting, accruals and financial control, representing DPTF in those forums. 

• Challenge spend against plan across the domains, bringing variance, risk and opportunity to leadership with supporting evidence, with the spend decisions themselves owned in the domains. 

• Own the funded establishment for DPTF, tracking budgeted positions, vacancies and the permanent and contractor mix as a cost position, with the shape of the organisation and its skills owned by the Workforce Strategy & Talent Manager. 

• Provide operational and financial insight to the DPTF Leadership Team, covering cost, headcount, contractor and vendor spend, and the operational health of the function. 

• Work with the Director, Planning & Performance so that financial information reconciles with the investment, value and performance picture and leadership sees one consistent view. 

• Ensure DPTF operates within GSK financial policy and control requirements, including approval routes, purchase governance and audit readiness. 

• Drive process automation and simplification across business operations, embedding AI and analytics to accelerate forecasting, cost analysis and management reporting and to cut manual effort in financial and operational administration. 

• Lead and develop the business operations team, including the Business Operations Manager, and build capability across the federated technology finance community.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Finance, Business, Accounting, Technology Management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Deep experience in technology finance, business operations, commercial management or a comparable discipline, including line leadership of professional teams.

• Proven experience owning the budget and forecast for a large technology function or business unit.

• Experience building cost transparency, including unit cost or FinOps reporting, and using it to change spending behaviour.

• Experience running the operating rhythm and management reporting of a function, not only its finances.

• Experience managing a funded establishment, including budgeted positions, vacancy tracking and permanent and contractor cost mix.

• Experience setting central financial standards applied by teams outside direct control.

• Experience partnering with an enterprise finance function on budgeting, forecasting and financial control.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional certifications desirable (e.g., a recognised accounting or financial management qualification, Technology Business Management, FinOps, Lean Six Sigma). 
• Experience driving automation and simplification of financial and operational processes.

• Familiarity with technology business management practice and with AI enabled analytics applied to forecasting and reporting.
• Strong financial acumen, able to own a large cost base and explain it clearly to audiences without a finance background.

• Excellent executive communication skills, able to present a financial position candidly.

• Ability to lead and develop a distributed team and a federated professional community.

• Ability to challenge spend and forecasting quality constructively across domains without direct authority.

• Strong organisational skills, able to run concurrent financial and operational cycles to an external timetable.

Work Arrangements:
This role offers a hybrid working model, with a mix of on-site and remote work. Fully remote or home-working arrangements are not available for this role.

Closing Date for Applications – 01 November 2026 EOD

Please take a copy of the Job Description, as this will not be available post closure of the advert.  
When applying for this role, please use the ‘cover letter’ of the online application or your CV to describe how you meet the competencies for this role, as outlined in the job requirements above. The information that you have provided in your cover letter and CV will be used to assess your application. 

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Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

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