Senior Manager, Travel & Expense

Company Description

Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on guarding wellness and giving every person more time free from cancer. Founded in 2012, Guardant is transforming patient care and accelerating new cancer therapies by providing critical insights into what drives disease through its advanced blood and tissue tests, real-world data and AI analytics. Guardant tests help improve outcomes across all stages of care, including screening to find cancer early, monitoring for recurrence in early-stage cancer, and treatment selection for patients with advanced cancer. For more information, visit guardanthealth.com and follow the company on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook.

Job Description

Guardant Health is seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Manager, Travel & Expense (T&E) Operations to lead our global T&E function in a highly regulated, fast-paced diagnostic environment.  This leader will oversee all aspects of our travel and expense program, including policy governance, compliance with Stark Law and other healthcare regulations, and system optimization through SAP Concur. 

This role requires a proactive leader who brings both operational discipline and a continuous improvement mindset.   As the internal SME for Concur, you will lead enhancements, integrations (including Workday and CRM systems), and process automation, while ensuring a compliant and user-friendly T&E experience.  You will also play a key role in launching a formalized travel program and managing our corporate card operations. 

You’ll collaborate regularly with Legal, Compliance, Accounting, Commercial, and IT teams, and provide consistent and transparent reporting to senior leadership. 

Reporting to the Senior Director, Assistant Controller & Treasurer and based in our Palo Alto office, this role will support the Financial Reporting and Corporate Accounting team’s objective of timely month-end close and accurate, compliant expense reporting in alignment with internal controls and external regulations. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Leadership & Operations 

• Lead and develop a high-performing T&E team, including an Assistant Manager and two offshore specialists. 

• Establish operational excellence through strong processes, controls, and stakeholder support. 

Regulatory Compliance (Stark Law & Beyond) 

• Ensure full compliance with Stark Law and other applicable healthcare regulations governing spend on HCPs (healthcare professionals). 

• Deliver weekly T&E data extracts to support Stark reporting and audit readiness. 

• Partner closely with Compliance and Legal teams to ensure all processes align with industry standards. 

Concur Systems Ownership 

• Serve as the SAP Concur SME, overseeing system configuration, user access, policy rules, workflow automation, and AI utilization. 

• Manage key integrations (Workday, CRM platforms such as Salesforce and Veeva) to ensure accurate reporting and financial reconciliation. 

• Drive enhancements that increase automation, accuracy, and scalability of T&E processes. 

Policy Governance & Execution 

• Maintain and enforce global T&E policies in alignment with internal controls and compliance requirements. 

• Monitor adherence, identify trends in policy violations, and lead corrective action plans. 

Travel Program Development 

• Design and implement a formal travel program, including vendor evaluation, travel policy, and duty of care protocols. 

• Align travel tools and booking solutions to enhance visibility, compliance, an