Associate Director, Strategic Finance (San Diego / Foster City)

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At Illumina, we are expanding access to genomic technology to realize health equity for billions of people around the world. Our efforts enable life-changing discoveries that are transforming human health through the early detection and diagnosis of diseases and new treatment options for patients.

Working at Illumina means being part of something bigger than yourself. Every person, in every role, has the opportunity to make a difference. Surrounded by extraordinary people, inspiring leaders, and world changing projects, you will do more and become more than you ever thought possible.

Position Title: Associate Director, Strategic Finance

Location: San Diego (Hybrid) or Foster City, CA (Hybrid)

This is a full-time role, Monday through Friday, with an expectation of 2–3 in-office days per week and additional on-site presence as needed. The individual must reside in the San Diego or Foster City area and be able to commute to our corporate offices. Relocation assistance is available and should be completed within a six (6) month period or a mutually agreed upon time.

Reports To: VP, Strategic Finance

FLSA Status: Exempt

Position Summary

The Associate Director, Strategic Finance is responsible for providing high-complexity, transaction-related finance support across Illumina’s most complex and consequential corporate and business development activities, including efforts related to the formation of new businesses, joint ventures, and new ventures. This position independently coordinates the financial analysis, modeling, and accounting support for mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, alliances, joint ventures, divestitures, and licensing agreements, as well as structured equity and debt investments, multi-party commercial arrangements with non-standard structural and accounting treatments, and financial workstreams in support of litigation and other contested matters, and provides input on deal structuring.

The role is engaged directly and routinely by the CFO and other members of the Executive Leadership and Finance Leadership Team to drive financial analysis, structuring, and negotiation on transactions that fall outside the scope of standard corporate processes and that materially shape the company’s strategic trajectory. The work is characterized by ambiguity, executive-level scrutiny, and the need to partner with the VP Strategic Finance and financial accounting and legal teams to construct first-of-their-kind deal structures rather than execute against established templates.

Essential Functions

• Partner with the Head of Strategic Finance and work directly with the CFO and other members of the Executive and Finance Leadership Teams, across all relevant financial analysis and modeling in support of assessing, recommending and structuring deals to support corporate initiatives and strategies.
• Independently lead financial workstreams on highly complex, non-standard transactions, including new business formation, joint ventures, structured equity and debt arrangements, multi-party commercial partnerships, services-for-value exchanges, and contra-R&D and unconsolidated funding structures.
• Architect and stress-test deal structures across complex GAAP accounting regimes, partnering with Technical Accounting, Tax, Treasury, and outside advisors to ensure intended revenue recognition, balance sheet, and consolidation outcomes.
• Manage the design and execution of strategic review initiatives related to capital-intensive activities.
• Demonstrate deep healthcare industry knowledge and drive insights regarding the strategic path for Illumina at the enterprise level.
• Partner with Finance Leadership to ensure line-of-sight to implications of different proposals.
• Lead and support financial diligence on potential targets, collaborating deeply with key functions and stakeholders to determine potential risks and integration issues.
• Lead financial workstreams in support of litigation, disputes, and other contested matters, including damages analyses, settlement structuring, and coordination with Illumina’s legal and product management teams and outside counsel.
• Serve as a financial partner on negotiations with sophisticated external counterparties, including pharmaceutical companies, large-cap technology partners, sovereign and government entities, and academic medical centers, translating commercial intent into defensible economic and accounting terms.
• Coordinate, prioritize and manage the active deal pipeline for the Strategic Finance team. Orchestrate analysis along prescribed timelines and socialize appropriately across Finance and Executive Leadership.
• Drive the routine assessment