Finance Director CRO Services

About Ardena

Ardena is a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and Contract Research Organization (CRO) specializing in precision medicine development. Ardena supports pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in bringing innovative, complex molecules from discovery to market.

The Ardena Group operates from five sites across Europe and the United States, employing more than 700 professionals. Ardena European sites are located in Oss and Assen (the Netherlands), Ghent (Belgium), and Pamplona (Spain). Ardena US facility is based in Somerset, New Jersey.

Our culture is built on openness, transparency, and ownership. We value collaboration, trust, and initiative, and we believe that strong teamwork and an open mindset are essential to delivering high-quality solutions in a highly regulated and fast-moving industry.

If you are motivated by meaningful work, enjoy collaborating with experts, and want to contribute to the development of medicines for unmet medical needs, Ardena offers an environment where you can truly make an impact.

For our CRO Services business – Ardena Bioanalysis – we are looking for a strategic

Finance Director CRO Services

Our CRO Services business is a fast-growing, GLP/GCP-compliant bioanalytical organisation serving global pharmaceutical partners from early discovery through Phase IV. It is built around our main site in Assen (The Netherlands), with specialised bioanalytical laboratories in Oss (The Netherlands) and Somerset (New Jersey, US).

Your Role

As Finance Director CRO Services you are the senior finance business partner to the Global Head CRO and the financial anchor of the division across three sites in two countries. You do not own the division’s P&L – that sits with the Division Head – but you make it work: you provide the insight, challenge, and a financial framework behind divisional decisions, safeguard financial control and integrity, and ensure accurate, timely reporting into Group. You lead the divisional finance team, while the day-to-day planning, control, and costing are delivered by the controllers and FP&A professionals who report to you.

This is a matrix role: you report to the Global Head CRO and to the Group CFO. You are based in Assen, with regular presence across Oss and Somerset.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Act as senior finance business partner to the Global Head CRO, providing insight, challenge, and financial framework behind divisional strategy and decisions.

• Ensure robust financial planning, control, and reporting for the division across Assen, Oss, and Somerset – delivered by your finance team.

• Lead, develop, and grow the divisional finance team across the three sites.

• Safeguard financial integrity, risk, and compliance in line with Group standards, and maintain audit and inspection readiness across Dutch and US jurisdictions.

• Act as the link to Group Finance: ensure accurate reporting into Group consolidation and adherence to group governance, statutory, and fiscal requirements, including transfer pricing.

• Provide analysis and decision support on margin, pricing, working capital, capacity, and investment cases, and support commercial teams on major proposals and contracts.

• Drive continuous improvement of finance processes, controls, and systems within the division.

• Act as a role model for cross-functional collaboration between finance and operations/commercial teams.
  

Your Profile 

• A degree in Finance, Accounting, or Economics; a professional qualification (RA, RC, ACCA, CPA, or CIMA) is strongly preferred.

• A proven track record as a Finance Director or comparable senior finance leader (typically 12+ years), including several years leading finance teams.

• Experience as a senior finance business partner in a project-based service, manufacturing, or laboratory environment; CRO, CDMO, pharma, or life sciences is a strong plus.

• Comfortable in a matrix organisation and leading finance across multiple, preferably cross-border, sites.

• Genuine familiarity with the US business environment – its reporting expectations, entities, and ways of working – given our Somerset (New Jersey) site.

• Strategic yet pragmatic: we value breadth and the ability to build over polish in every specialism – you do not need to be the finished article in every area.

• Strong business-partnering and communication skills; fluent in English, Dutch an advantage.
  
  
  Preferred Qualifications
  

• Multi-entity, multi-currency consolidation and group reporting.

• Strong understanding of IFRS and familiarity with US GAAP and/or the US tax and regulatory landscape.

• Experience in a private-equity-backed or high-growth environment, and with finance transformation or ERP implementation.

  
  
  Competencies
  
  
  Ardena’s CARE framework applies to all roles: Communicative – Accountable – Reliable – Excellent. For this role we add strategic and commercial thinking, executive leadership, stakeholder management, sound judgement, and resilience in an international environment.
  
  

What We Offer

• A challenging and impactful leadership role in a learning organisation that supports professional growth.

• A collaborative, international working environment with engaged and knowledgeable colleagues.

• An open corporate culture with short communication lines.

• Attractive employment conditions.

• Flexible working hours to support work–life balance.

Ready to apply? Please click on the application button.

Only candidates eligible to work in the EU will be considered for the position. Unfortunately, given the high volume of applications we receive for our vacancies, these professionals (not entitled to work in the European Union)  will not be given a status update. Agency calls will not be appreciated.