Summit Therapeutics plc

Accounting Manager, R&D (Non-Clinical)

Summit Therapeutics plc$140K — $160K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business
  • 5+ years in accounting or finance with a focus on accruals
  • Hands-on experience with R&D accruals in biotech or pharmaceutical settings
  • Ability to evaluate assumptions and reasonableness of accruals in incomplete scenarios
  • Experience in cross-functional collaboration for accurate financial results
  • Exposure to global accounting and audits across multiple jurisdictions
  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Responsibilities

  • Own the R&D accrual and expense accounting process for nonclinical activities
  • Prepare and review monthly journal entries and reconciliations
  • Partner with vendors and project managers for data validation and accrual support
  • Support various R&D cost areas including manufacturing and supply chain
  • Contribute to the efficiency of the monthly close process
  • Assist in global audits and preparation of statutory financial statements
  • Enhance internal controls and accounting processes as the company scales

Benefits

  • Dynamic working environment with global reach
  • Opportunities for professional growth in R&D finance
  • Collaborative culture across multiple functions and geographies
  • Engagement with complex and evolving financial scenarios
  • Participation in continuous improvement initiatives in accounting practices
Full Job Description
Overview of Role:

The Accounting Manager, R&D (Non-Clinical) plays a critical, hands-on role in owning and managing R&D accruals and expense accounting for non-clinical trial activities across a global footprint (U.S., Europe, China). This role is central to ensuring R&D expenses are accurately accrued, analyzed, and supported, with close collaboration across vendors, internal project managers, and cross functional teams.

This position requires a hands-on accounting leader who goes beyond transactional accounting to critically assess R&D activity and ensure accruals accurately represent the business. Working cross functionally with R&D, vendors, and project stakeholders across the U.S., Europe, and China, this role plays a key part in supporting global audits and statutory financial reporting in a dynamic, high growth environment.

Role and Responsibilities:
  • Own the end-to-end R&D accrual and expense accounting process for nonclinical activities, ensuring costs are accurately captured and reflect underlying business activity
  • Prepare and review monthly journal entries and account reconciliations, exercising judgment to assess completeness, accuracy, and overall reasonableness
  • Partner closely with vendors, internal project managers, and cross functional R&D teams to obtain data, validate assumptions, and support accrual calculations
  • Support R&D cost areas including manufacturing, patient safety, biostatistics, CMC, supply chain, and non-trial clinical operations expenses
  • Play a key role in the monthly close process, contributing to continuous improvement, documentation, and close efficiency
  • Support global audits and statutory financial statements across the U.S., UK, and Switzerland by preparing schedules, analyses, and audit support
  • Contribute to internal controls, SOX readiness, and accounting process development as the company continues to scale
  • Ad-hoc tasks as assigned
  • All other duties as assigned

Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills:
  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, related field
  • A minimum of 5+ years of experience in accounting or finance with demonstrated ownership of accruals
  • Hands-on experience with R&D accruals in a biotech or pharmaceutical setting, including familiarity with complex R&D cost structure
  • Demonstrated ability to apply judgment, evaluate assumptions, and assess the reasonableness of accruals in situations where inputs are incomplete or evolving
  • Experience working cross functionally to interpret activity, resolve issues, and ensure accurate financial outcomes
  • Exposure to global accounting environments, including supporting audits and statutory reporting across multiple jurisdictions
  • Working knowledge of internal controls and close processes, with experience helping build, refine, and improve accounting practices in a growing organization
  • Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to operate effectively in a fastmoving, high growth setting
  • Experience with NetSuite, close management and reconciliation tools (e.g., FloQast), and contract management systems (e.g., Agiloft) preferred
  • Proficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, etc)


This is the pay for this position

Pay Transparency

$140,000-$160,000 USD

Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor. The total compensation package for this position may also include bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable variable compensation.

Summit does not accept referrals from employment businesses and/or employment agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site. All employment businesses/agencies are required to contact Summit's Talent Acquisition team at [redacted] to obtain prior written authorization before referring any candidates to Summit.

About Summit Therapeutics plc

Summit Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel medicines to treat rare diseases with high unmet medical need. The company's lead product candidate, Ridinilazole, is a precision antibiotic that has the potential to treat Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) with a superior clinical profile compared to existing CDI treatments. Summit Therapeutics is also developing a pipeline of additional product candidates targeting genetic diseases and other indications.
Learn more about Summit Therapeutics plc
Size
105 employees
Market Cap
$842.6 million
Industry
Founded
2003
5 Year Trend
+9910%
Revenue
$1 million
NASDAQ

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