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Senior Commercial Finance Business Partner

Helsing· Finance
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Munichfull-timePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Senior Commercial Finance Business Partner responsible for strategic financial analysis and investment decisions across R&D, manufacturing, and procurement, including business cases, program-level metrics, and pricing strategies within a defense AI manufacturing context.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the financial appraisal of new initiatives, building and stress-testing complex business cases for major R&D programmes, software features, and physical hardware platforms
  • Model and continuously track key investment metrics, including IRR, NPV, Payback Period, and ROIC, to guide capital allocation across competing engineering projects
  • Evaluate capital expenditure proposals for manufacturing scale-up, including investments in automated production lines, testing facilities, and specialized tooling
  • Lead cross-functional financial evaluations to determine whether to build capabilities in-house or source them externally, presenting clear, data-driven recommendations to the leadership team
  • Partner with engineering teams to embed financial discipline from day one of the product lifecycle and track BOM cost evolution from early-stage R&D prototyping through to full-rate production
  • Collaborate with Procurement and Supply Chain teams to map global supplier networks, analyze material and logistical cost drivers, support supplier negotiations with cost-insight data, and run lean cost-improvement workshops
  • Work closely with the supply chain and treasury teams to manage inventory levels, mitigate obsolescence risk, and optimize working capital profiles for long-lead-time components
  • Support Commercial and Business Development teams on major defense bids and build pricing and margin models reflecting defense contract structures
  • Own the financial tracking of major programs, monitor performance against baselines, identify margin leakage or overruns, and co-develop corrective action plans
  • Develop, track, and present commercial KPI dashboards (Gross Margin, Contribution Margin, Cost-to-Serve, Cost-Variance-at-Completion) to programme leadership and senior finance executives

Qualifications

  • Post-qualification experience with a recognized professional finance qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA, or equivalent)
  • Advanced Excel and financial modeling capabilities (DCF, IRR, NPV, complex scenario-analysis)
  • Proven track record in a commercial finance or business partnering role within high-tech manufacturing, aerospace, defense, deep tech, automotive, or capital-intensive engineering
  • Experience building, presenting, and defending robust business cases to senior executives
  • Familiarity with European defense procurement processes (e.g., German Bundeswehr, UK MoD) and government cost-plus contract auditing requirements
  • Ability to translate complex financial concepts into actionable insights for non-finance stakeholders (engineers, software developers, procurement)
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in German & English

Skills

Required:Financial modelingStrategic finance partneringCost accounting & BOM tracking
Nice to have:Defense procurement knowledge

Benefits

  • Competitive salary
  • VSOP options
  • Relocation support: up to €2,500 and 4 weeks temporary accommodation
  • Learning: €500/£450 yearly allowance
  • Health & wellness: gym membership and mental health support (Nilo.health)
  • Social: regular company events and monthly social allowances
  • Enhanced parental leave: 22 weeks fully paid for primary caregivers & 6 weeks for secondary caregivers
  • Family support: 5 days paid family emergency leave, 100% remote work option during pregnancy and phased return to work
Last updated Sep 1, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Helsing

Helsing | Artificial intelligence to protect our democracies

AI for electronic warfareAI-enabled precision mass and autonomous systemsAutonomous air dominanceMass defence manufacturingRecce strike softwareUnderwater autonomous massliquid-ai-recruiting-target
Company profileWebsite

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