Job Description

For 75 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we’ll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.

Job Summary

The Director of Technical Accounting will lead a high impact team and serve as the Company’s subject matter expert on technical accounting matters and the adoption of new accounting standards. This role is responsible for interpreting and implementing US GAAP, providing guidance on complex and judgmental transactions, supporting financial reporting and disclosure requirements, and partnering with key stakeholders across the organization. The Director will play a critical role in ensuring accounting conclusions are technically sound, consistently applied, and well documented, while serving as a key liaison with external auditors.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serve as the Company’s technical accounting subject matter expert, providing guidance on complex and judgmental accounting matters. 
• Lead technical accounting research and prepare well supported technical memoranda, position papers, and recommendations for significant transactions and accounting conclusions. 
• Monitor and assess the impact of new and emerging accounting standards (ASUs) and lead implementation efforts across the organization.
• Partner effectively with stakeholders across Finance, Corporate Development, Legal, Tax, Treasury, and Internal Controls to evaluate accounting impacts and ensure alignment. 
• Provide technical guidance across all areas of U.S. GAAP and SEC regulations including, but not limited to, business combinations, consolidations, noncontrolling interests, leases, financial instruments, investments, equity and share based compensation, revenue recognition, impairments, restructurings, and other non routine transactions. 
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on the accounting implications of strategic initiatives, business changes, and growth opportunities. 
• Partner closely with the SEC Reporting team to support accurate, complete, and transparent disclosures in Forms 10 K, 10 Q, 8 K, earnings releases, and other external filings. 
• Serve as key accounting liaison with external auditors, proactively resolving issues and minimizing audit risk. 
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of technical accounting professionals, setting goals and objectives, priorities, reviewing work, and providing coaching and feedback. 
• Support finance transformation initiatives, system implementations, and business process changes.

Job Qualifications

• Education : Bachelor’s degree (B.A. /B.S.) in Accounting required. Master’s degree preferred. 
• Experience : 10+ years of progressive technical accounting/SEC experience with at least 3-5 years of public accounting experience (Big 4 or large national firm), preferably supporting SEC-registered clients. Experience with international accounting and global financial reporting in a public company environment required.
• Certification/Licensure : CPA required
• Must-Have Qualifications:
  • Demonstrated ability to manage complex priorities and deadlines in a public company reporting environment
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present complex technical accounting matters to senior and executive leadership and external auditors
  • Strong problem‑solving and judgment skills in addressing complex or ambiguous accounting issues
  • Proven ability to operate independently, take ownership of critical accounting matters, and drive issues to resolution
  • Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to partner effectively across various business stakeholders
  • Extensive experience researching, interpreting, and applying US GAAP, including Accounting Standards Codification guidance
  • In‑depth knowledge of SEC regulations and public company filing requirements (Forms 10‑K, 10‑Q, and 8‑K)

Compensation Data

The pay range for this position is $185K - $205K USD annually. Please note that salaries vary within the range based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, education, certifications, and location.

About Corporate Functions 
The Corporate Functions provide operational support across Charles River in areas such as Human Resources, Finance, IT, Legal, Sales, Quality Assurance, Marketing, and Corporate Development. They partner with their colleagues across the company to develop and drive strategies and to set global standards. The functions are essential to providing a bridge between strategic vision and operational readiness, to ensure ongoing functional innovation and capability improvement.

About Charles River
Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients’ clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.

With over 20,000 employees within 110 facilities in over 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client’s unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world. 

At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly worked on 80% of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past five years.

We’re committed to providing benefits that elevate your quality of life. Based on your position these may include: bonus/incentives based on performance, 401K, paid time off, stock purchase program, Health and wellness coverage, employee and family wellbeing support programs, and work life balance flexibility.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Charles River is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, family status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

It is unlawful in some states (including Massachusetts) to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

If you are interested in applying to Charles River Laboratories and need special assistance or an accommodation due to a disability to complete any forms or to otherwise participate in the resume submission process, please contact a member of our Human Resources team by sending an e-mail message to [email protected]. This contact is for accommodation requests for individuals with disabilities only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.

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