Business Finance Program Manager, Robotics

Snapshot

This role is a hands-on, mid-level Finance Program Manager position embedded directly within the Google DeepMind Robotics team in Mountain View, California. Unlike a traditional corporate finance role, you will work "seat-to-seat" with researchers and engineers to translate technical R&D milestones into financial roadmaps and bottom-up annual plans. You will be responsible for the end-to-end financial health of the team, which includes selecting and evolving budget tooling, managing dynamic rolling forecasts for hardware and prototypes, performing complex "build vs. buy" scenario modeling, and tracking and reporting granular spend across Opex and Capex on a quarterly and yearly basis. Acting as the primary liaison to central finance, you will ensure the team moves with the speed of a scale-up while maintaining rigorous adherence to internal controls, audit readiness, and governance frameworks.

About Us

Artificial Intelligence could be one of humanity’s most useful inventions. At Google DeepMind, we’re a team of scientists, engineers, machine learning experts and more, working together to advance the state of the art in artificial intelligence. We use our technologies for widespread public benefit and scientific discovery, and collaborate with others on critical challenges, ensuring safety and ethics are the highest priority.

The Role

We are looking for a hands-on, independent Finance Program Manager to embed directly within our GDM Robotics team. Unlike traditional finance roles that sit within the central corporate function, you will sit "seat-to-seat" with our researchers, engineers, program and product managers, and operations leads.

This is a mid-level role for a builder. You will be the financial “go-to” for the Robotics team, translating research and engineering milestones into financial roadmaps. You will be responsible for building and maintaining the team’s Annual Plan, running rolling forecasts, and ensuring that while we move with the speed of a scale-up, we adhere to the robust controls frameworks of our central finance team. You will collaborate with counterparts in finance, including (but not limited) to selecting and evolving appropriate tools to meet the finance and budget needs of the robotics team.

Key responsibilities:

1. Strategic Planning & Forecasting

• Own the Annual Plan: Lead the creation of the bottom-up Annual Plan for the Robotics team, working directly with technical leads to resource projects accurately, and prioritize spend to fit within targets.
• Dynamic Re-forecasting: Manage monthly and quarterly rolling forecasts. Because this is R&D and Hardware, you will need to adjust forecasts rapidly as timelines shift and prototypes evolve.
• Scenario Modeling: Build financial models to support decision-making (e.g., "Build vs. Buy" decisions, R&D allocation, and resource capacity planning).

1. Operational Tracking & Reporting

• Budget vs. Actuals (BvA): Track spend granularly at the project and team level. Provide team leads with clear visibility on their remaining budget.
• Hardware/Capex Tracking: Specifically track hardware costs, prototype builds, and inventory. Distinguish clearly between Opex (Research) and Capex (Development/Assets) for accurate accounting.
• Performance Reporting: create monthly reports that tell the "story behind the numbers" for the Robotics leadership team.

1. Governance & Controls

• Risk & Compliance: Act as the main POC with the central finance team ensuring all financial activities comply with the control frameworks.
• Audit Readiness: Maintain rigorous documentation and approval trails (e.g. PO management, invoice reconciliation) to satisfy internal and external audit requirements.
• Tooling: Collaborate with finance and other relevant counterparts to identify, evolve, and deploy appropriate tooling to achieve the goals above.

About You

We are seeking an individual who is passionate about the intersection of finance and technology.

In order to set you up for success as at Google DeepMind, we look for the following skills and experience:

• Significant experience as a finance manager in fast paced tech, manufacturing or hardware industries, having successfully managed multi-million $ budgets. 
• Demonstrable, expert-level program and project management skills, with the ability to manage several complex projects concurrently and a flexible approach when working under pressure.
• A deep and demonstrable interest in AI, technology, and its societal and cultural impact.
• Excellent financial acumen with proven experience managing and reporting on complex budgets.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to lead and motivate multi-disciplinary teams and build excellent collaborations with a wide range of stakeholders.
• A proactive and solution-focused approach to problem-solving.
• Foster an AI-first culture by championing the strategic use of AI to enhance team and program productivity, demonstrating a collaborative mindset in leveraging technology to achieve shared goals.

In addition, the following would be an advantage: 

• Experience working in robotics.
• A degree or equivalent experience in finance or engineering.
• Experience working within a partnership-led delivery model.

Note: In the event your application is successful and an offer of employment is made to you, any offer of employment will be conditional on the results of a background check, performed by a third party acting on our behalf. For more information on how we handle your data, please see our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Policy

The US base salary range for this full-time position is between $158,000 - $235,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your targeted location during the hiring process.

At Google DeepMind, we value diversity of experience, knowledge, backgrounds and perspectives and harness these qualities to create extraordinary impact. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law. If you have a disability or additional need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us know.