Finance Manager (R&D)

Apollo Tyres Ltd is an international tyre manufacturer and the leading tyre brand in India. The company has multiple manufacturing units in India and a unit each in The Netherlands and Hungary. The company markets its products under its two global brands – Apollo and Vredestein, and its products are available in over 100 countries through a vast network of branded, exclusive and multi-product outlets.

Job Title: Finance Manager (R&D)
Location: Enschede
Reports to (Position): Head - Business Finance (Digital and R&D)
Department/Function: Finance Business Partnering

Purpose of the Job: You will be the key finance partner to R&D, driving financial planning, performance insight, and governance to support sound investment decisions, cost control, and delivery of innovation. The role ensures financial transparency and efficient operations while coordinating with procurement, tax, legal, and accounting to maintain compliance with statutory, intercompany, and grant requirements.

Major Responsibilities:

• Business Partnering: Support R&D leadership and project owners with financial analysis to steer R&D investment decisions, project prioritization, and resource allocation, and to support related action planning and management decision-making.

• Financial Planning, Budgeting & Cost Control: Responsibility to support financial planning activities including annual budgeting, periodic forecasting, consolidation of inputs from R&D teams, variance analysis, and ongoing monitoring of actual spend versus budgets to support effective cost control and performance management.

• Management Reporting & Business Reviews: Responsibility for preparation of monthly R&D financial performance reports and dashboards for key stakeholders, and participation in R&D and management review meetings to explain financial results, trends, and forward-looking outlook.

• Project Review & Governance: Financial evaluation of R&D projects and business cases, and participation in project review and governance forums in collaboration with R&D, procurement, and legal to support investment approvals and ongoing project monitoring.

• Legal, Tax & R&D Incentives Support: Support compliance activities related to Dutch VAT and Corporate Income Tax for R&D by providing financial data and business insights. Coordinate and support R&D incentive and grant programs (WBSO, RDA, EFRO, and others), including eligibility assessments, documentation, and audit support, in collaboration with Tax and Legal teams.

• Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Process Ownership: Own and coordinate the end-to-end procure-to-pay process for R&D activities, ensuring alignment between R&D, procurement, and finance, accuracy of spend tracking, and adherence to internal procurement and finance policies.

• Intercompany Cost Allocation & Cross-Charging: Define and oversee allocation logic and cross-charging of R&D costs between group legal entities, ensuring transparency, consistency, and alignment with intercompany and transfer pricing principles.

• Accounting, Close & Statutory Reporting: Managing R&D-related period-end close and quarterly/year-end reporting to ensure accurate R&D cost recognition and compliance with IFRS and Dutch GAAP; review results, explain variances, and provide business context.

• Non Raw-Material Procurement:
  Oversee procurement of non-raw-material goods and services for R&D operations (e.g., lab supplies, equipment, software, and professional services), ensuring alignment with budgets, compliance with procurement policies, appropriate approvals, and accurate financial tracking in collaboration with R&D, procurement, and finance teams.

Requirements:

• Master’s degree in finance related major. An additional qualification on business controlling or Data management will be preferred.
• 8-10 years relevant work experience of which 4-5 year in a similar role
• Financial analysis capabilities & Good business acumen
• Working knowledge of SAP system & Business Intelligence (BI) tools e.g. Power BI or similar
• Good understanding of data analysis capabilities
• International mind-set and ability to work with people for different cultural background
• Team player - being able to work with multiple colleagues from many departments
• Communication & advisory skills - ability to precisely summarize on key topics
• Fluent in English. Knowledge of Dutch is an advantage

Why join us?

• A dynamic and innovative environment
• Colleagues from all over the world
• At least 28 holiday a year
  
• A competitive compensation packages
  
• Participation in learning & development activities
• Hybrid work policy and support for home office set up

We take pride in our commitment to being an equal opportunity employer, creating a workplace where diversity is celebrated, and talent thrives. It’s our belief that every individual brings unique perspectives that contribute to our success. Join us and be a part of an inclusive, dynamic, and in-novative environment.

Make a significant impact as we 'move' the world forward together.