SAP Financial Lead Consultant

Job Summary

This position is a direct report to the Applications Group Products Supervisor and has sound knowledge of business processes in Finance and Accounting (with an emphasis in Accounts Payable and Procurement), including related SAP technology enablement and support. This position is responsible for managing a suite of SAP products to meet business outcomes, spanning multiple technologies, including associated impact, cost and complexity. This role provides technical guidance and direction to the SAP application support teams (SAP ECC, Ariba, Concur) for activities required of the portfolio.
This includes responsibility for the SAP systems and ensuring proper operational support, and problem resolution input for the SAP applications. As the group technology owner this role will:
•    Design, develop and maintain SAP user management and architecture across multiple SAP environments in addition to providing solution recommendations.
•    Advocate for exploring and leveraging standard solutions first.
•    Ensure compliance with government and corporate security guidelines.
•    Develop, administer and execute preventive maintenance programs, oversee problem management, perform root cause analysis and corrective action plans, providing vendor management and oversight, and administer and report on vendor and client SLAs.
•    Leads the effort to select IT Vendors to execute projects and manages on-boarding and collaborative working relationship with selected Vendors.
•    Serves as domain specific subject matter expert for their assigned product line.
•    Keeps informed of technical and managerial advances in IT, including leading the introduction of best practice.

Job Responsibilities

This position looks to the future strategy and development of SAP products to coordinate with and prepare the business for potential upgrades and related considerations. May provide guidance and direction to one or support team members.

Responsibilities include but not limited to:
•    Serves as domain specific subject matter expert for the SAP suite of products.
•    Applies SAP technical and functional skills to resolve client issues and provide business solutions.
•    Responsible for vendor oversite and vendor solutions. For example, end to end accountability, including:
 
•    Ensures quality through the use of company-approved methodologies and ensures Quality Control and Assurance procedures are consistent with project specifications, client requirements and corporate policies o Manages collaborative working relationship with selected Vendors.
•    Ensures required change management activities take place as necessary.
•    Applies applicable concepts, practices, and procedures.
•    Manages product life-cycle based events and product regulatory requirements including:
•    Manages Upgrades, Patching, and Disaster Recovery (DR) Events for the SAP systems including updating of the DR plan, periodic testing and activation in the event of an emergency
•    Coordinates with any planned outages affecting SAP modules.
•    Monitors and executes other IT regulatory compliance controls and may work closely with internal and external auditors.
•    Excellent understanding of and ability to configure systems to meet the needs of the business.
•    Plans the delivery of the overall strategic plan(s) and activities in accordance with the product strategy; this includes new initiatives identification, budget estimates, and annual self-assessment and benchmarking plans.
•    Provides planning and strategy input to enable business processes to become more efficient and effective by maximizing value from business integration and usage of SAP and other application solutions.
•    Leads project work.
•    Must be available for callout 24 X 7
 

Job Specific Qualifications

Required:
•    Bachelor's degree 
•    A minimum of 6 years working with and supporting SAP Finance/Accounting applications with responsibility for security monitoring and oversite
•    Must Demonstrate leadership capabilities through projects or other work planning experiences
•    Must demonstrate a strong understanding of and experience in IT project management methodologies, requirements management, quality assurance and IT processes
•    Requires broad knowledge of the Finance/Accounting functions and applications, and of system and technology alternatives
•    Demonstrated experience managing outsourced vendors within the information technology field
•    Must demonstrate excellent knowledge of SAP Finance Products suite {ECC, CRM, BW, Ariba, PCM, GRC)
•    Must be an authority on the integration of Business Processes to SAP Master Data, integration between the various SAP modules and to subscribing systems
•    Must have the ability to gain knowledge of process dependencies and linkage across the business, especially in finance, quickly to effectively assess and support current needs and align to future growth strategies.
•    Must be proficient in IT analysis methodologies (i.e. process flow definition, data flow diagramming, etc.).
•    Must demonstrate strong consultative skills and the ability to work effectively with client and other systems technical staff, consultants, and vendors and all levels of staff.
•    Must have strong verbal and written communication skills.
•    Must have the ability to provide analytical conclusions and support recommended action/decisions with clarity, adjusting to meet the needs of the audience (technical v non-technical business partners /clients).

Desired:
•    Technical/software certification such as AWS certification, etc.
•    Relevant technical acumen or experience in computer programming , development or coding
•    Understanding of basic financial principles including experience with project financial budgeting and planning
•    Project Management Professional Certification {PMP)
•    SAP certification
•    Graduate degree or MBA
•    Experience with ITIL & CMMI
 

Minimum Years of Experience

Education

Certifications

Disclaimer

Certain positions at the Company may require you to have access to Part 810-Controlled Information.  Under the law, the Company is limited in who it can share this information with and in certain circumstances it is necessary to obtain specific authorization before the Company can share this information.  Accordingly, if the position does require access to this information, you must complete a 10 CFR Part 810 Export Control Compliance Nationality Request Form, a copy of which will be provided to you by Talent Acquisition if an offer is made.  If there is a need for specific authorization, due to the time it takes to obtain authorization from the government, we will likely not be able to further proceed with an offer.