Finance Portfolio Leader, Enterprise Application Services

Description

About Alvarez & Marsal

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is a global consulting firm with entrepreneurial, action- and results-oriented professionals. We take a hands-on approach to solving our clients' problems and helping them reach their potential. A&M is different by design: we give people ownership and impact from day one, fuel development through real opportunity, and provide direct access to leaders who invest in our growth. Our culture celebrates independent thinkers and doers who positively impact clients and shape our industry. Guided by A&M's core values of Integrity, Quality, Objectivity, Fun, Personal Reward, and Inclusive Diversity, our collaborative, globally minded environment is why our people love working at A&M.

The Team

Enterprise Application Services (EAS) is the foundation for A&M's AI-first future, accelerating cash collection, scaling growth, elevating user experience, and protecting the firm with referenceable digital services. EAS includes Financial Tech, People Tech, Marketing Tech, Legal Tech, Risk & Compliance Tech, and more. We are a global organization with a presence in the US, the UK, and India.

How you will contribute

The Finance Portfolio Leader is accountable for the strategy, delivery, and run of A&M's finance technology portfolio, anchored by SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. As the senior technology counterpart to the CFO, Controller, and Finance leadership, this role ensures Finance runs on reliable, well-integrated, scalable platforms.

The Finance Portfolio Leader will lead a process-aligned organization in which Product Owners are paired with Finance Process Owners across Pursuit-to-Contract, Contract-to-Cash, Source-to-Pay, Record-to-Report, and Plan-to-Analyze, and Technical Owners own build and run. This leader will take the portfolio from program-led implementation to a stable, owned run organization that can be referenced externally as a model for clients. The ideal candidate combines SAP and finance process expertise with vendor governance discipline, the ability to lead teams across time zones, and executive presence with senior finance leaders.

Key Value Delivery Areas

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and own the Finance Technology strategy and roadmap with Finance leadership, aligned with EAS and firm priorities.
• Lead and develop the Finance Technology team: Product Owners in the US and UK and Technical Owners and delivery teams in India (employees and contractors).
• Partner with Finance Process Owners to turn business priorities into a managed backlog, business cases, and release plan. Establish and chair periodic priority-setting sessions with Finance leadership.
• Set and enforce architecture standards (clean core and configure-not-customize by default), governing any extensions through defined design authority.
• Represent Finance Technology in EAS leadership and with peer pillars (CIO, CSO, Chief AI Officer) and the CPMO.
• Build and measure an AI-assisted delivery model across in-house and partner work.

Platform and Integration Management

• Own the Finance application portfolio, including:
• Core Finance (SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud): general ledger, intercompany, consolidation, banking and payments, reconciliations
• Statutory and localization, including e-invoicing mandates across 30+ jurisdictions
• Expense and time platforms (Concur, Replicon)
• Procurement platform (Ariba), as scope is confirmed
• Planning and reporting (SAP Analytics Cloud) and Translation Engine
• Additional platforms as required
• Own integration design between Finance platforms and enterprise systems, including Workday, Salesforce, the enterprise data warehouse, and firm billing and time systems.
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architecture and IT on hosting, integration platform, identity, and end-user standards.
• Manage vendor relationships and contracts, including SAP and SaaS providers, and hold vendors to service levels and cost targets.
• Own platform cost and TCO, including licensing, partner fees, and contractor spend.

Partner and Managed Service Governance

• Govern the managed service provider (L2) relationship: scope boundaries, SLAs, escalation paths, and performance management.
• Define and enforce the in-house versus partner sourcing split, keeping design authority, code review, and independent QA in-house (no partner self-certification).
• Manage the FTE and contractor mix, including contractor roll-off and conversion decisions at defined review points.
• Oversee SAP (L3) engagement under the cloud subscription, including release and patch cadence.

Governance, Data, and Operations

• Own platform reliability for close, payment runs, statutory filings, and quarterly SAP releases.
• Define and enforce release governance, access controls, and segregation of duties, in partnership with IT, Global Security, and Global Risk.
• Establish data standards and master data governance, working with business data owners in Finance, Legal & Compliance, and Growth.
• Implement a tiered support model (L1 IT service desk, L2 managed service, L3 SAP and in-house).
• Ensure audit readiness and compliance with data governance, security, and privacy standards (e.g., GDPR, SOC 2).
• Build resilience into a geographically concentrated team through documented runbooks, named backups for single-seat roles, and retention planning.

Change Management and Adoption

• Partner with Finance Process Owners to plan releases, training, communications, and user experience improvements.
• Work with the CPMO to align project and release governance across Finance programs.

Analytics and Insights

• Own SAP Analytics Cloud platform administration and partner with Finance's analytics and reporting teams, who own the reporting business logic.
• Collaborate with Finance and enterprise data teams on a consistent finance data model across ERP, Workday, Salesforce, and the data warehouse.
• Define requirements for reconciliation, self-service reporting, and dashboards that support close and planning.

Qualifications

• 12–15+ years of experience in finance technology or ERP leadership, including 5+ years leading multi-disciplinary teams (target: 15+ people, including offshore).
• Proven track record leading enterprise SAP S/4HANA implementation and run. Public Cloud (RISE) and clean core experience strongly preferred.
• Deep understanding of finance processes (record-to-report, contract-to-cash, source-to-pay, plan-to-analyze) in a multi-entity, multi-currency, multi-jurisdiction environment.
• Experience governing systems integrators and managed service providers, including SLA design, scope management, and commercial negotiation.
• Experience leading distributed teams across the US, UK, and India, with willingness to start early to overlap with UK and India teams.
• Ability to travel 10–20%, including internationally.
• Familiarity with integration platforms (iPaaS), SAP BTP, data warehouses, and reporting tools such as SAP Analytics Cloud.
• Hands-on experience applying AI-assisted tools to software delivery and measuring their impact.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills with CFO-level and MD-level audiences.
• Experience in professional services or a partnership environment preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Finance, Accounting, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• SAP, PMP, or CPA/CA certification highly desirable.

Your journey at A&M

At A&M, professional growth is tied directly to performance, not tenure. Our people take on meaningful, hands-on work supported by a performance development process that rewards contribution and fosters a culture of meritocracy. Stretch roles, evolving business needs, and firm growth create ongoing opportunities for ownership and building new skills, while direct access to senior leaders provides mentorship and real-time coaching along the way. We also prioritize your wellbeing through comprehensive benefits and resources. Together, these elements create an environment where high-performing professionals can continue to grow and advance from day one.

Regular employees working 30 or more hours per week are also entitled to participate in Alvarez & Marsal Holdings’ fringe benefits consisting of healthcare plans, flexible spending and savings accounts, life, AD&D, and disability coverages at rates determined periodically as well as a 401(k) retirement savings plan. Provided the eligibility requirements are met, employees will also receive an annual discretionary contribution to their 401(k) retirement savings plan from Alvarez & Marsal. Additionally, employees are eligible for paid time off including vacation, personal days, seventy-two (72) hours of sick time (prorated for part time employees), ten federal holidays, one floating holiday, and parental leave. The amount of vacation and personal days available varies based on tenure and role type. Click here for more information regarding A&M’s benefits programs.

Thesalaryrange is $220,000- $275,000annually, dependent on several variables including but not limited to education, experience, skills, and geography. In addition, A&M offers a discretionary bonus program which is based on a number of factors, including individual and firm performance. Please ask your recruiter for details.