Finance Transformation Manager (Versant Media)

Company Description

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass.

Job Description

Versant is seeking a Manager, Finance Transformation to be a core member of the controllership and finance workstreams for the Company’s finance transformation agenda. Reporting to Senior Director, Finance Transformation, this role will serve as a business partner to Finance and Technology and will play a central role in the design, implementation, and adoption of next-generation finance processes, data, controls, and systems, including the Company’s ERP modernization program.

The Finance Transformation team will help translate business and reporting requirements into scalable, fit-to-standard solutions; establish governance and execution discipline across the finance transformation portfolio; and help ensure that the future-state operating model supports accurate financial reporting, strong internal controls, efficient close processes, and sustainable growth as a newly independent public company.

The Manager will work closely with the Senior Director serving as a critical bridge between finance, technology, business units, and external partners, ensuring that finance requirements and strategic priorities are effectively translated into scalable processes, systems, data, and ways of working.

The ideal candidate combines finance process and controllership experience, including ERP transformation, strong program management skills, and the ability to operate and work with others in a dynamic media environment.

Finance Transformation Strategy & Program

• Core member of team leading the finance transformation roadmap and associated workstreams, aligning priorities, sequencing, operating-model decisions, and delivery plans with the Company’s strategic, financial reporting, and control objectives.
• Finance liaison to the ERP core team, O&T, system integrator, BU finance teams, and other transformation partners from design through deployment and stabilization.
• Facilitate stakeholder alignment around core design principles, fit-to-standard decisions, and the future-state finance operating model; identify and resolve cross-functional dependencies and escalations.
• Drive digital enablement, automation, AI, and continuous improvement across Finance, ensuring investments deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, controls, scalability, and business value.
• Support transformation-driven savings and efficiency targets aligned to the Company’s financial commitments.

Finance Process, Data & Systems Design

• Translate finance, accounting, reporting, and control requirements into fit-to-standard ERP process, master data, and reporting designs across Record to Report, Procure to Pay, Order to Cash, and related finance processes.
• Participate in design workshops covering business process analysis, process reengineering, chart of accounts and code block design, organizational structures, master data, and workflows.
• Help identify opportunities to simplify and standardize and ensure business critical requirements are incorporated into the future state technology enabled processes with optimized organizational structures leveraging centralized onshore and offshore delivery centers.
• Guide data conversion, validation, reconciliation, and readiness activities across legacy and future-state environments, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and integrity of master / transactional data
• Support integration architecture decisions between the ERP and boundary systems (e.g., billing, revenue management, etc.), ensuring requirements are met across the technology landscape.
• Ensure future-state solutions accommodate Versant’s complex, multi-stream revenue models spanning advertising, subscriptions, content licensing, and ancillary revenue.

Controls, Reporting & Close Enablement

• Embed financial reporting, SOX, and internal-control requirements into process and system designs, in partnership with Corporate Controllership, Technical Accounting, Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance, and external auditors.
• Ensure future-state solutions support timely, accurate, and efficient close, account reconciliations, journal entry governance, consolidation, management reporting, and external reporting processes.
• Design sustainable documentation, test plans, control evidence, and operating procedures that enable audit readiness and effective ownership following implementation.

Delivery, Adoption & Continuous Improvement

• Act as a change agent for finance by helping teams understand the rationale for new processes and controls, adopt standard ways of working, and build long-term capability.
• Help define and monitor transformation KPIs, adoption measures, and business outcomes to ensure initiatives achieve intended objectives and enable sustained improvement.
• Support the relationship and service integration with third-party partners, ensuring alignment between operations and the future-state operating model during and after the ERP transition.
• Key Finance counterpart to the system integrator throughout the implementation lifecycle, managing scope, deliverables, and quality expectations on behalf of finance leadership.
• Partner with the Finance teams and enterprise AI governance to identify, prioritize, and adopt AI and agentic solutions within Finance processes, supporting the AI enablement roadmap.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications [A1]

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Business, or a related field.
• CPA, MBA, or comparable advanced finance, accounting, or technology credential preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in finance transformation, controllership, finance systems, accounting operations, or related roles, including significant leadership responsibility within a large, complex organization.
• Significant experience leading enterprise ERP or finance-system transformation programs, preferably including SAP S/4HANA or another modern cloud ERP platform.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end finance processes, including Record to Report, Procure to Pay, Order to Cash and master data governance.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. GAAP, public-company reporting, internal controls, and SOX requirements, with the ability to translate those requirements into scalable process and system designs.
• Demonstrated experience with business-process redesign, data conversion and reconciliation, testing, cutover, organizational change management, and post-go-live stabilization.
• Experience working effectively with technology organizations, system integrators, and third-party implementation partners in a matrixed environment.
• Experience in media, entertainment, digital, advertising, networks, streaming, technology, or another complex, high-volume industry preferred.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders, lead and develop teams, manage competing priorities, and drive execution in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep analytical, organizational, communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience managing BPO/managed services relationships and integrating outsourced operations into a transformed finance operating model.
• Experience applying AI, automation, analytics, or emerging technologies within Finance.

Leadership Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strategic, enterprise-minded leadership paired with strong execution discipline
• Deep understanding of finance and data processes, balanced with practical ERP and transformation delivery experience.
• Ability to build alignment across finance, technology, business units, and external partners while navigating ambiguity and competing priorities.
• A continuous improvement orientation with a passion for simplification, standardization, automation, and scalable operating models.
• High integrity, sound judgment, and commitment to financial stewardship, strong governance, and sustainable change.
• A collaborative leadership style focused on developing talent, building accountable teams, and fostering an inclusive, performance-driven culture.

Additional Information:

Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week. Subject to change based on business need. This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks.

Salary Information: $100,000 - $125,000 (bonus eligible)

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected].

VERSANT Media is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc.

VERSANT Media is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at VERSANT via-email, the Internet, or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from VERSANT's Talent Acquisition team will be deemed the sole property of VERSANT. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by VERSANT as a result of the referral or through other means.