Managing Director, Director - SAP FICO & CFO Advisory (Metro Detroit)

The role

You lead Finance and Controlling for our clients on two levels at once. You are the CFO’s advisor on how the finance function should run, and you are the SAP FICO authority who makes sure the system actually delivers it. Our clients are mid-market manufacturers moving to SAP S/4HANA and SAP Cloud ERP, and you sit with their CFO and Controller as a peer, not as a vendor resource.

The differentiator we are hiring for is judgment about the financial statements themselves. Plenty of consultants can configure a company code. We need someone who understands how an enterprise structure decision, a costing method, or a close process ultimately shows up on the balance sheet, in the audit, and in the CFO’s conversation with the board, and who can explain that trade-off in twenty seconds.

We are hiring at Managing Director or Director level. At either level you lead engagements and stand behind the design. At Managing Director level you also own client relationships, originate finance transformation work, and build out the practice.

What you’ll do

• Advise the CFO. Finance operating model, close and consolidation, controllership, management reporting, working capital, and audit readiness. You shape what the finance function needs to become, not just what the system needs to do.
• Build the finance transformation roadmap. Process, organization, controls, KPIs, and the SAP scope that supports them, sequenced so the CFO sees value early rather than only after go-live.
• Design the enterprise and reporting structure. Chart of accounts, company codes, controlling area, operating concern, ledger strategy (leading, parallel, extension), profit center and cost center hierarchies, segment reporting, and the group consolidation path. Get this right on day one, because nobody gets to redo it.
• Lead fit-to-standard workshops and hold the line. Quantify the lifetime cost of every proposed deviation and make the client own the decision to take it.
• Own the Universal Journal (ACDOCA) design. Document splitting, real-time integration, margin analysis, and the reconciliation model that replaces the client’s legacy spreadsheet chain.
• Architect product costing and margin analysis for discrete and process manufacturing: standard cost estimates, cost component structure, overhead allocation, WIP and settlement, variance analysis, and Material Ledger or actual costing where it earns its keep.
• Design the transactional finance core. AP, AR, Asset Accounting, banking and payments, intercompany, tax determination, and external tax engine integration.
• Accelerate the close. Design the period-end process, automate what can be automated, and deliver a measurable reduction in days-to-close that the CFO can report as a named program benefit.
• Protect the control environment. Internal controls, SOX readiness where it applies, segregation of duties, and an audit trail the client’s external auditors will sign off on through the transition.
• Own the finance data migration. Master data, open items, opening balances, cutover sequencing, and the reconciliation that proves the numbers tie out before go-live.
• Manage the integration points into MM, SD, and PP: inventory valuation, COGS recognition, revenue recognition, and the places where a supply chain decision quietly becomes an accounting one.
• Partner with our Value Architecture lead to make the finance number defensible. You supply the design assumptions behind the benefit model, and you are accountable for whether they hold.
• Grow the practice. Lead finance pursuits, shape proposals, and mentor the people who work alongside you. At Managing Director level, own client relationships and a revenue target for finance advisory work.

What you bring

• 10+ years of hands-on SAP FICO, including at least three full-lifecycle S/4HANA engagements, with at least one greenfield implementation and at least one ECC brownfield conversion. Managing Director candidates typically bring 15+ years and a record of originating and leading finance transformation work.
• CFO-level advisory experience. You have advised finance leaders on operating model, close, reporting, or controls, whether as a consultant or from inside a company as a Controller, CFO, or finance transformation lead.
• Deep configuration depth across GL, AP, AR, Asset Accounting, CO-PA (account-based), and CO-PC. You can still open SPRO yourself when it matters.
• Real accounting fluency. You can read a balance sheet, a P&L, and a cash flow statement and speak credibly about US GAAP. You understand how design choices influence reported results, working capital, and audit exposure.
• Manufacturing domain experience. You know what a cost roll means to a plant controller and why inventory accuracy is a finance problem before it is a warehouse problem.
• A clean core, fit-to-standard philosophy you actually believe in and can defend under pressure from a client who wants their legacy process preserved.
• Executive presence with CFOs, Controllers, audit committees, and private equity sponsors. Comfortable delivering an unwelcome answer clearly.
• Bachelor’s in Accounting or Finance. CPA, CMA, or MBA strongly preferred.
• SAP certification in S/4HANA Financial Accounting or Management Accounting.

Bonus points

• Time in a Controller or CFO seat.
• SAP Group Reporting or Central Finance experience.
• SAP Analytics Cloud planning, or S/4HANA embedded analytics.
• Vertex, Avalara, or OneSource integration, and SAP Document and Reporting Compliance.
• Experience in a PE-backed portfolio company or carve-out environment.
• Working familiarity with SAP Business AI Platform (BAIP, formerly BTP) and where finance extensions belong on the platform rather than in the core.

The details

• Level: Managing Director or Director, based on experience
• Location: Hybrid
• Employment: Full-time
• Experience: 10+ years SAP FICO
• Travel: About 30 to 40%

About Spotlight Partners

Spotlight Partners is a privately held SAP consulting firm that lives at the intersection of SAP Cloud ERP and AI transformation, helping clients accelerate toward streamlined operations and untapped potential.

We specialize in two things: creating investment-grade business cases that articulate exactly the expected return on an SAP engagement, and taking a proprietary approach to developing supplemental AI within and outside the SAP ecosystem. That approach is Beacon, our AI platform.

Spotlight Partners is a uniquely experienced and curated group of talent built to deliver balance across business operations and technology, without the red tape and bureaucracy of other consulting firms.

None of this works without the right people, and we’ve been deliberate about who’s in the room. Spotlight Partners asks a lot: sound judgment, real ownership, and a genuine commitment to clients over convenience. What you get in return is a team that makes you sharper. People who know the work, say what they think, and hold the line on quality even when it’s inconvenient. It’s demanding. It’s also where people do the best work of their careers.