Manager, Finance Systems

Overview

The Manager, Finance Systems is a hands-on finance systems leader responsible for enabling and sustaining East Penn's finance operating model through SAP and ERP transformation. This standalone (individual contributor) role serves as Finance's digital guardian and designated Business Process Owner for Finance within the following end-to-end SAP workstreams: Asset Management - Acquire to Dispose; Financial Management - Costing and Record to Report . The role owns business-process outcomes, decision rights, requirements, controls, acceptance criteria, and continuous improvement from implementation through go-live, hyper care, and steady-state operations. It also owns finance master data structure and change control (e.g., profit centers, cost centers, company codes, hierarchies) and ensures system configuration, reporting, integrations, and controls aligning with business requirements and GAAP.

Responsibilities

SAP Business Process Ownership and Transformation (Finance). Serve as Finance's designated Business Process Owner for Asset Management - Acquire to Dispose; Financial Management - Costing and Record to Report; with accountability spanning process discovery and design, implementation, go-live, hypercare, transition to steady state, and ongoing optimization.

• Own the end-to-end business-process vision, scope, policies, controls, KPIs, decision rights, and target outcomes for the assigned Finance workstreams.
• Lead Finance participation in fit-to-standard workshops; approve future-state processes, business requirements, process deviations, key design decisions, and Finance acceptance criteria, escalating material tradeoffs when appropriate.
• Coordinate Finance subject matter experts and partner with SAP Business Analysts, IT, and implementation teams to translate approved requirements into integrated system design, configuration, data, security, controls, interfaces, and reporting outcomes.
• Own Finance readiness and business acceptance, including process documentation, test-scenario coverage, UAT participation and signoff, data validation and reconciliation, role readiness, training, cutover criteria, and go-live approval recommendations.
• Lead hypercare for the assigned workstreams by governing issue intake, severity and prioritization, business workarounds, defect resolution, release decisions, outcome validation, and stakeholder communications.
• Approve transition from hypercare to steady-state support based on defined exit criteria, including process stability, reconciled data, operating controls, completed documentation, trained users, acceptable service levels, and clear support ownership.
• After hypercare, remain accountable for process performance and governance through KPI reviews, control monitoring, enhancement prioritization, release acceptance, policy and procedure updates, adoption reinforcement, and continuous improvement.
Workstream-Specific Accountability. Provide integrated ownership across the Finance components of each assigned workstream:
• Asset Management - Acquire to Dispose: Own Finance requirements and controls across asset planning and acquisition, asset-under-construction and capitalization, asset master data and equipment linkage, depreciation, transfers, physical verification, impairment, retirement and disposal, reconciliation, and asset reporting.
• Financial Management - Costing and Record to Report: Own Finance process outcomes across the chart of accounts and organizational dimensions, product and inventory costing, allocations, journal processing, subledger-to-ledger integration, reconciliations, period-end close, consolidation interfaces, management and statutory reporting, and related controls.
• Budgeting - Forecast to Budget: Own the integrated planning process and system requirements for assumptions, driver-based forecasts, annual budgets, workflow and approvals, version and scenario control, actual-to-plan integration, reporting, and coordination with FP&A and business owners.

Finance Data Model, Master Data & Governance (Digital Guardian). Own finance master data design and governance in partnership with Finance leadership and IT (e.g., cost centers, profit centers, company codes, plants/locations, GL-related mappings and hierarchies as applicable).

• Establish and run change control for finance data and configuration: intake, impact assessment, approvals, segregation of duties, testing, and documentation.
• Maintain data standards, naming conventions, and definitions, drive data quality monitoring and remediation with process owners and shared services.
• Ensure finance reporting structures support close, management reporting, allocations, and analytics-minimizing manual workarounds.
• Support future-state design across Procure-to-Pay, Quote-to-Cash, and Record-to-Report, ensuring finance requirements, controls, and data needs are integrated end-to-end.
• Partner with Shared Services and Accounting to define handoffs, roles, and exception routines that enable scalable, standardized execution.
• Drive resolution of cross-process issues (e.g., master data dependencies, posting logic, workflow approvals, integration breaks) that impact cycle time, close, or service levels.
• Ensure process designs avoid fragmented local solutions and support a single, governed finance operating model.
• Define and govern finance data definitions and reporting logic (e.g., management P&L by division/location, cost center/profit center rollups) to ensure consistency and trust in outputs.
• Partner with FP&A and Accounting to improve standard reporting packs, close/operational dashboards, and self-service reporting where appropriate.
• Support integration of upstream/downstream data flows and interfaces that feed finance reporting; monitor and help resolve data breaks quickly.
• Ensure system/process designs maintain or strengthen internal controls (approvals, audit trails, segregation of duties) and align with Finance policy and compliance needs.
• Maintain documentation required for audit walkthroughs related to system configuration, master data governance, and finance process execution.
• Support Internal/External Audit and control owners by coordinating evidence, explaining design choices, and helping remediate system/process control gaps.

Change Management, Training & Standard Work. Develop and maintain finance-facing training materials, job aids, and standard operating procedures for SAP/ERP-enabled processes.

• Plan and support change impacts: role clarity, work instructions, controls embedded in the workflow, and reinforcement routines.
• Drive adoption by partnering with leaders and end users, incorporating feedback, and ensuring changes "stick" after go-live.
• Assist with the preparation and distribution of data to support the monthly consolidation process

Stakeholder Partnership & Operating Rhythm (No Direct Reports). Operate as an individual contributor with strong influence-aligning priorities, driving decisions, and coordinating work across Finance, Shared Services, IT, and implementation partners.

• Establish and facilitate governance routines for finance system changes (intake, prioritization, release planning, issue escalation, and communications).
• Provide clear status reporting to Finance leadership, including risks, tradeoffs, timeline impacts, and recommendations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive experience across finance/accounting and/or finance systems, with demonstrated ownership of cross-functional initiatives.
• Bachelor's degree in finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Business, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience leading or serving as a Finance Business Process Owner in an ERP implementation or major finance transformation (SAP preferred), including fit-to-standard design, requirements and decision governance, testing/UAT and acceptance, cutover readiness, hypercare, and post-go-live process ownership.
• Strong understanding of finance data structures and governance (e.g., profit centers, cost centers, hierarchies, master data standards) and how they drive reporting and controls.
• Ability to lead change as an individual contributor: influence stakeholders, drive decisions, manage dependencies, and communicate clearly.
• Hands-on, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating in a dynamic environment with high accountability and frequent change.

• SAP experience (S/4HANA preferred) supporting finance workstreams, including master data, organizational structure, reporting, and controls.
• Experience with end-to-end finance process design and ownership across asset accounting/acquire-to-dispose, manufacturing costing and record-to-report, and enterprise budgeting and forecasting; experience in a complex manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
• Experience with data integrations and interfaces that impact finance (e.g., bank/payment files, billing/order systems, procurement tools), including monitoring and issue resolution.
• Experience building governance: change control, release planning, documentation standards, and training/enablement for finance systems.

Education/Certification

• Bachelor's degree in finance, Accounting, Business, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• ERP/SAP training or certification is a plus (e.g., SAP Finance, SAP Master Data, or related coursework)

Skills & Competencies

Required:

• Finance systems fluency and data mindset understands how finance data structures (profit/cost centers, hierarchies, master data) drive posting, reporting, and controls
• Strong controls mindset: designs and supports changes with appropriate approvals, audit trails, segregation of duties, and exception handling
• Business Process Owner mindset: establishes end-to-end accountability, makes or facilitates timely process decisions, defines acceptance criteria, resolves cross-functional tradeoffs, and remains accountable for outcomes after implementation
• Structured problem solver with strong triage skills (issue intake, root cause, prioritization, resolution validation)
• Strong project execution: requirements, dependency management, testing/UAT coordination, cutover readiness, and post-go-live stabilization
• Clear communicator and influencer who can align stakeholders, drive decisions, and build adoption across functions
• Ownership and discipline runs governance, documentation, and change control so changes are safe, repeatable, and audit-ready

Culture & Fit
East Penn values integrity, accountability, teamwork, and long term thinking. The ideal candidate will be a hands on systems and process leader who takes ownership, works collaboratively across Finance and IT, and brings disciplined governance to data and system changes-helping strengthen and scale the finance function for the long term.