SAP FICO Functional Lead

Penguin Random House UK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 150,000

Job description

Are you an experienced SAP FICO professional looking for a new challenge?

We are currently seeking a SAP FICO Functional Lead to join our SAP Centre of Excellence, taking on a key role in leading all activities related to process mapping, designing, configuration, and requirements gathering for our Finance and Controlling business processes.

You will be responsible for providing configuration and development to a wide user community of the SAP FI/CO application across multiple sites, including ABAP development. Working closely with our SAP Functional Finance Manager, you will play a crucial role in the ongoing maintenance and enhancements for our Finance processes, while promoting and adhering to good practice.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

1. Leading the implementation and stabilization of SAP FI/CO solutions, as well as proposing and specifying configuration and technical solutions to meet business needs.
2. Facilitating and leading workshops to design and agree upon new SAP FI/CO solutions, while also translating business requirements into detailed SAP solution specifications.
3. Managing a team of internal and offshore SAP specialists.
4. Staying updated on new features and functionalities to enhance system performance and business outcomes and investigating business issues within SAP FI/CO as an advisor and super user.
5. Ensuring the availability and performance of SAP to agreed SLAs and focusing on continuous improvement of processes and end user experience in SAP FI/CO modules.
6. Supporting the delivery of training to SAP users across all UK sites and monitoring and reconciling inbound and outbound interfaces to SAP Finance.
7. Managing master data controls and maintaining application documentation within the SAP Centre of Excellence, as well as planning, installing, configuring, and testing SAP FI/CO application enhancements, upgrades, patches, and fixes.
8. Liaising with internal and external auditors as required, and proactively managing applications to improve monitoring and performance while reducing exceptions, faults, and failures.
9. Providing regression testing for development releases of other applications interfacing into SAP Finance and contributing to the delivery of business and team KPIs.
10. Identifying opportunities for process optimization and enhanced efficiency in project management and SAP implementation, and leading post-implementation reviews to gather insights and lessons learned for future projects.

What you will bring – essential criteria:

1. Solid comprehension of SAP finance processes and a robust knowledge of finance business procedures.
2. Extensive experience with ERP systems, particularly SAP FI/CO.
3. Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, with a deep understanding of Excel.
4. Proven hands-on experience in leading the design, development, and maintenance of SAP FI/CO solutions, with strong stakeholder management skills demonstrated through clear and efficient communication.

About Penguin:

We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

Our approach to hybrid working:

While our offices are places for you to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, having flexibility about where you work is just as important for doing your best work and for your wellbeing. So, we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to how we work across Penguin Random House UK.

For this role, there are regular meetings and activities that you will need to attend in person mainly at our offices in London or Colchester. Outside of these moments, you can choose to work remotely.

The exact balance of office to remote working can be discussed with your future manager during the recruitment process. What we can say now is that you won’t need to go into the office five days a week, unless of course you want to.

Application instructions:

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Sunday 16th February.

We anticipate a two-stage interview process which will include a virtual first-stage interview and in-person second stage interview. We are happy to discuss this further with you throughout the recruitment process. Please note that we anticipate interviews to take place in January 2025 after the festive period.