FICO Competency Lead Associate Director

Role Summary CA MANDATORY

The FICO Competency Lead will own Bristlecones SAP Finance competency, driving capability building, delivery excellence, solution thought leadership, and presales support across global S/4HANA programs. The role requires a seasoned SAP Finance leader, strong communication skills, and hands-on expertise across core FICO, Group Reporting, Central Finance, and integration with logistics & planning modules.

As a qualified CA, the leader must bring strong financial process depth and the ability to translate business requirements into scalable SAP S/4HANA Finance solutions.

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Key Responsibilities

1. Competency Leadership & Practice Building

• Build and scale a high-quality talent pool across FICO, Central Finance, Group Reporting, TRM, and related niche skill areas.
• Lead skilling, upskilling, and certification programs (S/4HANA Finance, CFIN, SAC Planning, Group Reporting).
• Establish best practices, reusable accelerators, templates, and solution frameworks.

2. Delivery Excellence

• Oversee solution quality for engagements across implementation, rollout, migration, and AMS programs.
• Support project teams with complex design decisions, architecture reviews, fit–gap validation, and solution assurance.
• Act as escalation point for critical project issues and ensure adherence to SAP Activate and Bristlecone methodologies.

3. Solution Architecture

• Drive end-to-end architecture for Finance solutions in S/4HANA (On-Prem, Private Cloud, RISE).
• Provide guidance on advanced capabilities:
• Universal Journal & Extensibility
• Parallel Ledgers & Multi-GAAP
• Profitability & Margin Analysis (PCA/CO-PA)
• Central Finance & AIF monitoring
• Group Reporting consolidation
• Product Costing, Actual Costing, ML
• Treasury & Risk Management
• Intercompany, Tax, Compliance & Controls
• Integrate Finance with SD, MM, PP, EWM, TM, IBP, and external systems.

4. Presales & Solution Consulting

• Support in presales cycles, solution walkthroughs, client workshops, RFP responses, and effort estimations.
• Present differentiated solutions leveraging BTP, AI/ML, automation, and connected planning (SAC).
• Support pre-sales teams with demos, POVs, and value engineering.

5. Thought Leadership

• Represent Bristlecone in customer forums, SAP events, and digital finance communities.
• Create viewpoints, whitepapers, and offerings on Digital Finance, CFIN, Group Reporting, and Finance Transformation.
• Track SAP roadmap, releases, AI automation opportunities, and industry trends.

6. People Leadership

• Mentor and develop senior consultants, solution architects, and module leads.
• Lead performance management, staffing decisions, and career pathing.
• Foster a strong culture of collaboration, delivery ownership, and customer-centricity.

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Required Skills & Experience

Must-Haves

• 15+ years overall experience with at least 10+ years in SAP FICO/S/4HANA Finance.
• Chartered Accountant (CA) – mandatory for finance process credibility.
• Hands-on design leadership in 3+ full-cycle S/4HANA implementations.
• Strong knowledge of integration with logistics modules and external systems.
• Experience in Central Finance
• Ability to guide complex design decisions and lead solution workshops.
• Excellent communication skills with senior client stakeholders (CFO, Controllers, Finance Directors).

Good-to-Have

• Exposure to SAP BTP, automation frameworks, RPA, and AI-driven Finance use cases.
• Experience with SAC Planning, Group Reporting, Treasury & Risk Management.
• Industry experience in manufacturing, Hi-Tech, CPG, Pharma, or diversified global enterprises.
• Knowledge of GRC, S/4HANA Public Cloud Finance, and IFRS/GAAP compliance setups.

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Success Measures

• Quality of Finance solution design across engagements.
• Talent development and competency maturity (certifications, niche skills).
• Presales win rate and solution differentiation.
• Customer satisfaction and referenceability.
• Delivery success across programs (design stability, defect density, audit/controls).Role & responsibilities