Product Owner - Financial Reporting, Planning & SAP Solutions

Are you looking for a new opportunity to advance your career in Higher Education? Are you passionate about leading innovative projects and improving finance systems? We have an exciting opening for a Permanent Product Owner to join our client, a leading Milton Keynes-based Education Institute.


Role Title: Product Owner – Finance Reporting, Planning & SAP Solutions
Employer: The Open University
Job Location: Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid
Salary: £57,696 to £64,914
Weekly Working Hours: 37
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 21 October 2024

About the Role

On behalf of The Open University, Pertemps are seeking a Product Owner to join The OU's Financial Accounting and Systems Support team (FAS), within the Finance and Business Services (FBS) division, in building innovative products that users don’t just use but love. This is a new leadership role that has been created as part of a substantial investment to enlarge the team and skills available to the division and is an exciting opportunity to shape and develop the future of FBS.

You will lead and manage the team responsible for finance-related systems within FAS, with the oversight of the Head of FAS, working closely with technology and business teams to deliver highly available Finance Reporting technology solutions. You will work with other SAP solution owners to assess and prioritise development, building a network with an aim to create efficiencies through improved system deployment. You will utilise agile scrum methodology, develop user stories and acceptance criteria, refine & lead the product backlog delivery, and advocate for end-user and business needs. Act as a change agent and foster a test-and-learn approach.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, however, as this role is contractually aligned to Milton Keynes, it is expected that some attendance will be required when necessary. We’d expect this to be at least once a week (Tuesday) and in response to business needs.

Key Responsibilities

• This is a leadership role and will blend both deep domain and technical expertise with a great passion for coaching and developing people in a player-coach model.
• Leading and managing a team responsible for finance related systems with a focus on continual improvement and growth.
• Acts as ‘lead commissioner’ of Finance Reporting activity.
• Prioritise and drive the system changes/ innovation required through an Iterative and continuous improvement approach.
• Works in partnership with colleagues to build internal capacity and capability to manage and improve SAP Finance as a source of accurate and relevant workforce data in the medium and long-term.
• Ensure the problem statements are clearly understood by the leadership team and all relevant colleagues.
• Lead the design of standardised reporting templates, dashboards and processes that improve the level of reporting capability and support the delivery of reporting development projects.
• Lead the coordination of UAT and training including upgrade activity to ensure the final product delivery meets end-user requirements and complies with your design guidance.
• Acts as an ambassador and champion for the proposed benefits across FBS and Ensures the case for change (change readiness and change impact) is widely understood throughout the unit and the unit has the capacity and capability to deliver the benefits.
• Acts as the initial point of escalation within the unit to ensure integration of priorities.
• Works in partnership with colleagues to mediate and resolve conflicting views and priorities.
• A commercially astute SAP advocate, comfortable working with stakeholders to translate their reporting requirements into best-in-class reporting design.
• Be able to shape tooling, architecture and infrastructure decisions related to Data and Analytics on the Cloud, working closely with Digital Services.

Skills and Experience
An experienced leader who:

• Builds and maintains strong relationships and teams.
• Has an innovative approach and sets priorities within fixed resources to translate a vision into reality.
• Is comfortable working in ambiguous contexts and can provide direction despite the uncertainty.
• Balances curiosity around how the whole organisation currently works, respect for what makes it successful today, and a restlessness to help it change to be fit for the future.
• A hands-on' approach and able to lead from the front, setting an example of behaviours and practices for the team members while carrying out development and test activities.

Essential
Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.

Proven experience in a Product Owner capacity, demonstrated by:

• Good Technical and Functional knowledge of SAP S4/HANA, SAP BW (Business Warehouse), SAP BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation), SAC (SAP Analytics Cloud).
• Engaging and influencing diverse stakeholders with differing perspectives.
• Expertise and experience of designing/ delivering end-to-end Reporting solutions.
• Good Technical and Functional understanding of planning models in SAP BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation) and SAC (SAP Analytics Cloud).
• Expertise and experience of migrating planning models from BPC to SAC planning
• Proactively identifies required action and possible barriers to progress, in advance.
• Thinks ahead, prioritises, aligns necessary resources and plans as necessary.
• Takes ownership for supporting delivery against commitments, despite challenges, difficulties, and workload.

Desirable

• Has worked in an HE or Public sector environment and understands how the strategic imperatives differ from a purely commercial context.
• Good Technical and Functional understanding of PowerBI modelling and reporting.

Essential Requirements

As part of the application process, you will be expected to submit your CV and a separate Supporting Statement of no more than 1200 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential/desirable criteria listed above.

About us and our client

As a flexible employee of Pertemps Recruitment Partnership Ltd, you will be joining a Company that holds the distinction of being one of the largest and most successful independent recruitment agencies in the country. Our pioneering spirit and ability to tap into the uniqueness of everyone's talents has enabled us to open doors for our employees, our clients, and our applicants too. Our philosophies and rewards are built very much on mutual trust and respect within the style of a partnership in which we hope you will feel both fulfilled and valued as a person.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential.  We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.  We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.