Director - Interim States Finance Data & Analytics

Role Title: Director - Interim States Finance Data & Analytics 

Location: Chennai

We are one purpose-led global organisation. The enablers and innovators, ensuring that we can fulfil our mission to push the boundaries of science and discover and develop life-changing medicines. We take pride in working close to the cause, opening the locks to save lives, ultimately making a massive difference to the outside world.

AstraZeneca (AZ) is in a period of strong growth and our employees have a united purpose to make a difference to patients around the world who need both our medicines and the ongoing developments from our science.   In this journey AZ must continue to work across borders and with partners and new colleagues in a fast and seamless way.  The ambition, size and complexity of the organisation, coupled with the opportunities afforded by new technology, has led the Board to approve a large-scale transformation programme – Axial.

The Axial Programme will be powered by S/4HANA a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system which will be implemented right across the organisation and will provide our business with standardised processes, enhanced financial management, common data and real time reporting, transforming the way we work through our entire supply chain - from bench to patient.

The new system will be used by more than 20,000 employees daily, is foundational to all AZ entities and is central to most core business processes.  This is a once in a generation programme for AstraZeneca and will shape our ways of working globally for many years to come.

The Axial programme needs the best talent to work in it.  Whether it’s the technical skills, business understanding or change leadership, we want to ensure we have the strongest team deployed throughout.  We are aiming to deliver a world class change programme that leaves all employees with a fuller understanding of their role in the end-to-end nature of our global company.  This programme will provide AZ with a competitive edge, to the benefit of our employees, customers and patients.

During this transformation, we will need to ensure that parts of business and technology that have not onboarded onto Axial system continue to work to be able to supply medicines to patients. To this effect, this role for managing Analytics during the Interim States is acutely critical. This role needs utmost dedication, creative thinking, commitment, and passion to succeed.

This is not a pure SAP FI/CO functional role wherein you will be configuring or designing solutions for Axial end-state. It is, however, unique and challenging.

What you’ll do

• Responsible for ‘keeping the lights on’ for all the critical Finance global & local reporting solutions. Apply data, analytics, process, and object expertise to support interim state and S/4 design, acting as an integral part of the Data and Analytics design team, considering both business process and analytics requirements.

• Gain understanding and insights, very rapidly, of the complex financial landscape, financial data flows and data models that will get impacted during each deployment phase of the Axial program.

• Own relationship with various Axial Finance groups like Axial Finance Data, R2R Enterprise Process Owners & Leads, FI Analytics teams and Axial IT teams to understand the S/4 HANA Target State and likewise interact with the BAU GBS business and FDH IT groups for the As-IS estate.  Through this collaboration understand the impact of the new data definition and design on Finance Analytics in areas of Management reporting, Statutory reporting, Group reporting etc.

• Influence Enterprise Process Owners, Global Business Process Owners and the Finance business communities to transform from old ways of mindset into the Axial way and where and when appropriate move or use Axial analytics.

• Provide, as a Solution architect, direction and guidance in designing, building, and adjusting the Interim State strategy during the various phases of S/4 HANA (Axial) transformation program. The solution framework should be global in nature and at the same time allow for flexibility for localization remediation.

• Drive and participate SIPOC deliverables (User stories, KDD, detailed working sessions etc.) for Design Workshops for Interim State along with Axial Localization workshops.

• Align with PMO, BAU units and stakeholders to map out interim state remediation timelines aligning to and Axial schedules. Perform readiness checks for test data quality, data volume, lower environment landscape, UAT readiness etc. for all deployment schedules.

• Constantly monitor and evaluate risks in provided solutions, timelines, and remediation (build) and collaborate with the Interim State teams on ways to mitigate the risk via technology, process, or ways of working.

• Analyze impact of other in-flight projects or proposed projects or mergers and acquisitions on the interim state strategy and remediation plans. Should be able to provide guidance for adjusting the then in place interim state strategy to the constantly changing ecosystem during the implementation.

• Evaluate issues after post go-live and propose solutions, work arounds, mechanism to avoid similar issues for future go-lives.

• Be comfortable to work in a fast-paced, dynamic & matrixed environment and be capable of achieving results often on short timelines.

Essential for the role

• 15+ years of experience in SAP Finance projects.

• One or more full life-cycle S/4 HANA implementations or several ECC implementations. Experience in managing interim state for Finance in at least one of these implementations and / or integration resulting from M&A or Divestitures.

• Experience in implementing SAP CFIN.

• Deep functional expertise in SAP S/4 HANA FI and/or CO. This is a must have.

• Expertise in one or more areas of Record to Report, Financial Master data, enterprise structure, product costing, material ledger, group reporting, value chains, intercompany processes etc.

• Experience and knowledge of Parallel Ledger, Financial close, Reconciliation process, Document split, profit center accounting, new asset account etc. both in S/4 HANA and ECC. Additionally, is a subject matter expert in differences in S/4 HANA vs ECC in FI/Co Module functionalities.

• Experience and knowledge of Analytics tools and Data Warehouses like PowerBI, Qlik, Azure Data lake, Snowflake, SAP B4H, SAP Analytics Cloud etc.

Desirable for the role

• Experience or knowledge in FP&A tools like Hyperion, SAC Planning, Anaplan etc.

• Experience in newer Finance modules or concepts of S/4 HANA. For instance, PaPM, UPA etc

• Integration of Finance with other Lines of Business, for instance Logistics, Inventory Management, Operations planning, Supply Chain, Manufacturing etc.

• Lifesciences or Healthcare industry experience.

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in finance or accounting.

Why AstraZeneca?

At Astrazeneca we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work. Where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and unleash your entrepreneurial spirit. There’s no better place to make a difference to medicine, patients and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration, and always committed to lifelong learning, growth and development. We’re on an exciting journey to pioneer the future of healthcare.

So, what’s next?

• Are you already imaging yourself joining our team? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you.

• Are you ready to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the table? Brilliant! We have one seat available and hope its yours

• If you’re curious to know more then we welcome your application no later than

Where can I find out more?

Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/

Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/

Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.