Job Purpose
The Senior Finance Programme Manager will lead the end-to-end delivery of complex, global finance transformation programmes spanning multiple workstreams, regions, systems and business functions. The role will be accountable for translating strategic objectives into an executable programme roadmap and delivering technology implementation, process redesign, data migration, control enhancement and organisational change.
The successful candidate will combine strong finance transformation and enterprise technology delivery experience with programme leadership, commercial acumen and executive stakeholder management. The role will ensure that programmes are delivered to agreed scope, quality, timeline and budget, and that the intended operational, financial and control benefits are realised and sustained.
About Group Finance
In joining RWS’s Finance team you will be a critical part of supporting a listed world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content, and intellectual property services. RWS has growing revenues of over £750m through a combination of value accretive acquisitions and organic growth. Group finance, led by our Group CFO; Stephen Lamb, includes diverse teams across the globe operating in functions including business partnering, operational finance, specialist, and group functions. We cover a footprint of over 100 legal entities in 43 different countries worldwide.
It’s a very exciting time to join RWS Finance for an individual who enjoys change and making an impact! As part of the overall RWS business strategy we are making a significant investment in upgrading our financial systems and processes to deliver enhanced reporting and control, more efficient processing enabling great value through enhanced business partnering and decision support.
Job Overview
Key Responsibilities
Programme leadership and governance
- Lead the full programme lifecycle from mobilisation and discovery through design, build, testing, deployment, stabilisation, transition to BAU and benefits realisation.
- Define and maintain the programme vision, scope, outcomes, roadmap, milestones, budget, resource plan, success measures and governance model.
- Establish clear decision rights, escalation routes, reporting cadence and programme controls aligned with Finance and Technology governance standards.
- Lead multiple interdependent workstreams and ensure alignment across process, technology, data, controls, operating model and change activities.
- Maintain high-quality programme artefacts, including integrated plans, RAID and dependency logs, decision records, financial forecasts and executive status reporting.
Finance transformation and solution delivery
- Deliver finance transformation initiatives such as ERP implementations and migrations, finance systems integration, shared services transformation, process standardisation, reporting and control improvements, and systems consolidation.
- Oversee requirements elicitation and ensure that business, functional, technical, data, security and control requirements are complete, prioritised, traceable and formally approved.
- Coordinate solution design and configuration across finance platforms and adjacent systems, including HR, payroll, production systems, time tracking, banking and reporting tools.
- Ensure finance processes and controls are designed to support a scalable global operating model while meeting local statutory, tax, audit and compliance requirements.
- Provide effective challenge to proposed solutions and delivery approaches to ensure they are proportionate, supportable and aligned with enterprise architecture and finance strategy.
Data, testing, deployment and operational readiness
- Oversee data discovery, cleansing, mapping, migration, reconciliation and validation, with clear ownership and acceptance criteria.
- Define the testing strategy and coordinate system integration testing, user acceptance testing, regression testing, control testing and, where relevant, parallel runs.
- Lead cutover and deployment planning, including readiness criteria, go/no-go governance, contingency planning, command-centre support and hypercare.
- Ensure operational readiness through documented processes, controls, support models, service levels, training materials and standard operating procedures.
- Confirm that solutions are transitioned into stable BAU ownership with clear accountability for ongoing service, controls and continuous improvement.
Stakeholder, vendor and commercial management
- Act as the primary programme contact for executive sponsors, Finance and Technology leadership, process owners and regional stakeholders.
- Build alignment across Finance, Technology, HR, Shared Services, Operations, Internal Audit and other impacted functions.
- Prepare concise executive reporting that clearly communicates progress, financial position, risks, dependencies, decisions required and recovery actions.
- Manage system vendors, implementation partners, consultants and service providers, ensuring deliverables meet contractual scope, timelines, quality and acceptance criteria.
- Support procurement, commercial negotiations, statements of work and change control, and actively manage supplier performance and programme value for money.
Risk, controls and assurance
- Own the programme risk and issue framework, ensuring timely identification, analysis, mitigation, escalation and closure.
- Ensure finance, technology, security, privacy, regulatory and operational risks are addressed throughout the delivery lifecycle.
- Embed appropriate financial controls, segregation of duties, audit trails and governance requirements within new processes and systems.
- Coordinate assurance activities, quality reviews and internal or external audit engagement, ensuring evidence is complete and actions are resolved.
Change, adoption and benefits realisation
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- Define and oversee the change management, communications, stakeholder engagement and training strategy for all impacted teams.
- Assess organisational impacts and readiness across roles, processes, controls, systems, data and ways of working.
- Build strong business ownership and change networks to support adoption and minimise operational disruption.
- Define benefit measures and baselines, track delivery against the business case and ensure benefit owners are accountable for sustained outcomes.
- Capture lessons learned and apply them to improve programme delivery standards and the wider Finance transformation portfolio.
Skills & Experience
- 8+ years of experience delivering large, complex transformation projects or programmes within global, multi-entity organisations.
- Proven experience leading finance transformation, ERP, finance systems, payroll, HRIS or closely related enterprise technology implementations.
- Strong understanding of core finance processes, including general ledger, financial close, reporting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing, revenue recognition, cash management and financial controls.
- Demonstrated capability in multi-workstream programme management, including planning, budgeting, governance, RAID management, dependency management and benefits realisation.
- Experience managing complex data migration, testing, cutover, hypercare and transition-to-service activities.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills, including experience working with C-suite sponsors and senior Finance and Technology leaders.
- Strong vendor and commercial management experience with SaaS providers, enterprise technology vendors, systems integrators and consulting partners.
- Ability to interpret complex business and technical information, resolve ambiguity and translate issues into clear decisions and executable actions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, negotiation, facilitation and executive reporting skills.
- Experience delivering change across multiple countries, business units and operating environments.
Desirable
- Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Great Plains, NetSuite, SAP, Oracle or comparable finance platforms.
- Experience of payroll or HR-to-Finance transformation, including payroll interfaces, parallel runs, compliance and operating model change.
- Experience of Finance Shared Services, global process ownership or finance process standardisation.
- Professional project or programme management certification such as MSP, PRINCE2, PMP or APM.
- Accounting qualification such as ACA, ACCA or CIMA, or equivalent finance experience.
- Experience working in a listed, regulated or audit-intensive environment.
Life at RWS
Life at RWS - If you like the idea of working with smart people who are passionate about growing the value of ideas, data and content by making sure organizations are understood, then you’ll love life at RWS.
Our purpose is to unlock global understanding. This means our work fundamentally recognizes the value of every language and culture. So, we celebrate difference, we are inclusive and believe that diversity makes us strong. We want every employee to grow as an individual and excel in their career.
In return, we expect all our people to live by the values that unite us: to partner, putting clients fist and winning together, to pioneer, innovating fearlessly and leading with vision and courage, to progress, aiming high and growing through actions and to deliver, owning the outcome and building trust with our colleagues and clients.
RWS embraces DEI and promotes equal opportunity, we are an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. RWS is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at RWS are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation. RWS will not tolerate discrimination based on any of these characteristics.
RWS Values
Get the 3Ps right – Partner, Pioneer, Progress – and we´ll Deliver together as RWS.
Recruitment Agencies: RWS Holdings PLC does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward any unsolicited resumes to any RWS employees. Any unsolicited resume received will be treated as the property of RWS and Terms & Conditions associated with the use of such resume will be considered null and void.
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