Senior Director Finance Business Processes and Governance

Role: Senior Director Finance Business Processes and Governance

Location : New Brunswick, NJ

Duration: Contract to Hire

Job Description:

The Senior Director, Finance Business Processes & Governance is accountable for the end-to-end effectiveness, governance, and continuous improvement of core Finance business processes—supported by the SAP S/4HANA for Finance platform and complementary best-of-breed finance capabilities. This role ensures trusted outcomes across consolidations & close, group reporting, planning (EPM IBP), Account to Report (A2R), FX, and finance reporting/analytics, with strong data governance to maintain control integrity, auditability, and decision-ready reporting.

 Key Responsibilities:

 1) Own Finance Process Outcomes (Supported by SAP S/4HANA for Finance)

•  Own and govern major Finance process journeys, including:

•  Consolidations & Close

•  Group Reporting

•  Planning and Performance (EPM IBP)

•  A2R

•  Ensure processes are designed for:

•  speed (cycle time, throughput)

•  accuracy (reduced rework and exceptions)

•  compliance (auditability and control alignment)

•  Drive standardization across entities/regions while enabling controlled local needs

•  Define process KPIs, operating rhythms, and continuous improvement priorities

2) Consolidations & Close Excellence, Controls & Issue Resolution

•  Lead close effectiveness initiatives focused on:

•  exception reduction

•  reconciliation discipline

•  improved trial balance readiness and reporting timeliness

•  Establish governance for:

•  close timelines and ownership

•  escalation and issue management

•  remediation tracking to closure

•  Drive root-cause analysis for recurring issues and ensure sustainable corrective actions

•  Ensure close outputs align to group reporting requirements and external deadlines

3) Reporting Integrity, FX Governance & Decision-Ready Outputs

•  Ensure finance reporting outputs are consistent, trusted, and decision-ready across close and planning cycles

•  Own governance for:

•  FX treatment and reporting principles (as applicable to your scope)

•  reporting definitions, calculation principles, and KPI logic

•  reporting consistency across stakeholders and entities

•  Partner with Finance users to improve:

•  reporting usability and explainability

•  timeliness and responsiveness to leadership needs

•  Ensure reporting reconciles to source processes and supports audit and control expectations

4) Data Governance & Master/Reference Data Stewardship

•  Establish and lead finance data governance for the end-to-end reporting lifecycle

•  Define and enforce:

•  data ownership and stewardship model

•  data standards (definitions, business rules, metadata ownership)

•  data quality expectations and validation principles

•  Ensure data lineage and traceability from source processes through reporting and planning outputs

•  Lead governance for changes to finance-critical definitions and logic (including versioning and approval workflows)

•  Partner with Risk/Compliance/Internal Audit to ensure governance supports control effectiveness and audit readiness

5) Enterprise Performance Management (EPM IBP) & Planning-to-Reporting Alignment

•  Own the planning-to-reporting lifecycle performance model using EPM IBP

•  Drive planning process improvements such as:

•  better scenario management and driver logic governance

•  smoother workflows and approvals

•  improved alignment between planning outputs and consolidation/reporting needs

•  Ensure planning outputs are governance-ready, explainable, and consistent with close/group reporting principles

•  Support adoption and continuous improvement across planning cycles

6) Leadership, Stakeholder Alignment & Operating Model Execution

•  Lead cross-functional execution with Finance process owners, Controllers/Group Reporting teams, and operations stakeholders

•  Set priorities, manage the portfolio of initiatives, and measure outcomes (quality, timeliness, adoption)

•  Establish governance mechanisms for:

•  key decisions and escalation paths

•  issue/problem management and continuous improvement tracking

•  Ensure effective stakeholder engagement and readiness for change

•  Report to the VP and build trusted relationships across Finance, Risk/Compliance, and delivery partners

Required Qualifications:

•  12+ years of experience in Finance operations, Finance transformation, group reporting, consolidations/close, and/or performance management

•  Demonstrated leadership delivering improvements in:

•  consolidations & close

•  group reporting

•  planning and performance (EPM IBP)

•  Strong understanding of FX governance and impacts to financial statements and reporting integrity

•  Proven expertise in finance data governance (definitions, standards, stewardship, quality, lineage/traceability)

•  Experience working with SAP S/4HANA for Finance as a platform enabling Finance processes (direct involvement preferred)

•  Ability to lead in multi-entity environments with audit and control expectations

•  Strong stakeholder management and governance operating model skills

 Preferred Qualifications:

•  Experience defining operating governance models (close governance, KPI governance, issue management, reporting definition governance)

•  Experience with finance reporting/analytics governance and compliance-ready reporting packs

•  Background supporting integration alignment between close/group reporting and planning cycles

Success Measures (KPIs):

•  Close and reporting performance: improved cycle times, reduced exceptions, fewer late-breaking issues

•  Reporting trust: reduced rework/reconciliation effort; improved stakeholder satisfaction

•  Data governance effectiveness: higher data quality, improved stewardship adherence, fewer definition/control disputes

•  Governance & compliance: fewer audit findings; timely remediation of control issues

•  Planning effectiveness: smoother cycles, improved forecast quality, higher adoption

Reporting Line:

•  Reports to: VP

•  Partners with: Controllers/Group Reporting, Finance operations, Risk/Compliance/Internal Audit, and delivery partners supporting execution