Position Overview
We are seeking a senior o9 Implementation Program Lead to provide professional services support for a strategic supply chain transformation utilizing the o9 Solutions platform.
o9 Solutions has been selected as the technology and implementation partner for the program. This individual will work on behalf of the client organization, serving as a critical liaison between internal business and technology stakeholders and the o9 delivery team.
The successful candidate will bring significant prior experience with o9 supply chain implementations and will use that experience to help the client effectively navigate the implementation, challenge and validate recommendations, identify risks, coordinate internal activities, and ensure that the organization is positioned for a successful deployment.
This is not intended to duplicate the responsibilities of the o9 implementation team. Rather, this individual will serve as an experienced client-side implementation leader and trusted advisor, ensuring alignment between the client''s business objectives and the implementation being delivered by o9.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary client-side program lead and liaison between internal stakeholders and the o9 Solutions implementation team.
- Represent the client''s interests throughout the implementation and ensure o9''s delivery remains aligned with agreed-upon business objectives, scope, milestones, and outcomes.
- Provide experienced oversight and guidance based on previous o9 implementations and supply chain transformation programs.
- Work closely with o9 to understand implementation plans, dependencies, deliverables, risks, assumptions, and required client decisions.
- Translate implementation requirements from o9 into clear actions and expectations for internal business, technology, data, and supply chain teams.
- Coordinate client-side activities and ensure internal stakeholders are prepared to provide the decisions, data, resources, testing, and subject-matter expertise required by the implementation.
- Facilitate communication and decision-making between business stakeholders, technology teams, executive sponsors, and o9.
- Review and challenge o9 recommendations, timelines, solution decisions, and implementation approaches when appropriate.
- Identify potential delivery gaps, risks, dependencies, and areas requiring escalation before they impact program milestones.
- Maintain visibility into overall implementation health and provide concise, objective updates to client leadership.
- Support governance activities including program status, RAID management, decision tracking, milestone reviews, and executive steering discussions.
- Facilitate cross-functional workshops and working sessions involving Supply Chain, Planning, IT, Data, Operations, and other impacted functions.
- Help ensure business requirements and desired outcomes remain connected to solution design decisions throughout the implementation.
- Coordinate readiness for critical phases including design validation, data preparation, integration, testing, UAT, cutover, go-live, and stabilization.
- Help establish clear accountability between activities owned by o9 and activities owned by the client.
- Provide independent perspective and lessons learned from previous o9 implementations to help the organization avoid common implementation pitfalls.
- Support knowledge transfer and help build internal capabilities that will remain after implementation.
Required Experience
- 10+ years of experience supporting complex supply chain transformation, enterprise technology, or planning implementations.
- Significant direct experience with o9 Solutions implementations is required.
- Experience supporting multiple phases or full lifecycle implementations of the o9 platform strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience operating in a senior client-facing role such as:
- o9 Program Lead
- Implementation Lead
- Client-Side Program Manager
- Supply Chain Transformation Lead
- o9 Engagement Lead
- Implementation Advisor
- Program Director
- Strong understanding of supply chain planning concepts and processes such as Demand Planning, Supply Planning, S&OP / IBP, Inventory Optimization, Production Planning, and Scenario Planning.
- Demonstrated ability to manage and provide oversight of software vendors and implementation partners.
- Experience working across business, IT, data, and external consulting teams during large-scale implementations.
- Strong understanding of the complete implementation lifecycle including design, data, integrations, testing, UAT, deployment, cutover, and hypercare.
- Ability to understand both business and technical discussions and translate between stakeholder groups.
- Demonstrated ability to identify delivery risks and challenge implementation partners constructively.
- Strong executive communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, and consulting skills.
- Ability to operate independently and provide leadership in complex or ambiguous program environments.
Preferred Experience
- Previous experience working directly for, alongside, or managing engagements with o9 Solutions.
- Multiple successful o9 deployments.
- Experience within Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Consumer Products, or another complex supply chain environment.
- Experience with global or multi-business-unit supply chain transformations.
- Familiarity with enterprise platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP, Oracle, or similar ERP environments.
- Experience with business readiness, organizational change, training, and adoption associated with supply chain transformation.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is someone who has been through several o9 implementations and understands both how o9 works and how clients need to work with o9 to make an implementation successful.
We are looking for someone who can sit across the table from the o9 implementation team as a knowledgeable peer — understanding the platform, methodology, terminology, dependencies, and common implementation challenges well enough to ask the right questions and recognize potential issues early.
This person should have the consulting presence to advise senior client stakeholders while also being willing to work closely with project teams to resolve detailed implementation challenges.
Ultimately, this individual will serve as the client''s experienced advocate, translator, coordinator, and trusted advisor throughout the o9 deployment.