Director - Erp Delivery & Operations (Fico)

At Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) – it all starts with animals!
As a global leader in animal health, we are dedicated to innovation and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets.
We're driven by our vision of 'Food and Companionship Enriching Life' and our approach to sustainability – the Elanco Healthy Purpose™ – to advance the health of animals, people, the planet and our enterprise.
At Elanco, we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment.
We believe that diversity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and overall business success.
Here, you'll be part of a company that values and champions new ways of thinking, work with dynamic individuals, and acquire new skills and experiences that will propel your career to new heights.
Making animals' lives better makes life better – join our team today!
Your Role: Driven by the quickening pace of innovation, Elanco IT must continue to evolve, proactively partnering to create new value through innovative digital products, services, and insights, supporting internal business partners and external customers.
The ERP IT organization is responsible for providing advancement and support of enterprise grade solutions that power the operations of Elanco.
This role, Director – ERP Delivery and Operations (FICO), leads the team responsible for designing, delivering, improving, and supporting SAP and non-SAP solutions within Elanco's FICO domain.
This includes implementation, continuous improvement, and operational support to optimize business outcomes and efficiency.
Strong team leadership, cross-functional partnership, business engagement, and communication are critical to the role's success.
This position will have direct supervisory responsibility for 3+ individuals, with an extended team (non-supervisory) located in Bangalore, India.
Your Responsibilities: Team Leadership & Development: * Lead, develop, and mentor a diverse, high-performing, globally distributed team of IT professionals.
Foster a culture of innovation, excellence, and ongoing improvement.
* Establish overarching team environment and cadence for FICO group, including AMS/partner oversight and feedback.
Define team topologies for delivery.
* Foster a culture of team-driven decision-making, trust, and collaboration, inclusive of peers within Product Management and Platform teams.
* Coach teams to improve collaboration and outcomes.
* Assess and propose continuous improvement strategies, including resourcing strategies (e.g., insourcing) to build team capacity and capabilities.
* Position will have direct supervisory responsibility for 3-6 individuals, with an extended team located in Bangalore, India.
Portfolio Management: * In alignment with Product Managers, be accountable for the ERP FICO delivery portfolio, from intake and prioritization to release management and operations.
This includes dependency management and capacity planning.
* Oversee robust release management, ensuring alignment with platform teams, product teams and business partners.
* Support architects in establishing technical product roadmaps, capabilities, and solutions, leveraging external vendor partnerships and industry benchmarking through peer networks and/or user groups.
Delivery & Operations: * Streamline delivery and operational processes for ERP FICO solutions, partnering with process owners and product managers to improve efficiency and reduce hand-offs.
* Manage and track the performance of the product team to ensure business needs and requirements are met in a timely manner.
* Manage internal and external resources (including vendors) for effective portfolio execution.
* Proactively identify and mitigate risks and issues.
* Support technical leads/architects in managing new enhancement and feature requests, performing feasibility analysis, and leveraging existing product capabilities.
* Ensure regulatory compliance and integrity of data and processes supported by ERP applications by practicing effective IT general controls (ITGC) and adherence to GxP requirements.
* Serve as the point of escalation for delivery issues and roadblocks.
Stakeholder Management & Communication: * Maintain clear communication channels with stakeholders related to the delivery and support of FICO products.
* Build strong relationships with internal technical leaders, service providers, supplier managers, and business stakeholders across the organization.
* Conduct regular satisfaction assessments and implement action plans for improvement.
* In partnership with product managers, participate in strategic and business planning discussions with functional leaders regarding upcoming needs and transformation initiatives.
What you need to succeed (minimum qualifications): * Education: Bachelor's degree in information technology or related business discipline * Required Experience: 5+ years of experience implementing and supporting IT solutions in a regulated environment.
What will give you the competitive edge (preferred qualifications): * Hands-on experience in delivery and support of ERP solutions, with functional acumen in the FICO domain (Procure-to-Pay (P2P), Record-to-Report (R2R), and Tax).
* Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with process owners, product managers, and architects.
* Good knowledge of S/4 HANA system setup and configuration, experience in deploying SAP products, add-ons, and cloud solutions.
* Proven ability to provide technical coaching and feedback to architects, analysts, and technology professionals, as well as manage vendors for solutions and services.
* Experience implementing and supporting production applications (SLAs, incident, change, request, and problem management).
* Practical experience in vendor management * Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills for a global environment.
* Experience with SOX and GxP compliant systems.
* Proven ability to lead diverse, high-performing teams.
* Ability to navigate complex business, technology, and regulatory landscapes.
* Pragmatic and composed demeanor with strong facilitation skills.
Additional Information: * Travel: Occasional travel may be required.
* Location: Hook, UK (Hybrid) Don't meet every single requirement?
Studies have shown underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification.
At Elanco we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive work environment.
If you think you might be a good fit for a role but don't necessarily meet every requirement, we encourage you to apply.
You may be the right candidate for this role or other roles!
Elanco is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status