IT Product Manager, Procurement

Ferrara•Chicago, IL

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Technology powers Ferrara’s transformation of iconic brands into a world-class global business. Following a successful S/4HANA go-live, our IT organization is leading the next phase of digital evolution—scaling platforms, advancing data and analytics, and partnering closely with the business to deliver measurable impact. This is a chance to join a highly innovative IT team with strong executive sponsorship and influence across the enterprise. The IT Product Manager for Procurement is a key role within Information Technology at Ferrara Candy Company. Ferrara’s success and strategic growth initiatives drive our aggressive IT agenda. The IT Product Manager acts as a specialist within several business process areas. As such, the role works closely with our business stakeholders to translate requirements into solutions that consistently add value to our business. The IT Product Manager will work directly with Business leaders, IT Leaders and external Service Providers actively facilitating the delivery of solutions. A keen understanding of the goals and objectives of the Sales functions is required. This Product Manager ensures that the support mechanisms are in place for system users and that we have the ability to extend, integrate and optimize the platform. The assigned business areas are Procurement, Indirect Spend, Contracts and Supplier Information Management. Representative technologies include, SAP ECC, S/4 HANA, Open Text as well as Procure to Pay Suites such as SAP Business Network (SAP Ariba), Ariba Guided Buying & Invoicing, Ariba Commerce Automation, Ariba Catalogs, Ariba Strategic Sourcing, Ariba Supplier Lifecyle & Performance (SLP)

Requirements

Dynamic and enthusiastic personality combining flexibility and creativity.
Strong communicator with the ability to translate high-level unstructured ideas and requests quickly into a level of detail that can be easily matched to our current system capabilities.
Proven experience developing project plans and leading projects to completion.
Proven ability to build and maintain successful relationships across business partners, external partners and the wider IT community.
Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
Able to conduct research into issues and products as required.
Ability to prioritize and execute tasks in a fast-moving environment and make sound decisions.
Ability to present ideas in a user-friendly language.
Highly self-motivated and directed.
Occasional travel required.
5+ years of experience in delivering solutions within Supply Chain with a focus on Procurement.
5+ years of experience configuring and supporting applications such as SAP ECC and/or S/4 HANA (MM/PP Modules), SAP Ariba and/or other Procure-to-Pay systems.
Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) from a four-year college or university or 5+ years of IT and business/industry work experience.

Nice To Haves

Involvement in M&A related integrations is a plus.
Experience in M & A and Divestiture activities is a plus.
Prior success managing external IT service providers to deliver solutions.

Responsibilities

Work directly with leaders and managers within Supply Chain, Purchasing and Accounts Payable to develop the digital transformation strategy that matches Ferrara’s business objectives and growth strategies.
Build a partnership and relationship that adds value to the business through proactive management of enabling technologies.
Collaborate with business users to identify and define detailed process requirements and use cases.
Enable best in class analytics for the Procurement function.
Assess risk in business areas not adequately supported by technology.
Facilitate the prioritization of projects, programs and enhancements.
Develop recommendations, solution concepts and business cases for new investments.
Provide visibility of IT projects that affect the Procurement team and their adjacent business functions. Clearly communicate risks, issues and action plans.
Manage all aspects of the project portfolio within the assigned business area.
Effectively communicate the results and status of projects during various stages of their life cycle.
In certain cases, it will be necessary to directly manage and lead projects of medium complexity.
Ensure that the teams are in place (both internal and external) to deliver technology-based solutions.
Provide consultation during all phases of the development of solutions.
Execute deliverables and tasks to build the solution, collaborating across process areas and enabling teams such as testing, security, and data.
Support quality management reviews to ensure the product design and related work products meet requirements.
Assist in System Integration Testing, including test execution and defect resolution.
Work closely with internal IT resources and external service providers to deliver solutions on time and on budget.
Manage issues and escalate as necessary when projects within the portfolio are at risk in terms of Scope, Timelines and Budgets.
Ensure that our strategic partners operate as an extension of the Ferrara team and are acting in the best interests of Ferrara.
Proactively manage and escalate as necessary situations where our external partners are not meeting our needs and delivering on their commitments.
Seek thought leadership from our external partners.
Understand the application architecture and essential elements of how application design and configuration meet the needs of the business.
Meet our Service Level Agreements when it comes to break/fixes and system bugs. Apply ITIL methods to managing incidents.
Utilize our existing technological investments before investing in other solutions that could be redundant.
Understand the full implications of application security and compliance ensuring that our People, Processes and Technologies are compliant and meet all relevant audit requirements.
Meet established System performance metrics.