Senior SAP S/4HANA Finance Transformation Architect

Grainger Businesses•Lake Forest, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Senior SAP S/4HANA Finance Transformation Architect to lead finance architecture and key controllership decisions for our ECC to S/4HANA transformation across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Partnering with the Sr. Director of Controllership and periodically presenting to the Controller and CFO, you will translate complex S/4 capabilities into clear options, tradeoffs, and recommendations, and provide architectural leadership across process design, integration, data migration, reconciliation, and cutover.

Requirements

10+ years of SAP Finance (FI/CO) experience spanning business analysis and architecture design.
Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a technical field.
A deep understanding of both accounting principles and SAP technical architecture, combined with a strategic vision and hands-on ability to execute.
Demonstrated ability to evaluate S/4HANA capabilities versus legacy approaches and recommend an adoption path based on value, risk, and operating impact.
Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to partner effectively with CFO and Controller organizations and influence senior business and technology leaders without direct authority.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex SAP finance topics clearly to non-technical audiences.
Proven experience guiding finance organizations through complex transformation decisions across business and technical domains.
Experience with design authority across Finance, setting architectural direction and guiding SI/build teams beyond module-level configuration.
Deep SAP FI/CO expertise with hands-on experience in S/4HANA Finance, including: Universal Journal (ACDOCA), New Asset Accounting, Margin Analysis and Profitability Segment design, New GL with segment reporting and document splitting, Parallel Accounting and Ledger Strategy, Material Ledger including multiple valuations, Business Partner integration impacts on Finance, Integration impacts across EPM, analytics, Fiori apps, APIs, and reporting.
Experience with at least two SAP ECC to S/4HANA system conversions, in large complex organizations, with a lead role focused on Finance transformation.
Experience with global rollouts, compliance frameworks, segregation of duties, tax, and audit/regulatory reporting requirements.
Experience with U.S., Canada, and Mexico regulations preferred.
Experience with adjacent architectural areas such as Data, Infrastructure, Security, and Cloud architecture.
Working knowledge of SAP Activate methodology and supporting tools.

Responsibilities

Evaluate S/4HANA Finance capabilities and define the target-state finance architecture, including what to adopt versus retain from ECC and whether changes should be implemented pre-migration, at go-live, or post go-live, based on business value, compliance, operating impact, and system constraints.
Lead finance system integration, data migration, reconciliation, and cutover design to ensure audit-ready outcomes.
Serve as a trusted advisor to the Controller and CFO, aligning accounting practices, reporting requirements, and internal controls with the new system.
Bridge Finance and IT by educating stakeholders on key S/4HANA changes, translating complex topics into clear options, tradeoffs, implications, and recommendations, and driving decisions to closure.
Lead finance design workshops and govern solution outcomes produced by Engineering, BSAs, and the System Integrator to ensure alignment with the target-state architecture.
Guide key finance architecture decisions and explain business, financial, and compliance impacts in clear terms.
Define and own the target-state S/4HANA Finance architecture and design guardrails, including ledger and parallel accounting strategy, controlling design, data model impacts, and integration patterns across the finance ecosystem.
Drive finance data transformation resulting from the S/4HANA data model, including finance data products and extraction patterns for downstream reporting.
Ensure solution designs meet compliance and internal control requirements and provide oversight and mentorship to configuration teams and finance SMEs through implementation.
Work with finance leadership, Engineering, BSAs, and the System Integrator to define end-to-end finance process and solution design across record-to-report, intercompany, close, and reporting.
Govern solution consistency across workstreams and ensure alignment to the target-state architecture.
Oversee integration design across SAP and non-SAP platforms, including key touchpoints with MM, SD, WM, tax, banking, EPM, and analytics.
Define the finance reconciliation and audit-readiness approach for conversion and cutover.
Define the Finance data migration, reconciliation, and cutover strategy, including required data cleansing, validation, and audit controls.
Partner with Internal Audit, IT, and Finance stakeholders to ensure reconciliation integrity and audit readiness for migrated data.
Define the approach to finance reporting continuity and reconciliation impacted by S/4HANA data model changes, including data warehouse and downstream reporting considerations.
In partnership with business leaders and the PMO, define the sequencing of S/4HANA preparation activities, including chart of accounts mapping, material ledger conversion, data cleanup, and other finance readiness activities.
Represent the Finance workstream in S/4 program governance and steering forums, driving issue resolution, escalation, and cross-functional alignment on finance-related decisions.

Benefits

Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment
6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees
6 company holidays per year.
6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
Employee discounts
tuition reimbursement
student loan refinancing
free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
Maternity support programs
nursing benefits
up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents
up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.