The Senior Director of Finance Information Systems will drive a coordinated approach to ERP-related business process changes and technical system integration across all related Financial ERP domains to ensure the success and integrity of the overall design. This leader will coordinate the contributions of external consultants, business functional leads, project managers, IT leaders, and business stakeholders with a focus on the transformation of Globe Life’s Financial Reporting (“FR”) function. The Director of Financial Information Systems will provide structure, governance, and leading practice recommendations for FR systems leveraging critical capabilities including, but not limited to, strategic and tactical planning, operational excellence, process management, project management, risk management, change management, budget oversight, and management of concurrent digital initiatives.
Principle Duties
- Responsible for the strategic design, implementation, integration, communication and administration of Financial Information system(s) and technology, including governance in compliance with all federal, state and local regulations, SOX requirements, and company policies, and data with data management, reporting and transactional support.
- Responsible for leveraging technology solutions and workflows designed to ensure consistency, scalability, data accuracy and improve the efficiency and productivity of FR.
- As a member of the FR leadership team supports FR leaders in coordinating projects, scoping and determining required processes, and supporting the business operations of the Company.
- Partners and collaborates with HR, FTS, IT, EPMO, Data Analytics, Business Insights and Business Leaders to develop the FR technology roadmap, ensuring effective implementation of the strategic plan in the FR technology solutions.
- Stays abreast of FR technologies to provide alternative solutions to user requirements.
Process Management
- Designs, deploys, and maintains the FR process framework.
- Understands the convergence of FR technology systems, business process development, and change management, as well as how FR processes impact FR policies and reporting.
- Partners with FR Leaders and Business Leaders to understand business requirements and drivers for FR systems and associated processes.
- Supports the FR team in the development of processes, policies and workflows for data management and maintenance, establishing internal controls and developing audit procedures to ensure data integrity, leading changes with IT for FR application configurations and upgrades, and ensuring connectivity with internal and external systems.
- Implements changes with a deep understanding of the impact that changes to the FR system configuration will have on both FR business processes and integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and existing internal and external systems.
- Continuously strives to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and value of existing systems and FR business processes to meet business needs.
Data and Reporting
- Facilitates systematic, concise and effective dashboards in partnership with Data Analytics and Business Insights Leaders for workforce reporting and FR team analytics.
- Develops and implements meaningful metrics reporting for FR and management, provisioning reports and/or management dashboards.
- Ensures the integrity of file interfaces to and from third-party vendors in partnership with IT and Data Analytics teams and vendors.
Program/Project Oversight
- Gains perspective on the business objective(s) or business problem(s) to be addressed by the system.
- Participates in new project opportunities to lend insight, provide technical knowledge, and determine the impact on FR team.
- Produces and maintains the FR technology roadmap, and coordinates between project teams to ensure that all schedules and budgets are met.
- Ensures that requirements are met, standards are followed, and development is complete.
- Coordinates with project teams and steering committee members to ensure that progress, key decisions, issues, resource changes, scope changes, etc. are identified, addressed and reported on in a timely manner.
- Develops strategies and plans for support of FR systems and facilitates the transition of systems from project teams to production support/operations team(s).
- Develops strategies for implementation of FR systems at remote sites, including strategies to deliver users interfaces and reports.
Change management
- Successfully obtains and maintains executive buy-in, and effectively manages expectations with business stakeholders.
- Prepares employees to successfully adopt FR technologies.
- Communicates system changes and ensures training is provided on use of FR tools and processes, in alignment with Globe Life’s Organizational Change Management methodology.
Governance and Compliance
- Designs and deploys the FR governance framework.
- Establishes, delivers and maintains the FR governance roadmap.
- Coordinates with all stakeholders on policy changes or requirements to ensure integrity of policy and content.
- Ensures FR policies, standards, and procedures are maintained, reviewed, updated and distributed.
- Ensures establishment and adherence to FR controls and processes.
Required Skills
- Strong project management skills demonstrated by the ability to manage programs and/or multiple projects and resources to ensure task completion while maintaining attention to detail
- Ability to effectively plan, prioritize and delegate work assignments
- Demonstrated ability to manage intra- and inter-department relationships of all levels in a politically charged environment in order to facilitate teaming
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and analytical and problem-solving skills
- Proven ability to effectively communicate complicated subject matter to internal and external management and work collaboratively with interdepartmental teams to achieve desired results
- Must be able to work effectively in a fast-paced and dynamic team environment
Required Experience
- 5-10 years of professional experience in technology program management, leading systems design and implementation
- 1-3 years of professional experience in accounting or financial reporting
PREFERRED KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES
- Experience with project management methodologies and software such as Workfront
- Experience with Agile development and software such as JIRA or TFS
- Experience running SQL queries and data reporting
- Product Owner certification is a plus
- PMP certification is a plus
- Change management certification is a plus
- Business process design and analysis certifications are a plus