Finance Functional Lead

Cognizant; West Midlands; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Finance Functional Lead to drive the design, delivery and optimisation of finance processes within a large-scale SAP/ERP environment in the UK Water/Utilities sector. You will translate finance requirements into robust system solutions and act as the bridge between finance business stakeholders and technical delivery teams.

You will lead functional design for FI/CO modules, gather requirements, support end-to-end delivery, and drive post-implementation

Qualifications

• Experience in UK Water/Utilities sector with regulatory finance knowledge.
• Hands-on SAP/ERP functional experience leading finance workstreams.
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional communication.
• Finance qualifications (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead functional design and configuration of finance modules in SAP/ERP (FI/CO, GL, AP/AR).
• Gather and document finance requirements into functional specs.
• Liaise between finance stakeholders, delivery teams, and system integrators.
• Support end-to-end delivery: testing, data migration, cutover, go-live.
• Drive post-implementation process improvements in Water/Utilities sector.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Finance domain knowledge

Education

ACA/ACCA/CIMA

Tools

SAP FI/CO

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Finance Functional Lead to drive the design, delivery, and optimisation of finance processes within a large-scale SAP/ERP environment. Acting as the bridge between the finance business and technical delivery teams, you will translate finance requirements into robust system solutions and ensure they align with sector regulations and best practice.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the functional design and configuration of finance modules within SAP/ERP (e.g. FI/CO, GL, AP/AR, asset accounting).
• Gather, analyse, and document finance requirements, translating them into functional specifications.
• Act as the primary liaison between finance stakeholders, delivery teams, and system integrators.
• Support end-to-end delivery activities including testing, data migration, cutover, and go-live.
• Provide subject-matter expertise on finance processes specific to the Water / Utilities sector.
• Identify and drive process improvements and system enhancements post-implementation.

Essential Experience

• Proven experience in the UK Water / Utilities sector, with a strong understanding of its regulatory and operational finance environment.
• Deep finance domain knowledge across core accounting and financial processes.
• Hands-on SAP / ERP functional experience, ideally leading finance workstreams on implementation or transformation programmes.
• Strong stakeholder management and the ability to communicate across business and technical audiences.

Desirable

• Relevant finance qualification (e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIMA) and/or SAP certification.
• Experience with large-scale finance transformation or ERP migration programmes.