Lead SAC Functional Consultant – Finance Planning

Role Title: Lead SAC Functional Consultant – Finance Planning Location: Chennai We are one purpose-led global organisation. The enablers and innovators, ensuring that we can fulfil our mission to push the boundaries of science and discover and develop life-changing medicines. We take pride in working close to the cause, opening the locks to save lives, ultimately making a massive difference to the outside world. AstraZeneca (AZ) is in a period of strong growth and our employees have a united purpose to make a difference to patients around the world who need both our medicines and the ongoing developments from our science. In this journey AZ must continue to work across borders and with partners and new colleagues in a fast and seamless way. The ambition, size and complexity of the organisation, coupled with the opportunities afforded by new technology, has led the Board to approve a large-scale transformation programme – Axial. The Axial Programme will be powered by S/4HANA a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system which will be implemented right across the organisation and will provide our business with standardised processes, enhanced financial management, common data and real time reporting, transforming the way we work through our entire supply chain - from bench to patient. The new system will be used by more than 20,000 employees daily, is foundational to all AZ entities and is central to most core business processes. This is a once in a generation programme for AstraZeneca and will shape our ways of working globally for many years to come. The Axial programme needs the best talent to work in it. Whether it’s the technical skills, business understanding or change leadership, we want to ensure we have the strongest team deployed throughout. We are aiming to deliver a world class change programme that leaves all employees with a fuller understanding of their role in the end-to-end nature of our global company. This programme will provide AZ with a driven edge, to the benefit of our employees, customers and patients. The SAC Functional Consultant – Finance Planning will be responsible for the functional and technical design of SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) Planning for Finance and related multi-functional capabilities within the Programme. This role will play an integral part in defining AstraZeneca’s global Fit-to-Standard planning template, applying SAP standards while ensuring alignment with business requirements and end-to-end processes. The consultant will bring strong SAP Finance planning experience and will lead workshops to demonstrate best-practice approaches, provide functional consultancy, and promote adoption of the global template. The role will support activities across SAP Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management, Finance areas including Capex, Opex, workforce, product costing, etc., and other operational areas including demand, inventory and logistics costs. You will work closely with Enterprise Process Owners, IT Enterprise Business Partners, Product Managers, Finance SMEs, data and integration teams, and external partners to define an integrated solution. This will include designing SAC models, dimensions, hierarchies, versions, drivers, assumptions, allocations, workflows, security and reporting requirements, together with the required integration to SAP S/4HANA, SAP Datasphere and relevant third-party systems. A key responsibility will be to conduct fit-gap assessments, evaluate local requirements and recommend appropriate solutions while protecting the integrity of the global template. The consultant will assess the capabilities of SAC and other relevant platforms, define appropriate system boundaries and recommend where each capability should reside. The role will ensure that the solution is fully documented, tested and governed in accordance with programme standards. During deployment, the consultant will support localisation, business readiness, data migration, cutover, issue resolution and hypercare, ensuring a successful transition to the global solution. The successful candidate will have a solid understanding of SAC Planning and SAP Finance, including awareness of end-to-end Finance processes such as Record to Report, Procure to Pay and Order to Cash. Experience in operational planning, partner management, solution governance and the delivery of standardised global templates will be essential. What you’ll do • Lead the IT solution underpinning the global standard process design for your capability or lead area, including integrations. • Accountable for aligning system design and SAP standards with business capability requirements, ensuring consistency with S/4HANA and SAC standard functionality. • Represent your process domain on internal and external forums and contribute solution and technology opportunities that support the strategic direction. • Support the data team in the definition, migration and creation of data objects required for the AZ global design across the application landscape. • Ensure effective prioritisation of activities in line with the overall deployment strategy, project imperatives, Business Technology Group portfolios and BAU services. • Accountable for ensuring existing and new AZ IT projects outside the Axial programme remain consistent with the overall solution design for your domain/capability area. • Partner with AZ Architecture, Non-SAP systems and Integration teams to ensure solution and data design support the strategic IT landscape and integration requirements across internal and external systems. • Ensure the latest industry and SAP capabilities are proactively considered within your capability and the wider programme, supporting the IT Enterprise Business Partner in your domain area. • Work with programme partners to document and test the solution design in accordance with AZ compliance standards. • Report on activity status against the plan, handle RAID items in your area and escalate as appropriate to the Enterprise domain. • Champion the design for your capability through appropriate governance forums and represent IT as an SME and leader at relevant programme and business data forums. Essential for the Role • In-depth knowledge of SAP ECC / S4 Finance solutions. • Solid understanding of business processes in a Life Sciences environment, including core end-to-end Finance process streams such as R2R, P2P and OD2C. • Recognised SME in SAP and associated technologies, with a consistent record of delivering sophisticated planning solutions within large-scale business transformation programmes. • Strong functional design skills in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) CAPEX planning, including investment demand, project-level budgeting, phased expenditure forecasting, scenario modelling, approval requirements and budget-versus-actual reporting. • Functional design expertise in SAP BPC / Analytics Cloud Integrated Financial Planning, linking CAPEX and depreciation assumptions with operating expense, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow planning, including models, dimensions, versions, data actions, allocations and reconciliation with SAP S/4HANA financial data. • Demonstrated ability to successfully deliver IT change across multiple global locations and/or Business Functions, including the ability to translate technical information into clear business language. • Strong partner management and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across Business and IT teams and influence key partner groups. Desirable for the Role • Certification in specific SAP S/4HANA areas relevant to your domain. • Experience working in a hybrid environment with a mix of internal and external resources across multiple geographical locations. • Functional design experience in SAC planning across Opex, workforce, product costing, cash receipts and payments, working capital drivers and liquidity forecasting, including integration with profit and loss and balance sheet plans. • Solid understanding