Head of Technology, Finance, Corporate Services & SAP

Job Title: Head of Technology, Finance, Corporate Services & SAP

Department: IT / Technology

Reports To: Chief Digital and Information Officer

Location: London / Leeds

Role Summary:

The Head of Finance, Corporate Services & SAP Platforms is a strategic and transformative leader responsible for powering Wella’s global operations through innovative, scalable, and business-aligned technology. As a key partner to senior Finance, HR, Legal, Procurement, SAP and ghd (a wholly owned subsidiary with a partially independent application stack) leaders, financial management, corporate services, enterprise platforms and compliance – unlocking end-to-end efficiency, accelerating speed to market, and shaping the future of Wella’s corporate and financial ecosystems.

The Head provides both strategic and operational leadership across the full lifecycle of enterprise applications that support these functions, with ownership of ERP and operational platforms that enable financial management, procurement, HR, legal, and compliance processes. The role ensures these systems are secure, scalable, and aligned to support global process excellence across critical corporate functions.

This role holds overarching accountability for platform operations within the Finance, Corporate Services, and SAP domains, including system stability, service continuity, user satisfaction, and integration of partially independent systems such as those supporting ghd. It plays a central role in reducing complexity, harmonizing global capabilities, and driving standardization across the application landscape. The Head also champions the internalization of SAP capabilities to reduce vendor dependency and accelerate delivery through increased configuration autonomy.

As a senior thought partner, the Head sits on the leadership teams of the CFO and relevant business executives, acting as a “mini CIO” – translating business strategy into technology delivery. The role leads a team of 26+ professionals, including Platform Leads for Finance, Corporate Services, SAP, and ghd, and oversees a global budget of €XXM. A key focus is on building domain-specific IT expertise, strengthening business partnerships, and creating a forward-leaning, outcome-driven technology organization that supports end-to-end processes such as Record to Report, Procure to Pay, Hire to Retire, and Legal.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Application Strategy & Architecture

• Define and govern the enterprise application strategy for Finance, Corporate Services, and SAP in alignment with business capability models, regulatory requirements, and architectural principles.
• Own and maintain the IT roadmap across key Finance, Corporate Services & SAP processes (e.g., Record to Report, Order to Cash, Procure to Pay, Hire to Retire, and Travel & Expense) and systems (e.g., SAP, Concur, SuccessFactors, Blackline, and Kyriba)
• Lead modernization efforts by identifying and eliminating legacy debt, streamlining platforms, and driving adoption of scalable, cloud-first solutions.
• Promote a “buy over build” application strategy to accelerate delivery, reduce complexity, and ensure maintainability.
• Drive the shift from locally customized solutions to standardized, global platforms that support consistent, scalable, and efficient operations.
• Collaborate closely with Enterprise Architecture to ensure adherence to integration and interoperability standards.

2. Solution Delivery, Operations & Lifecycle Management

• Oversee the full software development lifecycle across packaged solutions, SaaS platforms, and custom builds.
• Ensure end-to-end accountability across the application lifecycle, enabling platform teams to deliver value from roadmap through implementation to ongoing operations.
• Ensure robust quality through disciplined release management, testing, and change control processes.
• Champion user experience excellence and drive business adoption and enablement.
• Ensure stable and reliable platform operations in collaboration with central global IT teams responsible for service management, infrastructure, and support.
• Act as the operational escalation point for Finance, Corporate Services & SAP platforms, ensuring continuity of core processes such as financial close, payroll, procurement, and compliance reporting

3. Business Engagement & Value Delivery

• Act as a trusted advisor to Finance, Corporate Services & SAP and ghd business leaders and global process owners, aligning IT delivery with functional transformation across domains such as Finance, HR, Legal, Procurement.
• Proactively drive strong interfaces with business stakeholders, ensuring that platform capabilities and enhancements are tightly aligned with operational and strategic needs – particularly in areas such as financial planning, workforce mgmt. and tax.
• Shape and guide application-enabled transformation portfolios across key business processes including Record to Report, Procure to Pay, Order to Cash, Hire to Retire, and Travel & Expense
• Accelerate value delivery in domains such as automation of financial operations, workforce digitization, and improved employee and vendor self-services.
• Represent IT on governance forums including the Business Change Board, ensuring investment alignment with strategic priorities.
• Define, measure, and communicate business value, ROI, and outcomes driven by application platforms.

4. Vendor & Partner Ecosystem Management

• Lead a diversified partner landscape including system integrators, SaaS vendors, and digital consultancies.
• Ensure vendor performance, contractual compliance, and value realization.
• Collaborate with Procurement on sourcing strategies, licensing agreements, and service-level alignment.
• Maintain compliance with InfoSec, data privacy, and regulatory standards across all third-party integrations.
• Oversee budget and resource allocation, aligning investments with transformation priorities and operational needs.

5. Data, Analytics & AI Integration

• Collaborate with MDM, Data, AI & Analytics teams to ensure application data is structured, integrated, and insight ready.
• Oversee application data models and their contribution to enterprise data lakehouse or mesh strategies.
• Enable embedded AI/ML capabilities across operational platforms.

6. Leadership & Organizational Development

• Build, lead, and develop four integrated teams – Finance, Corporate Services, SAP, and ghd – comprising Functional Experts, Architects, Data Product Owners, Developers, Service Delivery Managers, Project Managers, and their respective Platform Leads.
• Promote end-to-end ownership by empowering Platform Leads to drive strategy, execution, and outcomes within their domain.
• Cultivate a mindset of responsiveness, continuous improvement, and user-first thinking
• Foster strong business partnering and drive a culture of accountability and service excellence.
• Drive talent development, succession planning, and leadership growth across digital and enterprise system teams.
• Foster strong engagement with business stakeholders to prioritize application needs and maximize adoption.

Key Skills & Competencies:

1. Strategic Platform Leadership – Demonstrated success in leading complex ERP, Finance, HR, and Corporate Services platforms at scale, across multiple geographies and business functions.
2. Enterprise Architecture Acumen – Strong understanding of structured, scalable enterprise systems architecture, including cloud-readiness and integration across finance and administrative domains.
3. Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management – Proven ability to serve as a strategic interface and thought leader to the business, translating platform capabilities into actionable outcomes for Finance, HR, Legal, and Procurement stakeholders.
4. Project Delivery Discipline – Experience in structured delivery methodologies (e.g., Waterfall), particularly for Finance, HR, and Procurement systems requiring high stability and regulatory adherence.
5. Vendor & Contract Management – Skilled in managing complex vendor ecosystems across ERP (e.g., SAP), Finance automation, HR platforms, and corporate systems, with a focus on optimizing cost and service levels.
6. Data-Driven Thinking – Strong alignment of applications with enterprise data strategies and emerging AI capabilities.
7. Change Enablement – Experienced in leading large-scale transformation initiatives during structural change (e.g., ITOM transformation), including team redesign, capability insourcing, and cross-functional process alignment.

Qualifications & Experience:

Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical/business discipline
• MBA or executive leadership training is a plus.
• Preferred certifications: PMP, TOGAF, SAFe

Experience:

• 15+ years of experience in enterprise applications, including 5+ years in a global leadership role overseeing finance, corporate services, or ERP transformation initiatives.
• Strong experience acting as a functional interface with business leaders, particularly in Finance, HR, Legal and Procurement – driving stakeholder alignment and translating business strategy into technology-driven outcomes.
• Proven experience leading transformation programs across ERP, financial planning, workforce administration, and compliance systems.
• Demonstrated experience managing platforms in Finance, HR, and Corporate Services, including systems such as SAP (FI, CO, HCM, Basis), Concur, SuccessFactors, Blackline, Kyriba, and Nakisa.
• Industry experience in Finance- and compliance-intensive sectors such as consumer products, beauty, healthcare, or other highly regulated environments is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with internal SAP operations and configuration is a plus, particularly in the context of insourcing key capabilities.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Application Uptime: >99.9% across business-critical systems.
• Project Delivery: % of initiatives delivered on time, scope, and budget.
• Technology Debt Reduction: Annual % of applications modernized or rationalized.
• Business Satisfaction: Function-specific NPS and feedback from stakeholders in Finance, HR, Legal, and Corporate Services functions
• Deployment Velocity: Cycle time for system updates and new capabilities.
• Cost Efficiency: Optimization of licensing, maintenance, and vendor spend across the SAP and corporate application landscape.
• Operational Stability: Platform-specific incident resolution metrics (e.g., MTTR) and service quality indicators, in collaboration with global IT operations teams