Finance Change Lead in Haywards Heath

Job Overview

Finance Change Lead – result‑driven, agile professional with expertise in Workday Financials or Adaptive Planning.

Supports the Finance Change Manager and is responsible for administration, maintenance and day‑to‑day operation of core financial systems.

Responsibilities

• Administer, maintain and manage Workday Financials or Adaptive Planning application.
• Lead change management initiatives, including project management and business analysis support.
• Pre‑release: articulate business case, define detailed requirements and design solution.
• Release: agree scope and deliverables for each sprint, ensure quality of development and testing, sign off live testing and confirm go/no‑go decisions for deployment.
• Post‑release: resolve warranty defects, conduct ongoing production monitoring and continuous improvement.
• Design, test and implement technical system changes to deliver continuous improvements.
• Gather and document change requests and requirements from finance stakeholders, prioritise and design configuration changes in collaboration with SMEs.
• Assist with delivery of finance transformation projects using third‑party support and key stakeholders.
• Ensure key system control and integrity within Workday; manage production reporting, business processes and integrations.
• Mediating incidents and issues, coordinating actions, owners and dates with stakeholders and vendors.
• Lead finance system updates and maintenance across all finance systems.
• Drive process improvement, manage risk and influence across all levels of the organisation.
• Maintain end‑user set‑up and security, and support ongoing production monitoring.
• Serve as a member of the finance system administration team and assist in recruitment when required.

Qualifications

• Experience in an accounting/finance function.
• Experience as a finance system administrator and/or finance change role.
• Experience with ERP, General Ledger or P2P systems.
• Knowledge of Workday Financials (desirable).
• Experience with system implementations and post go-live support models.
• Knowledge of Agile development approaches.

Skills and Competencies

• Proficient in Microsoft applications, especially Excel.
• Strong mathematical, analytical and organisational skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Leadership, mentoring and coaching skills.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to drive process improvement based on data analysis.
• Work effectively under pressure and think clearly and logically in challenging situations.
• Lean or Six Sigma framework knowledge.
• Report writing across a number of systems.

Behavioural Attributes

• Results driven with a constant eye on detail but understanding of audience.
• Acts as a role model and motivates others.
• Empathetic leadership approach to get the best out of a wide range of stakeholders.
• Strong ability to lead, influence and drive change.
• Agile approach to project management, able to react quickly to changing business priorities.

Credentials

• Qualified by experience or part-qualified accountant (AAT, CIMA, ACCA).

Working Arrangement

• Hybrid working – primarily remote with one day a week in the office (preferably close to Haywards Heath, West Sussex or commutable to Salford Quays, Manchester).