Finance Enterprise Architect in Reading

The role of the SAP S/4 HANA Finance Enterprise Architect is to develop the UK Firm’s technology strategy for Finance and Engagement Management domain and translate this into a roadmap that determines our investment priorities and transformation portfolio. The technology strategy needs to promote a seamless, end-to-end customer and employee experience by enabling the efficient creation and modification of effective and reusable technology components. In particular, the strategy should promote the use of modern, Cloud-based technologies; support typical Finance use cases; challenge the business strategy based on emerging and future technology trends; and establish a catalogue that supports the reuse of new technology components, whilst targeting legacy applications and technology for decommissioning. The role should also help to execute and govern the strategy, by helping solution architects and projects to design solutions that are fit for purpose and conform to our standards and patterns.

Key Responsibilities

• You will need to maintain your core knowledge of Finance and Engagement Management (FEM) platforms, wider technology trends and the KPMG technology ecosystem; build FEM roadmaps and solutions; and govern relevant technology choices within the Firm.
• In addition to the FEM domain, you will be expected to cover other business and/or technology domains as and when required.

Core Knowledge

• Maintain a high level of technical knowledge incl. current, emerging and future technology market trends and their impact on the business.
• Develop and maintain expert knowledge of KPMG’s technology ecosystem, incl. the main applications and technologies that interact with FEM technologies.
• Work with Capability CTOs, technical SMEs and specific projects to analyse and translate business requirements into technical requirements, ensuring that these are feasible.
• If required, provide advice to and/or seek to learn from other Member Firms, client teams and/or clients that are seeking to implement or improve their use of FEM applications.
• Manage and maintain the application inventory for your assigned domains.
• Work with stakeholders to assign application categories.
• Manage the roadmap for phasing in and out applications based on their lifecycle dates.
• Look to consolidate, decommission redundant and/or duplication application functionality for efficiency and cost savings.

Roadmaps & Solutions

• Build and maintain the FEM technology roadmap and architecture for KPMG assets, working with Capability CTOs, and business and technical SMEs where relevant.
• Work together with Capability CTO to ensure applications data is complete and up to date in the EA tooling.
• Ensure that Capability roadmaps are aligned to the FEM strategy, and coherent with those of other Capabilities and technology domain roadmaps.
• Ensure that Solution Architects produce designs that are fit for purpose, adhere to relevant standards and patterns, leverage reusable components, and are coherent with wider KPMG technology domains.
• Contribute to the selection of specific FEM technologies.
• Influence business and technology stakeholders to adopt the right technology solutions.
• Support the design and implementation of operating models that improve the design and delivery of successful FEM deployments.
• Escalate risks, issues and critical dependencies to the appropriate leaders as required to ensure the successful delivery of the strategy.

Help to establish, and participate in, the technology assurance process, building reference models and ensuring that standards, patterns and reusable components are enforced. Ensure that legacy technology is decommissioned to manage and reduce technical debt. Support the selection and implementation of enterprise architecture tools that help to accelerate and govern technology initiatives.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Expert knowledge of SAP S/4HANA Cloud including, but not limited to SAP Finance, SAP Concur, SAP Professional Services, SAP Treasury Platform, SAP Financial Compliance Management.
• Understanding of SAP BTP, SAP Analytics Cloud.
• Good knowledge of Finance and Professional Services Engagement Management processes, e.g. Record to Report, Order to Cash, Acquire to Retire, Plan to Perform, Engage to Staff.
• Ability to clearly articulate and communicate technology concepts to different audiences (from senior to technical teams).
• Must have experience in Solution Architecture (or equivalent technology) roles.
• Good knowledge of EA governance incl. steps required, e.g. Info Sec approval, conceptual and solution architecture, reviews, security assessments, and service acceptance criteria.
• Good understanding of technical debt, incl. its causes, how to measure it, and remedial actions incl. decommissioning.

Essential (Other)

• Experience of working with Agile SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle Management) methods.
• Good understanding of Enterprise architecture modelling tool e.g. Alfabet, Aris.
• Understanding of common business analysis techniques and approaches.
• Able to explain technical concepts to a non-technical audience in a way that is relevant, easy to consume and compelling.
• A high level of general, technical knowledge incl. current, emerging and future technology market trends and their impact on business.
• Good understanding of project management concepts, incl. Gantt charts/plans, risks, assumptions and dependencies, etc.
• Good oral and written communication skills.
• Good interpersonal and leadership skills.
• Ability to leverage networks in KPMG, e.g. to tap into additional expertise if required.
• Comfortable working with ambiguity at the beginning of projects, with ability to provide clarity of direction despite this.
• Good knowledge of Business Architecture, incl. business and technology strategies, operating models, process models, business and technology capability models and taxonomies.
• Good knowledge and experience of modelling languages, e.g. UML, ArchiMate and BPMN.
• Experience of leading offshore teams.
• Practical understanding of GDPR and ISO 27001.
• Qualified in ITIL and TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework).

We’re committed to creating an inclusive environment where all colleagues thrive and reach their full potential, whatever their identity or background. We’re a member of the Business Disability Forum so please get in touch if you'd like to discuss any adjustments that you might need in the application process - and if you are successful beyond this. We’re a recognised leader in the Government's scheme. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for all experienced professional opportunities.