EDI S/4 Transformation Lead in Watford

Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands.

At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview: As a part of Ralph Lauren’s Next Generation Transformation (NGT), the core operating systems of the company (SAP, Island Pacific and Microsoft D365) will be replaced with a common Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution enabling the Ralph Lauren team to continue delivering competitive advantages in our next great chapter and beyond. The ERP+ program has been initiated and is starting to create the transformation plan, defining how the company will operate going forward and how the implementation of the new systems will lead to a common way of working globally across the company.

This new way of working impacts almost all the business including Planning, Sourcing and Buying, Retail and Wholesale, Logistics and Distribution and Finance across all regions. The EDI Business Architect will join the global project team in the lead role for the transition of EDI from ECC to S/4 across three regions (North America, EMEA, and APAC) working closely with business, consulting and technology partners. This role will lead the design, testing, training, and implementation phases ensuring a smooth transition.

The EDI Business Architect will bring global business functional and technical EDI competencies with SAP S/4 transition experience. This role will take responsibility for the activities defined below:

• Collaborate with business partners to ensure EDI functional requirements are delivered with an emphasis on aligning to a common global design while minimizing customizations.
• Collaborate with technical partners to ensure the EDI technical architecture is well positioned to support large transaction volumes required to meet or exceed RL business and trading partner SLA’s.
• Rationalize and harmonize EDI mapping processes across Customer, Vendor and Logistics functional areas, while managing trading partner variances with a clean core, standard approach where reasonable.
• Define, design and implement best practices for EDI and Edge platform transaction monitoring/correction procedures.
• Direct and execute efforts required for the retirement of legacy platforms and services ensuring a successful transition to the new EDI environment for each regional rollout.
• Partner with Test Management teams and Customers to ensure EDI SIT/UAT requirements are defined and executed ensuring accuracy to customer requirements.
• Partner with Change Management teams to ensure proper planning, communication, and execution with external trading partners.
• Partner with Change Management teams to develop and execute training initiatives leading the transition from project to post go live support for each regional rollout.
• Define trading partner onboarding processes with an emphasis on time and effort reduction to reach live status for future onboarding.
• Role may involve additional functional responsibilities within the Omnichannel Sales tower dependent on capacity and project needs.

The role will involve global travel up to 30% and will require working in close partnership with colleagues in other regions. This is a truly global program, so collaborating in the Ralph Lauren Way is required.

Experience, Skills & Knowledge:

• Experience with SAP ECC and S/4 with deep knowledge of SAP technical architecture, data and process frameworks, and best practices.
• Demonstrated experience leading an EDI transition to SAP S/4 within Consumer Goods Industry. Fashion Apparel is highly desired.
• Deep working knowledge of SAP BTP IS Cloud Integration and Application Integration Framework (AIF) platforms.
• Demonstrated experience working with ANSI x.12 and EDIFACT standards is required.
• Deep understanding of functional and technical knowledge in the following process areas: Product Management, Sales Orders, Shipments, Billing, Sourcing and Payments.
• Possesses a strong strategic vision but is also comfortable taking a hands‑on approach to achieve results.
• Exceptional presentation and communication skills. Must be adept at translating technical data concepts into business-friendly language.
• Proven ability to work cross‑functionally with business, IT, and external consulting partners.
• Possesses strong analytical skills: Leverages data to make strategic decisions.
• The ideal candidate is pragmatic, a problem solver, thrives under pressure, and excels at multitasking.
• Has the ability to make decisive and timely decisions while acting with authority.