Initially the role will report to the Global Program Director - Finance Transformation and lead a team of global process owners and business consultants. They will interface with key global, regional and local member firm stakeholders and teams to ensure the successful implementation of the Firmwide Finance Transformation program (FFT). The role holder will transition to an operational position in the Global Finance leadership team supporting the Program during future phases of the global delivery as well as leading the team of process leads and business consultants with responsibility for the governance and continuous improvement program of Global Finance policies, processes and business solutions.
The Firmwide Finance Transformation program is a truly global program designed to support the transformation of Dentons' finance teams into the business partnering function of the future. It will support the business by offering true business insight, efficient and effective processes while maintaining the necessary compliance and controls. Working within a polycentric organization such as Dentons this role will interface with global and regional leadership, global and regional subject matter experts, global and regional product owners and change teams to support both the global delivery and the regionally aligned requirements and adoption of the future policies and processes.
Why Dentons is different
The legal profession is changing rapidly and Dentons is leading the way in advancing change for the benefit of clients. We are driven to challenge the status quo, delivering consistent and uncompromising quality and value to our clients in new and innovative ways. With over 17, 000 individuals in more than 179 offices the opportunity is huge.
Dentons continues to receive external awards and recognition, including for our continued international expansion over the last 12 months; for ground-breaking innovation through the development of Nextlaw Labs and Nextlaw Global Referral Network; and for success in advising clients across multiple regions. Dentons is also a leader on the Acritas Global Elite Brand Index and a BTI Client Service 30 Award winner.
Against such rapid growth and change across the Firm, this role offers the successful individual the chance to play a leading role and make their mark in driving the successful implementation of this global program and influence the transformation of the global finance function as part of the largest to leading business strategy of the Firm.
Key Deliverables
- Accountable for the ownership and governance of the end-to-end global finance business solutions to ensure that they are designed and continue to support the global and regional businesses; the evolving business objectives of Dentons; the global and regional data and information security requirements and external statutory / regulatory requirements.
- Accountable for the globally ratified Finance manual providing common ways of working in line with accounting guidelines, financial controls, standard operating procedures and reporting.
- Close collaboration with application, data and global reporting leads/architects as well as technical architects to develop and maintain a clearly articulated data and reporting strategy and infrastructure to meet the global, regional and local requirements of the Firm.
- Delivery and maintenance of activities, plans and necessary documentation to support the transition to business-as-usual operations and governance of the O2C, P2P, R2R and RC&C business solutions.
- Chairing of an effective Business Design Authority with cross functional and cross regional representation to govern the design and deliver common and consistent processes.
- Supporting Finance organizational design changes resultant from the Global Design.
- Supporting application and technical architects to deliver the application and solution elements of the global program and subsequent continuous improvement initiatives.
Strategic Management
- Understand and, as required, input to the global Dentons business strategy and the business processes that define how the global Firm achieves its strategic goals.
- Work closely with the Global Transformation Directors, Global Chief Finance Officer and senior Global Finance team as well as their regional equivalents and other stakeholders to understand the global finance process requirements and be accountable to defining the policy and process designs to meet these requirements.
- Act as the global champion for standard global finance policies, processes and working practices across the Dentons network.
- Partner with global and regional stakeholders across the organization, as well as system implementation partners, to inform global process vision, strategy and priorities
- Work with appropriate business and technology peers to identify and promote the best solutions (across technology and process) and with functional colleagues across other transformation programs and global departments ensure business processes make the most effective and efficient use of the solutions deployed.
- Work with global and regional stakeholders as well as program team colleagues to lead future solution initiatives including vendor and product selection phases, implementation planning and delivery and operational transition planning
- With regional colleagues, ensure that the end-to-end finance business solution delivers the transformation, automation and efficiency articulated through the FFT global design process and delivers the global business case benefits.
- Ensure that all capabilities are fully aligned with the wider finance strategy and identify opportunities for standardization and consolidation across the various finance capabilities.
- Management of the FFT/finance business and process consulting team. Ensuring that team priorities, resource plans and tracking of work items, issues and risks through the team are managed professionally.
- To work with fellow global and regional solution architects and senior stakeholders to iterate the solution design and own a continuous improvement and enhancement program for the relevant policies and processes within Finance solution scope.
- Work with appropriate global and regional stakeholders to ensure the integrity of the design is maintained through the appropriate governance process of design authority and executive board and is governed through PMO managed processes for change control.
- Work across global and regional functions to establish appropriate governance structures to maintain global policies and process design.
- Chair the Global Finance Business Design Authority.
- Represent global finance business requirements at the Global Finance Technical Design Authority.
- Support global and regional leads to specify how services will be delivered, roles and responsibilities, effort and how to measure success of the services delivered
- Work with regional and global stakeholders as appropriate to identify required business capabilities in the 'to be operating model' and produce recommendations to close gaps.
- Support regional and global stakeholders to design and implement the operating model changes appropriate to support the global design.
- Support the definition of user access rights and data security within Dentons' Global and regional guidelines.
- Maintain the integrity of the business solution and triage new change requests.
- Be accountable for the development and continuous maintenance of the global policies, standard operating procedures and other process related collateral to support the Global Design.
- Work with fellow solution architects, product owners and other stakeholders to develop and execute the business solutions roadmap. Ensure coordination of releases to include enhancements and new requirements agreed by design authority.
- Work with global program and operational colleagues to ensure that design decisions are made in a timely fashion and that effective change management, data mapping and conversion, testing and trainings programs are developed and delivered.
- Work closely with application and technical architects supporting them to deliver the application and solution elements of the global program and subsequent continuous improvement initiatives.
- Work with change and training teams to develop global templates for regions to adapt to ensure the global solution is successfully embedded globally and within the regions.
- Liaise between business and technology stakeholders to facilitate effective communication and working practices.
- Work with testing teams to establish a structured approach to continuous testing of the global solutions.
- Identification and ownership of risk, issues and appropriate escalation to senior executives.
- Extensive experience and a proven track record in/as:
- Business international level of English both written and oral.
- Highly collaborative and able to work in a global environment, accommodating the different cultures and time zones. Only team players will be considered.
- Experience of multinational finance operations.
- Experience of working in a senior management role on technology / finance / business transformation programs or a similar role in an international center of excellence is essential
- Experience of shaping holistic business views and solutions in a business transformation situation.
- Experience in defining target states and roadmaps towards these.
- Knowledge and experience of governance frameworks.
- Extensive experience working in a team-oriented, global, multi-cultural, collaborative environment but also able to work alone as required.
- Prior experience of working within a law firm is desirable as well as systems delivery or management experience of systems including Elite 3E, the Intapp suite, Chrome River, Tagetik.
- Be adept in responding to challenges and issues as they arise.
- Be able to thrive working under pressure and be able to multi-task.
- 5 years + experience working in a similar business architect or business lead role within a global finance organization or transformation initiative with responsibilities for the policy, process and business solutions design and maintenance
- Experience working on international projects or within global finance departments
- Prince 2 / Agile experience
- Proven experience in a Business Architecture role, in a large and complex organization
- Demonstrable expertise developing conceptual, logical and physical architectures and applying architectural principles
- Strong knowledge and experience of Financial best practice and business processes.
- Strong background/knowledge of applying technology to meet finance business requirements
- Strong stakeholder management, across both business and technology
- Experience applying architectural principles to business change
- Experience modelling business processes using a variety of tools and techniques
- Experience of working within traditional waterfall and agile project environments
- Excellent communications, influencing, organizational and stakeholder management skills.
- Excellent presentation skills with ability to conduct presentations comfortably to large groups.
- Excellent experience as a user of MS Office suite, including MS Project, MS Teams as well as Azure DevOps or equivalent.
- Impeccable attention to detail and ability to work with a wide variety of people and projects in a collective and collaborative manner.
Disclaimer: Please ensure when applying for this role you are legally eligible to work/live in your location. Visa sponsorship or relocation costs will not be provided.
Diversity & Inclusion
Essential to our success as a global law firm is our ability to attract and retain the best talent from a diverse range of backgrounds. We want a work environment where everyone can reach their potential and we have an inclusive culture which respects individual differences.
We undertake and support a number of internal and external initiatives aimed at increasing diversity within the profession and we encourage all our partners and staff to get involved.
Equal Opportunities
Dentons is committed to providing equal opportunities for all.
Reward and Recognition
Remuneration and befits package will reflect the successful candidates experience and country where hired.
Applications from individuals directly, should be sent to Global Recruitment Team: bianca.moodley@dentons.com
