IT Director - Global Financial Systems

From a small family business to a multi-billion-dollar global company, Sonoco has been changing the face of products and packaging since 1899 - all while keeping the heart of "People Build Businesses" alive.

Our talented people are at the core of our growth, constantly reinventing the Sonoco wheel with brilliant solutions every year.

Today we are a world leader in global packaging solutions with diversified operations in over 34 countries. We're extremely proud of our portfolio of brands, our achievements in sustainability and industrialization and the groundbreaking work accomplished by our people.

The Director - Global Financial Systems & Analytics will be accountable for developing a strategy and evaluating the suite of technology platforms and capabilities, in collaboration with the Company's finance leadership team, for deployment and use by the broader functional finance teams.

They will also be partners on the development of the roadmap and strategy for the enterprise. This is an excellent career opportunity to lead the IT finance organization through a multi-year ERP implementation and to lead global planning and consolidation systems transformation to unlock ongoing value from these platforms.

Reporting to the Chief Information Officer, the Director - Global Financial Systems & Analytics will own all aspects of enterprise finance technology solutions including being an advocate for process and systems standardization, transitioning from legacy solutions, partnering to deliver roadmaps for the future, building new capabilities, and ensuring existing solutions have robust lifecycle management plans as well as implementing and maintaining global systems that ensure compliance with established key internal controls.

This role will partner closely with the global finance organization, internal IT teams, and vendor / partners to achieve IT and business objectives.

The applicant will lead internal and partner teams made up of Architects, Business Analysts, Technical Analysts, Application Developers, and Integration Developers to build, enhance, and deliver these business capabilities.

This includes implementing and enhancing both purchased applications as well as custom built solutions.

The Director - Global Financial Systems & Analytics is responsible for collaborating across the Finance organization to plan and achieve multi-year plans and goals across a portfolio of products.

This includes supporting the enterprise roadmap, ensuring technical and functional partnership, and driving initiatives that help the enterprise meet customer needs.

Additionally, this role involves making proactive contributions and providing course corrections on the overall vision, strategy, goals, and roadmap for the finance functions IT strategy.

The Director - Global Financial Systems & Analytics will guide others in both execution and professional development perspectives, ensuring alignment and successful outcomes across the organization.

A successful IT Director will have experience leading and managing teams, partnering with IT and business teams to understand priorities, and working with business clients to improve the overall IT solution capabilities.

Adjusting to the speed and pace of business and technology change, this position will use various delivery approaches and methodologies to ensure the most critical initiatives are designed and delivered.

Primary Responsibilities :

50% Strategy & Planning :

• Develops a strategy to evaluate, in some cases, and optimize in others, the various technology platforms currently used with respect to several finance organization domains, namely, AR / AP, Fixed Assets (including capital planning), global consolidation, account reconciliations, tax provisioning, chart of accounts, etc.
• Develop strategy and roadmap to drive automation, leverage latest technology trends (machine learnings, AI, generative AI) within FP&A and Controllership organizations to drive efficiencies in month-end, and quarter-end close, and budgeting and forecasting processes.
• Partners with functional and technical leaders to identify and plan requirements necessary to meet short and long-term, multi-year business needs
• Develops and executes strategic plans in support of key objectives in a timely and fiscally responsible manner
• Informs and drives strategic alignment and partnerships with functional and technical peers and leaders
• Connects the dots across multiple levels and related functions to understand the business holistically
• Evaluates research and market analysis, including meeting with third party vendors, on industry innovations and technology platforms to understand demand;

translates findings to inform the strategy

• Establishes and nurtures strategic vendor relationships; influences vendors to align to domain, portfolio, and enterprise strategic objectives
• Drives growth for the business by applying technical and domain expertise to provide thought leadership and translate vision into action
• Contributes to a customer-centric, data-driven vision, strategy, goals, and pro-actively manages a Finance & IT project portfolio Suggests proactive changes and course corrections to drive alignment of vision, strategy, goals, and roadmap with organizational core values and industry trends by assessing effectiveness and course correcting as needed
• Drive a strategy of decommissioning legacy technology wherever possible, particularly in line with any new technology investments

3 5 % Delivery & Execution :

• Defines and communicates value propositions, success metrics, and outcomes
• Documents, reviews and ensures that all quality and change control standards are met
• Develops, plans, and implements sustainable, repeatable, and reliable processes; oversees process improvement
• Drives operational excellence to create internal customer satisfaction and meet operational metrics, simultaneously prioritizing external customer needs
• Responsible for driving the annual budgeting and planning process to prioritize projects and establish budget targets to develop an Annual IT Budget.

Translate the Annual IT Budget into a staffing plan, including flexible resource allocation models

• Understands and articulates the value creation and business proposition to teams and functional partners
• Defines, implements, and executes on a strategic initiative prioritization process
• Responsible for leading teams to successfully deliver projects results on time and on budget

1 5 % People :

• Provides leadership, mentoring and coaching to direct reports
• Manages and coordinates strategic direction for staff
• Attracts, retains, develops, and motivates top talent
• Drives the development of leaders by conducting performance reviews, reviewing individual development plans and providing continuous feedback
• Supports talent management efforts by monitoring the succession planning and selection process, as well as challenging and empowering leaders on individual development plans

Knowledge & Skills Required :

• Experience delivering large, complex, multi-year, transformational ERP and EPM programs
• Oracle or SAP ERP experience, specifically in inventory valuation, moving average cost, accounts payable, and financial reporting
• Strong knowledge with the Oracle ecosystem of products, partners, and macro strategies
• Deep experience and knowledge in evaluating various "bolt-on" technologies with regards to accounts receivables, accounts payable, payroll accounting, fixed assets, capital planning and budgeting, account reconciliations, among other things
• Experience with OneStream or other CPM products with regards to evaluating chart of accounts, consolidation, budgeting and forecasting, among others
• Deep experience and expertise in developing automation capabilities in the Finance function
• CPA certification desired
• General Knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting principles and accounting standards
• Possess a balanced combination of finance business process operations skills and technical architecture knowledge, necessary to operate effectively at the scale within a large global enterprise.
• Working knowledge of IT General Controls (ITGC) and the Systems Development Life Cycle methodology
• Expertise in leading at a Director level or above within a fast-paced, multi-division, global company
• Expertise in defining, communicating, and driving value propositions, success metrics, and outcomes
• Expertise in shaping, aligning, and guiding execution of strategic direction across a portfolio of products
• Expertise in communicating, building influence, and developing relationships with functional and technical leaders, with high-level vendor partners, and across all levels in the organization
• Expertise in selecting and leading strategic vendor relationships or acting as the primary point of contact for strategic partnerships
• Expertise in managing and developing direct reports with their own span of control
• Expertise in utilizing deep market and industry knowledge for a related portfolio segment or domain to achieve strategic objectives
• Experience in the consolidation function for a global manufacturer
• Flexible travel domestically and internationally

Education Required :

Bachelor's finance or accounting

Education Preferred :

Masters finance or accounting

Experience :

15+ years of relevant work experience

At Sonoco Products Company, we offer a comprehensive total rewards package, including competitive pay and benefits. *Benefits listed below are for employees located in the U.

S. Specific benefits and wellbeing programs may vary depending on your location (within the U.S. or global), or if you are a union employee.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents, including FSA and HSA options
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Wellbeing tools and resources to support holistic health, including an Employee Assistance Program with a variety of services
• Paid time off and holidays to recreate, rejuvenate and care for the health of yourself and family
• Variety of company paid and voluntary employee-paid insurance plans including life, personal accident, and disability insurance
• Tuition reimbursement

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we strictly prohibit and do not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any legally protected characteristic.