SAP Finance Systems Product Owner

Role: Finance Systems Product Owner (SAP)
Location: Milton Keynes (Hybrid)
Salary: £60,000 – £73,500
Network IT are working with a highly respected organisation to recruit a Finance Systems Product Owner (SAP). This is a key leadership role within a growing Finance Systems and Data function, offering the opportunity to shape the future of enterprise finance technology within a large, complex environment.
This role sits at the heart of a significant investment in finance systems, with a focus on delivering scalable, standardised, and high-performing SAP Finance solutions.
Role Overview
As a Finance Systems Product Owner, you will take ownership of the end-to-end SAP Finance product lifecycle, driving system evolution, optimisation, and innovation.
Operating in a player-coach leadership role, you will lead a team responsible for finance systems while working closely with Digital Services and business stakeholders to ensure solutions are aligned, robust, and future-ready.
You will play a central role in enabling modern, standardised financial processes, reducing reliance on bespoke solutions and promoting data-driven decision-making across the organisation.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the full product lifecycle for SAP Finance systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, controlled, and aligned to business priorities
- Lead and develop a team responsible for finance systems stability, optimisation, and continuous improvement
- Drive prioritisation and delivery of system enhancements, upgrades, and transformation initiatives
- Manage and refine the product backlog, developing user stories and acceptance criteria using Agile methodologies
- Work collaboratively with stakeholders to translate business needs into structured system solutions
- Lead UAT, release management, and training, ensuring successful adoption and ongoing support
- Act as a change agent, promoting a test-and-learn approach and supporting business transformation
- Collaborate with Digital Services on architecture, SAP S/4HANA, and cloud strategy decisions
- Drive process standardisation, reducing manual workarounds and improving efficiency
- Act as an escalation point for system priorities, integration challenges, and conflicting requirements
Essential Skills and Experience
- Proven experience as a Product Owner within SAP environments
- Strong technical and functional expertise in:
- SAP S/4HANA
- SAP BW
- SAP BPC (and/or SAC planning models)
- Experience working across finance processes and SAP integration points
- Strong track record delivering SAP system enhancements, upgrades, and transformation programmes
- Experience supporting or contributing to BPC £ SAC transitions
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across complex organisational structures
- Experience working in Agile / Scrum environments, managing backlogs and delivering iteratively
- Ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions
- Comfortable operating in ambiguous, evolving environments
- Strong leadership capability, with experience coaching and developing teams
Desirable Skills and Experience
- Experience within Higher Education or Public Sector environments
- Awareness of SAP cloud strategy (Public vs Private Cloud)
- Understanding of finance process standardisation and system-driven controls