Job Description
FICO Competency Lead – Associate Director

Location:
India (Pune / Bangalore / Mumbai) Function: SAP S/4HANA Finance CoE

Experience:
15+ years Qualification: Mandatory – Chartered Accountant (CA) Reports To: Competency Head – SAP Practice Role Summary The FICO Competency Lead will own Bristlecone’s SAP Finance competency, driving capability building, delivery excellence, solution thought leadership, and presales support across global S/4HANA programs. The role requires a seasoned SAP Finance leader, strong communication skills, and hands-on expertise across core FICO, Group Reporting, Central Finance, and integration with logistics & planning modules. As a qualified CA, the leader must bring strong financial process depth and the ability to translate business requirements into scalable SAP S/4HANA Finance solutions.

Key Responsibilities
1. Competency Leadership & Practice Building
• Build and scale a high-quality talent pool across FICO, Central Finance, Group Reporting, TRM, and related niche skill areas.
• Lead skilling, upskilling, and certification programs (S/4HANA Finance, CFIN, SAC Planning, Group Reporting).
• Establish best practices, reusable accelerators, templates, and solution frameworks. 2. Delivery Excellence
• Oversee solution quality for engagements across implementation, rollout, migration, and AMS programs.
• Support project teams with complex design decisions, architecture reviews, fit–gap validation, and solution assurance.
• Act as escalation point for critical project issues and ensure adherence to SAP Activate and Bristlecone methodologies. 3.



Solution Architecture
• Drive end-to-end architecture for Finance solutions in S/4HANA (On-Prem, Private Cloud, RISE).
• Provide guidance on advanced capabilities:
• Universal Journal & Extensibility
• Parallel Ledgers & Multi-GAAP
• Profitability & Margin Analysis (PCA/CO-PA)
• Central Finance & AIF monitoring
• Group Reporting consolidation
• Product Costing, Actual Costing, ML
• Treasury & Risk Management
• Intercompany, Tax, Compliance & Controls
• Integrate Finance with SD, MM, PP, EWM, TM, IBP, and external systems. 4. Presales & Solution Consulting
• Support in presales cycles, solution walkthroughs, client workshops, RFP responses, and effort estimations.
• Present differentiated solutions leveraging BTP, AI/ML, automation, and connected planning (SAC).
• Support pre-sales teams with demos, POVs, and value engineering. 5. Thought Leadership
• Represent Bristlecone in customer forums, SAP events, and digital finance communities.
• Create viewpoints, whitepapers, and offerings on Digital Finance, CFIN, Group Reporting, and Finance Transformation.
• Track SAP roadmap, releases, AI automation opportunities, and industry trends. 6. People Leadership




• Mentor and develop senior consultants, solution architects, and module leads.
• Lead performance management, staffing decisions, and career pathing.
• Foster a strong culture of collaboration, delivery ownership, and customer-centricity. Required Skills & Experience Must-Haves
• 15+ years overall experience with at least 10+ years in SAP FICO/S/4HANA Finance.
• Chartered Accountant (CA) – mandatory for finance process credibility.
• Hands-on design leadership in 3+ full-cycle S/4HANA implementations.
• Robust knowledge of integration with logistics modules and external systems.
• Experience in Central Finance
• Ability to guide complex design decisions and lead solution workshops.
• Excellent communication skills with senior client stakeholders (CFO, Controllers, Finance Directors). Good-to-Have
• Exposure to SAP BTP, automation frameworks, RPA, and AI-driven Finance use cases.
• Experience with SAC Planning, Group Reporting, Treasury & Risk Management.
• Industry experience in manufacturing, Hi-Tech, CPG, Pharma, or diversified global enterprises.
• Knowledge of GRC, S/4HANA Public Cloud Finance, and IFRS/GAAP compliance setups. Success Measures
• Quality of Finance solution design across engagements.
• Talent development and competency maturity (certifications, niche skills).
• Presales win rate and solution differentiation.
• Customer satisfaction and referenceability.
• Delivery success across programs (design stability, defect density, audit/controls).

📌 FICO Competency Lead – Associate Director (India)
🏢 Bristlecone
📍 India