: 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 robust 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.
- Strong 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 (Maharashtra)
🏢 Bristlecone
📍 Maharashtra