IT Director/ERP & Strategy

Director, ERP & Business Applications

The Director, Business Applications serves as the primary technology partner for a North American business unit, connecting business priorities with practical technology solutions. This leader owns the business application portfolio, including ERP and related systems, day-to-day support, enhancements, demand management, projects, vendor relationships, and stakeholder engagement.

The role partners with enterprise application leaders to align business-unit initiatives with global architecture, standards, roadmaps, and modernization strategies. A key focus is helping define and execute a multi-year ERP modernization roadmap while identifying practical opportunities for AI, automation, and analytics.

Key Responsibilities

Business Partnership & Demand Management

• Serve as the primary IT partner for leaders across manufacturing, finance, sales, customer service, supply chain, and plant operations.
• Translate business priorities, process challenges, and technology needs into actionable plans and measurable outcomes.
• Manage application demand intake, prioritization, communication, budgets, capacity, and roadmaps.
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI, automation, and analytics and coordinate with appropriate delivery teams.

Application Portfolio Leadership

• Own the business application portfolio, including support, enhancements, integrations, upgrades, documentation, governance, and delivery.
• Partner with enterprise application leaders to align ERP investments and modernization efforts with global standards and architecture.
• Develop roadmaps focused on simplification, standardization, consolidation, modernization, and improved system utilization.
• Evaluate application functionality, process fit, maintainability, operational effectiveness, and risk.

ERP Modernization & Transformation

• Help define and execute a multi-year ERP modernization and consolidation strategy.
• Lead or significantly contribute to ERP migrations, upgrades, rationalization, assessments, and transformation initiatives.
• Drive business process harmonization and standardization to support future-state ERP strategies.
• Assess data dependencies, integrations, reporting impacts, process variations, and operational risks.
• Develop implementation strategies, sequencing, business cases, resource plans, risk mitigation, and change management approaches.

Application Support & Delivery

• Provide leadership for application support, escalations, recurring issues, and business-critical incidents.
• Ensure effective issue triage, resolution, root-cause analysis, corrective action, documentation, and communication.
• Coordinate with Infrastructure, Security, Service Desk, Data/BI, and Enterprise Applications teams on cross-functional needs.
• Oversee project delivery, requirements, testing, releases, and ongoing application improvements.

Vendor & Governance Management

• Manage relationships with application vendors, consultants, and service providers.
• Oversee vendor performance, SLAs, deliverables, escalations, contracts, costs, and overall value.
• Ensure application activities follow appropriate security, compliance, change, release, documentation, and IT governance practices.
• Identify and communicate technology, operational, vendor, support, and transformation risks.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in IT, business applications, ERP, business analysis, or technology leadership.
• 5+ years leading application teams, analysts, vendors, projects, or business-facing technology functions.
• Proven experience with ERP migration, consolidation, rationalization, or modernization initiatives.
• Experience with ERP roadmaps, process harmonization, data migration, integrations, testing, cutover, and change management.
• Experience supporting ERP/application portfolios in manufacturing, industrial, distribution, finance, supply chain, or plant environments.
• Manufacturing ERP experience with platforms such as QAD, Solomon, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, Epicor, JD Edwards, or comparable systems strongly preferred.
• Strong experience with requirements, SDLC, project delivery, release management, vendor management, SLAs, KPIs, and cost/value analysis.
• Strong business acumen and communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts into business outcomes and make practical tradeoff decisions.
• Working knowledge of AI, automation, and analytics and their practical application to business processes and productivity.
• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, or related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.

Ideal Candidate

A strategic yet hands-on technology leader who combines strong business partnership skills with proven ERP transformation experience. The successful candidate can develop long-term modernization strategies while maintaining reliable day-to-day application operations, aligning business and IT priorities, and driving practical outcomes across a complex manufacturing environment.

Key Attributes

• Strategic ERP transformation mindset with strong execution discipline.
• Business-focused and outcome-oriented.
• Strong executive and operational stakeholder presence.
• Practical problem solver who balances urgency, governance, cost, and long-term supportability.
• Strong ownership, communication, collaboration, and follow-through.
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on execution levels.

Travel: 10–20%