Business Systems Manager

Description

Summary:

Gardner White is seeking a results-driven Business Systems Manager with experience leading ERP analysts, partnering with business stakeholders, and supporting enterprise-wide system implementations from design through go-live and post-production support. Skilled in project governance, testing coordination, data migration validation, cutover readiness, issue resolution, and change management. Demonstrated ability to provide functional leadership across sales, warehouse, inventory, procurement, and integrated business processes while developing high-performing teams and establishing scalable support models. Known for translating business requirements into effective system solutions, driving process standardization, and ensuring successful adoption of new ERP capabilities.

Job Responsibilities: 

Implementation & Project Delivery

• Take an active, hands-on role in day-to-day project work for the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition implementation, working alongside SAP Services, integration partners, and the ERP analyst team.
• Review configuration, process designs, and functional specifications for fit with Gardner-White's business and with SAP standard; flag gaps early and help drive decisions to closure.
• Coordinate and track the team's project deliverables, including test scripts, data migration validation, key user training materials, and cutover tasks.
• Help plan and run system integration testing and user acceptance testing, including defect triage, retesting, and sign-off with business owners.
• Support data migration by guiding analysts through pre-load and post-load validation and the resolution of data quality issues.
• Help maintain the project RAID log (risks, actions, issues, decisions) and raise risks that affect go-live readiness.
• Act as a functional voice in project meetings, design sessions, and status reviews, and step in for the Director of Business Systems when needed.

Team Leadership & Analyst Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of four ERP analysts as they move from supporting Storis to supporting SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.
• Support the analysts in owning their functional areas (including warehouse management and sales) rather than taking that ownership over; review their work, answer the questions they cannot yet answer, and help them grow into the experts for their areas.
• Build an individual SAP skill plan for each analyst and track progress toward independent support.
• Use the implementation and hypercare period for knowledge transfer: pair analysts with SAP Services consultants and make sure what the consultants know stays at Gardner-White.
• Set the standard for how the team works a support ticket: reproduce the issue, trace the document flow, document the fix, and close the loop with the business.
• Serve as the escalation point between the analysts and the Director of Business Systems.

Cross-Functional Process Guidance

• Provide senior functional guidance on issues that cross process boundaries, such as how a sales order drives a delivery, a warehouse task, a stock movement, and a financial posting.
• Help the analysts work through end-to-end scenarios that touch more than one area, including special orders, direct-ship orders, stock transfers, customer deliveries, and returns.
• Understand how SAP connects to DataXstream OMS+, DispatchTrack, and other integrated systems well enough to help the team isolate where a problem starts.

IT Service Management & Production Support

• Establish and run the day-to-day SAP support model using ITIL-aligned practices for incident, service request, problem, and change management.
• Define ticket categories, priorities, and service levels in the ITSM tool, and report on ticket volume, aging, and service level performance.
• Determine whether an issue is configuration, master data, user process, integration, or an SAP defect, and route it accordingly.
• Manage the day-to-day working relationship with Gardner-White's Application Management Services (AMS) partner and decide what the internal team owns versus what goes to the AMS partner.
• Ensure SAP support cases opened through SAP for Me are well documented, correctly prioritized, and followed through to resolution.
• Lead problem management on recurring issues: identify root cause, document known errors and workarounds, and drive permanent fixes so the same problem does not come back.

Change Management, Release & Testing

• Run change requests through a defined change management process with appropriate review, testing, and approval before production.
• Evaluate change requests against SAP standard first and recommend extensions only when a business need cannot be met by standard functionality or a process change.
• Coordinate functional configuration changes with the SAP Cloud Platform Administrator so changes move through the Development, Quality, and Production landscape correctly.
• Review each semi-annual SAP release for functional impact with the analysts, and summarize what matters for the team and the business.
• Oversee functional regression testing before each release using SAP's Test Automation Tool, with each analyst maintaining test coverage for their area.

Cutover, Go-Live & Hypercare

• Help plan and execute cutover, including mock cutover rehearsals, go/no-go readiness, and the cutover runbook.
• Lead the analyst team through go-live and hypercare, prioritizing issues by business impact and keeping stakeholders informed.
• Lead the transition from project mode to steady-state support, including handoff from the implementation partner to the internal team and AMS partner.

Agile Delivery & Documentation

• Manage the team's enhancement and project backlog using agile practices: work with business owners to prioritize, plan work in sprints or a Kanban flow, and hold regular stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Use support data and retrospectives to improve how the team works and to reduce recurring demand.
• Build and maintain a support knowledge base of process documentation, how-to guides, and known-issue resolutions for analysts and key users.
• Develop and deliver training for key users in the warehouse, stores, and customer service.

Requirements

Qualifications needed to perform this position:

• Bachelor’s degree in information systems, Supply Chain, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 7+ years of hands-on SAP functional experience, as a consultant, business analyst, or in-house support lead.
• Hands-on functional experience in at least one of the following areas, and enough understanding of the others to guide analysts and work issues that cross areas:
• Warehouse and inventory management (Extended Warehouse Management or embedded EWM, inventory management, physical inventory, stock transfers)
• Sales order fulfillment (order to cash, outbound deliveries, billing, returns, third-party and drop-ship orders)
• Sourcing and procurement (purchasing, goods receipt, supplier invoicing)
• Working knowledge of how procurement connects to logistics (purchase orders, goods receipt, supplier invoice) and where logistics transactions are posted to finance; able to trace a document flow from end to end.
• At least one full-cycle SAP implementation, from design or fit-to-standard through testing, cutover, go-live, and hypercare. SAP S/4HANA preferred.
• Hands-on experience with implementation activities: test planning and execution, defect management, data migration validation, and cutover.
• Either 1+ year of hands-on experience with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, or a clear, working understanding of how it differs from on-premise SAP: fit-to-standard, no modifications to SAP code, configuration through Central Business Configuration, key user extensibility, and semi-annual upgrades. This will be discussed in interviews.
• 2+ years leading or mentoring others, as a people manager, team lead, or functional lead on an SAP project.
• Production support experience using ITSM practices (incident, problem, and change management), including working cases with SAP or a support partner.
• Working knowledge of ITIL concepts and experience delivering work using agile methods such as Scrum or Kanban.
• Ability to explain SAP processes clearly to warehouse, store, and customer service staff, and to translate business problems into system terms.

Preferred

• Hands-on experience with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, especially in a retail setting.
• More than one full-cycle implementation, or an implementation completed from the customer side rather than as a consultant.
• SAP certification in a relevant S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition area (such as Sales or Sourcing and Procurement), or in S/4HANA warehouse management.
• Retail experience, especially furniture, appliance, or other big-ticket retail with special orders and home delivery.
• Experience with DataXstream OMS+, DispatchTrack, TrueCommerce EDI, or point-of-sale integrations.
• Experience with SAP Cloud ALM and the Test Automation Tool.
• Familiarity with the SAP Activate methodology and fit-to-standard workshops.
• Experience helping a team move from a legacy or homegrown ERP to SAP.
• ITIL 4 Foundation certification or equivalent ITSM training.
• Agile certification or training, such as Scrum Master (CSM or PSM) or SAFe.
• Experience ad

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position will manage a team of 4 ERP analysts.

Work Environment:

This position is primarily based at Gardner-White's Corporate headquarters in Bloomfield Hills, MI with hybrid flexibility. Occasional visits to the warehouse and retail locations are expected. Extended hours may be needed during go-live, hypercare, release upgrades, and critical incidents.

Physical Demands:

Ability to work at a computer for extended periods and occasionally lift up to 25 pounds.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:

This is a full-time position, on-site hybrid role at Gardner-White Corporate (Bloomfield Hills, MI). Schedule may vary based on project milestones and business needs. Extended hours may be required during go-live and hypercare, semi-annual release upgrade windows (February and August), peak sales periods, and critical system incidents.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, duties, or responsibilities associated with the role. 

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.