Product Owner (Finance)

About the role

Freshfields is looking for a Product Owner (Finance) in London, a senior technology partner to the Finance function who helps shape and deliver technology-enabled change supporting the firm's finance strategy. Working with Finance Services and Technology teams, the role bridges Finance and IT, articulating business problems and opportunities, shaping demand, developing technology roadmaps and investment cases, and leading significant Finance technology programmes. It is not responsible for the day-to-day ownership of core finance systems.

Key responsibilities

• Act as a trusted technology partner to senior Finance stakeholders, translating strategy and business challenges into technology initiatives.
• Work with Finance Services, Finance Systems and Technology colleagues to understand needs and identify opportunities.
• Shape and prioritise technology demand, distinguishing business problems from proposed solutions.
• Develop a forward-looking view of Finance technology priorities and turn them into coherent programmes with clear outcomes, scope, sequencing, dependencies and measures of success.
• Lead early shaping of initiatives: discovery, requirements, options analysis, business cases, investment recommendations and delivery approaches with the IT Delivery team.
• Bring together multidisciplinary teams across Finance, Technology and third parties, and set up programme governance, plans, milestones, risks and decision-making structures.
• Provide leadership across applications, data, integrations, automation, reporting and other technology capabilities, including Elite 3E and the wider Finance application landscape.
• Engage Architecture, Security, Data, Risk, Procurement and other capabilities where required, and give stakeholders a clear view of progress, risks and investment needs.
• Support the definition and tracking of business benefits, challenge stakeholders constructively, and identify ways to simplify processes and improve colleague experience.

Required profile

• Experience working with Finance functions or delivering technology change involving financial processes.
• Understanding of the technology needs of a professional-services or similar complex global organisation.
• Experience leading or coordinating complex technology programmes with multiple workstreams, business functions, technology teams and third parties.
• Experience of Agile, iterative and traditional delivery approaches.
• Experience working with Architecture, Security, Data, Procurement, Risk and other enterprise technology functions.
• Experience taking initiatives from discovery and requirements through delivery, adoption and ongoing improvement.
• Experience with enterprise applications, data, integrations and technology-enabled business processes.

Required skills

• Familiarity with enterprise finance platforms such as Elite 3E, or comparable ERP / practice-management systems.
• Understanding of legal-sector finance concepts such as matter management, time recording, billing, work in progress and financial reporting.
• Strong technology leadership, stakeholder management, communication and programme governance skills.
• Commercial awareness and ability to develop business cases and investment recommendations.