ERP Manager

Morgan Advanced Materials is a business rich in history and innovation. Founded in the UK in 1856, we have grown into a global organisation with 70 sites in 18 countries. Our model to serve our customers where they need us has led to a diversified product range using our unparalleled expertise in ceramic and carbon materials, which we exploit to solve difficult problems for our customers across a diverse range of markets.

We are a purpose driven organisation. Our purpose is to use advanced materials to make the world more sustainable and to improve the quality of life. We deliver on that purpose through the products that we make, and the way that we make them.

The Technical Ceramics business of Morgan Advanced Materials engineers high performance functional and structural ceramic materials, components and sub-assemblies to address customer-specific technical challenges.

Key Figures: Revenue £1,114.7m (2023), ~8,500 employees, manufacturing in 20+ countries, and a global customer portfolio. A UK PLC with head office located in Windsor, Berkshire UK.  Listed on London Stock Exchange; Member of the FTSE 250 Index.

Job Purpose

This position is responsible for ensuring the timely and consistent implementation of ERP systems (in conjunction with the Project Highlander team) across the Technical Ceramics GBU. The ERP Project Manager will report into the Technical Ceramics VP of Finance and partner closely with the Digital Transformation Director for Technical Ceramics.  The role requires strong personal leadership, project management skills and a broad industry knowledge to ensure successful execution of the project and strategic initiatives. The position will require close collaboration with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders across multiple facilities and geographic locations and different disciplines, such as Project Highlander, Manufacturing Sites, Supply Chain, Finance, HR, Finance or Commercial.  ERP power-user and ERP deployment experiences are required. 

Essential Functions:

• Coordination
  • Act as a gatekeeper/point of contact with the Project Highlander team
  • Form a trusted relationships with key stakeholders in Project Highlander
  • Coordinate the planned ERP rollout timetable with Technical Ceramics requirements and constraints
  • Ensure a consistent approach and definitions are applied across all Technical Ceramics sites
• Scoping
  • Ensure clear project scope and deliverables are agreed at each site and communicated to key stakeholders, specifically timeline, costing, resource requirements, milestones, risks, functional gaps, and opportunities are identified.
• Planning
  • Support each site, in conjunction with the Project Highlander team to develop comprehensive project plans to deliver the ERP implementation on time and within budget and resource constraints.
• Execution
  • Ensure orderly delivery against project plan, meeting timeline, costing and operational requirements. Monitor project progress, budget and performance metrics to ensure timely completion and achievement of business objectives.
  • Work with local site management teams with the identification of local resources to be accountable/responsible for site ERP implementation. Identify any skills gaps and propose solutions to resolve these.
  • Support sites in the completion of their deliverables to enable successful ERP implementation, including support to data cleansing/preparation.
  • Identify tradeoffs required and communicate these to key stakeholders.
  • Implement change management strategies to support employees through the transition and minimize disruptions to operations.
  • Manage stakeholder expectations and communication channels, including employees, management, suppliers, external providers and the Project Highlander team.
  • Ensure (with the Project Highlander team) that thorough business preparations are completed to enable the ERP implementation at each site, including, consistent data quality, standards, definitions
• Leadership
  • Support site leaders & site cross-functional teams to deliver each site ERP implementation
  • Technical
  • ERP power-user experience required (MS D365 a plus.)
  • ERP deployment experience required.
  • Functional expertise across one or more of these disciplines a plus: Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, or Engineering
  • Spanish language proficiency a plus (but not required.)

Key Performance metrics and objectives:

• Project execution timeline
• Project budget variance

Soft Competencies

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Managing Vision and Purpose – Communicates a compelling and inspired vision or sense of core purpose; talks beyond today; talks about possibilities; is optimistic; creates mileposts and symbols to rally support behind the vision; makes the vision shareable by everyone; can inspire and motivate entire units or organizations.
• Planning – Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks and projects; sets objectives and goals; breaks down work into the process steps; develops schedules and task/people assignments; anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks; measures performance against goals; evaluates results.
• Organizing – Can marshal resources (people, funding, material, support, etc.) to get things done; can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal; uses resources effectively and efficiently arranges information and files in a useful manner.
• Informing – Provides the information people need to know to do their jobs and to feel good about being a member of the team, unit, and/or the organization; provides individuals information so that they can make accurate decisions; is timely with information.
• Comfort Around Higher Management – Can deal comfortably with more senior managers; can present to more senior managers without undue tension and nervousness; understands how senior managers think and work; can determine the best way to get things done with them by talking their language and responding to their needs; can craft approaches likely to be seen as appropriate and positive.
• Business Acumen – Knows how businesses work; knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends, and information affecting his/her business and organization; knows the competition; is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace.

Requirements

• Degree in functional discipline (business, IT, engineering, etc.) or equivalent experience
• Degree in Business or Economics is an advantage
• Experience in Project Management
• Expertise in the management and cleansing of data
• Understanding of ERP systems and implementation
• Advanced English language skills. Spanish language skills a plus
• This position requires use of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and Export-Controlled information which is subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
  • Individual must be a:
    • Citizen of the United States, or
    • Permanent resident alien of the United States, or
    • Protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) as defined by 22CFR120.15

This job description does not state or imply that all duties to be performed are specifically identified above. Employees are required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested or instructed by an authorized person of the Company. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at-will” relationship.

Morgan Advanced Materials is an EEO/AA/M/W/D/V Employer Ind-1