Platform Owner, Finance Technology (Oracle ERP/EPM, Kyriba)

Position Summary 

The Platform Owner, Finance Technology is responsible for the strategy, governance, lifecycle, and performance outcomes of Guardian’s financial technology ecosystem. This includes Oracle ERP, Oracle EPM, Kyriba, and a suite of supporting financial applications that enable accounting, FP&A, treasury, tax, procurement, and controllership functions. This leader ensures that Guardian’s financial systems are reliable, scalable, well‑governed, and continuously evolving to support both the company’s current operations and the Journey to ’30 growth and transformation agenda. The role blends strategic leadership with hands‑on oversight of system architecture, process optimization, and cross‑functional enablement and coordination. Serves as the decision owner for platform architecture, configuration standards, and major design tradeoffs across the Oracle financial ecosystem, optimizing enterprise outcomes over individual functional preferences. 

Key Responsibilities 

Strategic Leadership 

• Support the Head of Finance Technology to define and execute the multi‑year roadmap for Guardian’s financial systems, aligned with Finance’s modernization strategy and enterprise technology standards. 

• Own the platform architecture vision and guardrails (configuration patterns, integration standards, data controls) to ensure scalable, reusable solutions across Finance functions.  

• Serve as the escalation point for complex platform decisions and systemic risks (e.g., cross‑module design tradeoffs, integration failures, environment/release constraints), driving resolution and long-term remediation. 

• Serve as the primary technology advisor and decision owner for platform architecture, configuration standards, and integration guardrails to the Head of Finance Technology on system capabilities, process redesign opportunities, and emerging technologies. 

• Establish governance frameworks for financial systems, ensuring compliance, data integrity, and strong internal controls. 

Systems Ownership & Delivery 

• Oversee the end‑to‑end lifecycle of Oracle ERP, Oracle EPM, Kyriba, and related financial applications, including architecture, configuration, integrations, and upgrades. 

• Establish and run platform governance routines (architecture/design reviews, release readiness, change controls) to ensure consistency, auditability, and quality of platform changes.  

• Define and track platform health metrics (availability, incident trends, integration reliability, change failure rate, performance, and security posture) and regularly communicate insights and actions to stakeholders.  

• Drive root-cause resolution for recurring issues by prioritizing systemic fixes (standardization, automation, simplification) over one-off workarounds.  

• Partner with IT, Cybersecurity, Data, Internal Audit, and Enterprise Architecture teams to ensure system reliability, security, and alignment with enterprise standards. 

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, including automation, workflow enhancements, and analytics enablement. 

Team Leadership & Vendor Management 

• Manage and develop a high‑performing team of financial systems professionals, including functional leads, analysts, and administrators. 

• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, and customer‑centricity within the team. 

• Oversee relationships with key technology partners, including Oracle, Kyriba, and implementation/support vendors (Deloitte and others). 

Stakeholder Engagement 

• Act as the primary liaison between Finance and Technology teams, ensuring clear communication, platform intake, governance-based prioritization, and coordination of delivery of platform capabilities. 

• Partner closely with Controllership, FP&A, Treasury, Procurement, and Tax to understand needs and translate them into scalable system solutions. 

• Support Finance leadership with insights on system performance, risks, and opportunities. 

• Provide shared platform capabilities, standards, and guardrails to enable Finance technology teams and downstream products—while functional/domain teams retain accountability for business outcomes and product delivery.   

Platform Governance & Operational Excellence 

• Establish and run platform governance routines (architecture/design reviews, release readiness, change controls) to ensure consistency, auditability, and quality of platform changes.  

• Define and track platform health metrics (availability, incident trends, integration reliability, change failure rate, performance, and security posture) and regularly communicate insights and actions to stakeholders.  

• Drive root-cause resolution for recurring issues by prioritizing systemic fixes (standardization, automation, simplification) over one-off workarounds.  

Qualifications 

• 15+ years of experience in financial systems leadership roles, with deep expertise in Oracle ERP and Oracle EPM. 

• Strong understanding of Kyriba or comparable treasury management systems. 

• Proven experience leading mid‑sized teams and managing complex system landscapes. 

• Demonstrated success driving process transformation and system modernization in a large or matrixed organization. 

• Strong knowledge of financial processes, internal controls, and regulatory requirements. 

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence senior stakeholders. 

• Experience in insurance, financial services, or other highly regulated industries. 

• Background in cloud ERP/EPM implementations or major system upgrades. 

• Familiarity with integration platforms, data governance, and analytics tools. 

• Project management or change management certification (PMP, Prosci, etc.). 

Location:

• Three days a week at a Guardian office in New York, NY; Stamford, CT, Bethlehem, PA or Holmdel, NJ.