Principal ERP Program Manager

Who this role is best for

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Skills & requirements

About the role

Who We Are:

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. 

Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success:  

Runner First 

We act in the best interest of the runner

Word is Bond 

We do what we say we’ll do 

Champion Heart  

We give our all in everything we do  

There is no “I” in Run 

We stay generous with our humanity 

Keep Moving 

We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!

We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement - because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.   

Responsibilities::

Integrated Planning & Deliver

• Serve as the senior program voice to Finance, Supply Chain, and Sales/Customer Service leadership: provide options, a recommendation, and the reasoning behind it, in addition to program status reporting

• Drive decisions on requirements, protect MVP scope and process standardization versus local variation, clearly articulating trade-offs so leaders can make informed choices

• Refine and operate the established four-tier governance model (Executive Committee, Steering Committee, Solution Governance Group, execution teams), and own program-level decisions and the escalation path between tiers

• Manage expectations on scope, timeline, capacity and change impact using best judgement and candor early rather than escalation later

Executive Partnership & Decision-Making

• Serve as the senior program voice to Finance, Supply Chain, and Sales/Customer Service leadership: provide options, a recommendation, and the reasoning behind it, in addition to program status reporting

• Drive decisions on requirements, protect MVP scope and process standardization versus local variation, clearly articulating trade-offs so leaders can make informed choices

• Refine and operate the established four-tier governance model (Executive Committee, Steering Committee, Solution Governance Group, execution teams), and own program-level decisions and the escalation path between tiers

• Manage expectations on scope, timeline, capacity and change impact using best judgement and candor early rather than escalation later

Budget, Value & Capacity

• Own the bottoms-up program budget in line with Steerco/Director approval (services, licenses, internal and contractor resourcing, tools, travel and contingency) and the assumptions underneath every budget line

• Connect the work to its value and its cost: explain what a scope, resourcing or sequencing decision buys Brooks and what it consumes, and present the reasoning with conviction to the steering committee

• Forecast program spend, explain variances and drive corrective action before a variance becomes a change request.

• Own capacity and resourcing across the core and supplemental team, including recruitment and onboarding for contractor roles still open

Leading the Project Management Team

• Lead delivery of Senior Project Managers across workstreams and regions, setting clear standards for delivery, planning quality and status integrity

• Build trust and the lightweight structures that empower Senior Project Managers to lead their workstreams without escalating for permission, enabling more seamless decision makingrather than burdensome

• Coach on dependency and risk reasoning, and resolve risks that span across workstreams

• Clarify roles, responsibilities and decision rights across internal teams, partners and regions so accountability is clear

Partner Management

• Own delivery accountability of Infor as systems integrator and software vendor, holding delivery to outcomes and deliverable quality Manage statements of work, milestones and acceptance; define and price change orders and lead contract review, with the Director setting commercial limits and finalizing agreements

• Maintain a running view of planned versus earned value against each statement of work, working with Senior Project Managers: what has been invoiced against what has been delivered and accepted

Change Management, Training & Adoption

• Partner with the OCM lead to shape a change and adoption strategy. The OCM lead owns stakeholder impact assessment, communications and training (Project team training, trainthe-trainer, end-user enablement, knowledge base and other learning & adoption aids)

• Right-size the OCM effort: enough to land the change with the business, without ceremony that consumes capacity and produces artifacts nobody uses

• Measure readiness and adoption and adjust plans for go-live and hypercare based on data findings.

Risk, Cutover & Compliance

• Maintain the program RAID log, ensuring risks are accurately assessed, quantitatively and qualitatively, for prioritization.

• Drive a structured cutover strategy (mock cutovers, rollback criteria, contingencies) that  protects order-to-cash, distribution and financial close, and own the go/no-go recommendation

• Ensure adherence to IT controls, InfoSec standards, and data privacy and regulatory requirements across regions

Steady-State Ownership (Post Go-Live)

• Own release and change governance for continuous CloudSuite updates, including impact assessment, regression scope, business sign-off and a release calendar that avoids peak business periods

• Own the enhancement roadmap and demand intake and maintain a prioritized backlog

• Identify, prioritize and deliver AI-enabled productivity use cases leveraging Infor Velocity Suite, measuring success by realized benefits

• Lead ERP enablement in new regions and initiatives that enable new enterprise capability for Brooks: localization, statutory and tax requirements, regional integrations and a repeatable rollout playbook

• Guard the standardization decisions made during implementation against exceptions and local variation reaccumulating

• Measure value realization against the approved business case and report results to program sponsors who approved it

• Own vendor assessment and manage the steady-state commercial relationship with Infor ERP, including license and subscription optimization, support performance and the renewal cycle activities

• Sustain adoption through the super-user network, refresher trainings and own a continuous improvement agenda in partnership with the business

Qualifications::

Required: 

• Bachelor’s degree in information systems, Computer Science, Business, Engineering, or related field; or equivalent experience

• Consulting experience leading Cloud ERP implementation for clients, with end-to-end accountability from program inception through cutover and sustained adoption, as a program manager, principal or director at a systems integrator or consulting firm; or equivalent accountability as a Senior Manager or Director of Enterprise Solutions, ERP or comparable IT leader who established and delivered a Cloud ERP program.

• 10+ years leading large-scale multi-region enterprise technology programs/projects with increasing responsibility, ideally in CPG or Sporting Goods/Fashion Retail

• At least three full lifecycle Cloud ERP implementations (e.g., Infor CloudSuite, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Oracle Cloud ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365) carried from mobilization through go-live and hypercare, with at least one led from the accountable seat

• Experience both establishing and delivering a program: personally, authoring the charter, governance model, integrated plan, baseline budget and resourcing model, then carrying that same program through build, test and go-live, with the judgment to complete a framing someone else started

• Hands-on command of bottoms-up financial modeling and resource planning, owning and defending the assumptions

• Excellent communication skills and executive presence at steering committee and executive level, with a track record of recommendations that senior leaders acted on, and outcomes to show for it

• Proven track record owning cross-functional outcomes across IT and business teams

• Experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets and large blended teams (internal, contractor, vendor), including exposure to commercial negotiation of scope and change

• Strong understanding of end-to-end business processes (O2C, P2P, R2R, Inventory & Supply Planning, Distribution & Logistics), deep enough to challenge a design decision

Preferred:

• Infor CloudSuite or M3 implementation experience

• Experience in apparel/footwear, consumer products, or retail

• Experience carrying an ERP platform into steady state: release governance, enhancement roadmap, and post-go-live continuous improvement

• Change management certification (e.g., Prosci) or substantial large-scale change experience

• Professional certifications: PMP, PgMP, or equivalent

At Brooks, we celebrate diversity & equity. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment, and encourage people of all backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and skills to apply. Brooks is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, two-spirit identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, the presence of a physical, mental, or sensory disability, marital status, pregnancy (including childbirth and related conditions), caste, citizenship or immigration status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, actual or perceived victims of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking, HIV or Hepatitis C infection, political ideology, use of a trained service animal by a person with a disability, or on any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law, or any other non-merit based factors.

Source: Brooks Running careers (Lever)