Director of Enterprise Systems & Digital Transformation
We are seeking an experienced, strategic leader to serve as Director of Enterprise Systems & Digital Transformation within our manufacturing organization. This role carries broad accountability for how our enterprise technology landscape is used, evolved, and leveraged to drive business performance. The Director will own ERP/MRP governance and correctness, lead the evaluation and exploration of our ERP platform options, drive our AI strategy and implementation, and provide oversight of IT and Cybersecurity operations through a direct reporting relationship with the Director of IT & Cybersecurity.
This is a senior leadership position with cross-functional influence across Finance, Purchasing, Operations, Sales, and Quality. The ideal candidate will combine deep ERP/MRP expertise with the ability to lead organizational change, build collaborative partnerships across departments, and translate emerging technologies — including AI — into measurable business outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
ERP Governance & Systems Correctness
- Own and enforce correct system usage across all ERP/MRP functions, ensuring data integrity, process compliance, and configuration alignment with business operations.
- Support and enhance enterprise ERP systems across manufacturing, inventory, purchasing, finance, and production planning functions.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to analyze business processes, gather requirements, and identify system improvements that increase efficiency and scalability.
- Troubleshoot system issues and coordinate with internal users, vendors, and implementation partners as needed.
- Develop reports, queries, and data analysis using SQL or other reporting tools.
- Design and develop Power BI dashboards and operational reports to provide real-time visibility into manufacturing, supply chain, and financial performance metrics.
- Train end users on new processes, workflows, and system functionality.
- Maintain data integrity, security, and compliance with internal IT standards and controls.
ERP Evaluation & Strategic Roadmap
- Lead the organization’s ERP/MRP strategic assessment, serving as the primary internal owner of the evaluation process — including current-state analysis, requirements gathering, and vendor landscape review.
- Drive and own the long-term ERP/MRP strategic direction and technology roadmap in close partnership with senior leadership, bringing informed recommendations on whether to optimize the current platform, pursue a new solution, or pursue a phased approach.
- Facilitate structured ERP evaluation activities including vendor demonstrations, fit-gap analysis, total cost of ownership modeling, and stakeholder input — ensuring leadership has the information needed to make a well-informed decision.
- Lead or contribute to ERP optimization, upgrade, and integration projects on the current platform while the evaluation process is underway.
- Evaluate and recommend solutions related to ERP functionality, automation, AI capabilities, and operational efficiencies regardless of platform direction.
- Support Agile-based project initiatives and maintain flexibility to execute in either an optimization or migration scenario based on leadership’s decision.
AI Strategy & Implementation
- Define and lead the company’s AI strategy, identifying use cases across operations, supply chain, finance, and customer-facing functions that deliver measurable efficiency and competitive advantage.
- Evaluate and pilot AI-enabled business tools, ERP-integrated AI capabilities, and emerging automation technologies.
- Serve as the organization’s internal champion for responsible AI adoption, establishing frameworks for governance, data readiness, and change management.
- Stay current on developments in AI, machine learning, and enterprise automation; translate trends into actionable recommendations for leadership.
IT & Cybersecurity Oversight
- Provide strategic direction and leadership oversight to the Director of IT & Cybersecurity, who reports directly into this role.
- Ensure alignment between IT infrastructure, software currency, and the enterprise systems roadmap.
- Maintain executive-level accountability for the organization’s NIST cybersecurity framework and overall security posture, in partnership with the Director of IT & Cybersecurity.
- Establish a clear accountability boundary: this role owns what our systems do and where they are going; the Director of IT & Cybersecurity owns how those systems run and how secure they are.
Cross-Functional Partnership
- Serve as the primary systems partner for Finance (AP/AR, GL, costing, reporting), Purchasing (POs, vendor management, supplier capacity), Operations (production, inventory, scheduling, MRP, capacity planning), Sales (orders, quoting, CRM, revenue reporting), and Quality (document control, ERP and document control item creation and modification).
- Build and sustain collaborative relationships across all departments, influencing outcomes and aligning stakeholders without direct authority.
- Navigate ambiguity and competing priorities across departments; build trust and deliver results through relationships rather than reporting structures.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience.
- 8+ years of experience supporting and leading ERP systems within a manufacturing environment, with at least 3 years in a senior or leadership capacity.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing business processes including MRP, BOMs, routing, scheduling, inventory, and supply chain operations.
- Demonstrated experience leading or contributing to ERP evaluation, selection, and/or full-cycle implementation — candidates with experience in structured ERP assessment processes are strongly preferred.
- Proven leadership experience, including managing or providing oversight of technical staff or functional leads.
- Experience with Power BI for dashboard development and operational reporting, including data modeling and DAX.
- Familiarity with Infor, Oracle, or similar enterprise ERP platforms.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and executive communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to drive cross-functional collaboration across operations, finance, supply chain, and IT.
- Knowledge of AI-enabled business tools and emerging ERP technologies.
- Experience in Agile project environments is preferred.
- Familiarity with NIST cybersecurity frameworks is a plus.
Preferred Skills
- Experience leading or participating in ERP evaluation and selection processes, including fit-gap analysis, vendor scoring, and total cost of ownership modeling; implementation experience a strong plus.
- Background in discrete or contract manufacturing environments is a plus; experience with injection molding, assembly, or sheet metal manufacturing is particularly relevant.
- Experience integrating ERP systems with MES, CRM, or other enterprise applications.
- Hands-on experience with Power BI, SQL-based reporting, and process automation tools; ability to build dashboards that translate operational ERP data into executive-level insights.
- Exposure to Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma initiatives.
- Experience with compliance standards including NIST, DFARS, or FAR.
- Track record of successfully championing and implementing AI or automation initiatives in an operational environment.
