Financial Applications Lead

Thank you for taking a look at the Financial Applications Lead role I posted here on LinkedIN, I appreciate it. A couple things before you start reading this JD... I am a real live human writing this... I realized a while back that looking for work is about as fun as getting your teeth pulled, so I like to add some humor to this and make the job hunting process at least less painful. So, if you see something here that makes you chuckle, that was the intent.

So....let's start the ride.

For this role, social fit is going to be as important as the technical fit. What creates a good 'social fit', well, I am glad you asked. Here are some characteristics:

• This role is for a Law Firm that has been around for about 100 years. One might think...boy, seems stodgy and not ready for technology. Actually, the opposite is true, you will be working with a relatively small team that focus on Financial Applications. They are using technology to help move the firm forward. So, we are seeking that kind of individual that can help see the 'end game' of projects and help pivot the team as they move toward that goal.
• We are looking for someone that can help lead projects. This firm does have a formal PMO, but that formal PMO cannot handle all the upcoming projects. So, if you have some project management skills where you have managed app dev projects from start to finish, that would be great to see.
• This is not a place where there is a lot of excess drama. I am abundantly sure you have all been in environments where 'Joe' in App dev thinks the world revolves around them because they are the most insanely talented people on the planet (they also happen to make sure everyone knows it too). This is not that kind of place. Yep, you will work with talented people, but they aren't going to make you feel like you are lesser than they are.
• This is a place where people share their knowledge with one another. No one is an island and no on hordes their info. So, if you like environments where people share with you and you share with others, this will be a great place for you.

This role is being done onsite in Downtown Chicago (311 West Monroe). This one is being done on a hybrid model...3 days onsite, 2 days remote. If you are not local to Chicago, you would need to relocate to Chicago for this role to be a fit.

This role is permanent and fully benefitted (life, dental, health, PTO, etc). I can only work with US Citizens or Green Card Holders for this role. I cannot work with H1, OPT or EAD Visa Holders for this role. I can only work with US Citizens or Green Card Holders.

Here is the job description

Financial Applications Lead

This role is a permanent role, and I can only work with US Citizens and Green Card Holders for this role (I cannot work with H1, OPT or EAD Visa Holders for this role)

Skill Set Needed: This role will be focused more so on enhancing applications and improving and optimizing this Law Firm's Financial Super Structure as opposed to just support and modification of applications. This role will need someone who is advanced in tech skills and has architectural experience in the Financial Apps space that has Law Firm experience. Aderant is their primary finance application and what they use as their data source. If you do not have Aderant, but do have Elite 3E, that should be fine.

Essentially, we are looking for a Financial Applications Lead Developer that can lead projects, and roll up their sleeves and work on Aderant, IntApp Time, Chrome River and so on. This team has about 30 ancillary systems and API's that they work with...nope, I don't need to have you know them all. I am mentioning the 30 systems because there is a lot of growth in this role...you will grow by learning a lot of new stuff. So, when he has to take vacation and so on, that you can be that individual he can count on to handle issues that inevitably come up. If you are the kind of individual that can help map strategic direction, work with architectural design (we don't need a formal architect), been around the block a bit when it comes to what systems 'work' with one another and which ones simply don't (despite what the sales / account rep says), then we are going to be on the right track.

Here are some of the key responsibilities (I have a lot more to share, but this should give you a solid idea of what we are looking for):

• Works with the hiring manager for this team to assist with leading team members to efficiently coordinate day-to-day activities development and implementations.
• Be that Dangerous Liaison (just adding some humor) between Firm management, sponsors, users and other IT personnel to communicate issues regarding overall operational status of Financial Applications.
• Assist in the management and assignment of open Financial Application vFire tickets.
• Participates in feasibility studies, time/cost benefit estimates, and the analysis and recommendation of vendors/products based on RFP/RFI's.
• Serves as technical lead on projects of increasing size and complexity in that Financial Applications realm at this Law Firm (that is where the Aderant piece comes in).
• Develop and maintain project documentation, including the project brief, project plans, communications plans, project team status, executive status reports, project roles & responsibilities, and maintain the document repositories.
• Participate in business requirements gathering and documentation for Financial Application efforts.
• Define and creates project plans and engage relevant stakeholders for POC's (your hiring manager will help you to determine who those 'relevant' stakeholders are as opposed to individuals who just have random opinions...I am abundantly sure you have all been on projects where everyone thinks they have a relevant opinion...).
• Responsible for the strategic technical architecture, software authoring standards, methodologies and processes, technical project management, implementation planning, and software maintenance, primarily for, but not limited to, Accounting, Finance, Procurement and Pricing applications
• Manages critical data integration processes between financial applications and systems within the Financial Application suite.
• Liaise with third party suppliers with regard to architecture, maintenance, support and problem solving.
• Establish, define and maintain the overall architecture of the financial applications suite.

Here is what we are seeking:

• 6 years in the technology industry with experience in a Professional Services industry (e.g. Accounting Firm, Consulting Firm, Law Firm, etc.) and familiarity with applications that support the Firm’s Accounting department (i.e. time and billing, budgeting, cost recovery, etc.).
• At least 3 years of experience with Aderant or Elite 3E. If you do not have Aderant or 3E, but do have Oracle Financials, or PeopleSoft Financials experience, that should do the trick.
• 6 years Application experience working with ERP, client/server, web-based systems (the world isn't going to fall apart if you don't have this).
• Experience interfacing with senior-level management.
• 5 years of experience with requirements gathering, documentation, process flow diagramming and UAT....we aren't seeking a BA, but if you have been a Lead, you know what I am talking about when it comes to this kind of stuff.
• Strong Project Management skills to tag team with those key Financial Applications skills you bring to the table.
• From a database point of view, these guys use Sql...so, experience with stored procedures, triggers, etc...would be handy.