Manager Business Relationship

DEPARTMENT:

JOB SUMMARY:

The Business Relationship Manager (BRM) plays a pivotal role in fostering strategic partnerships with key business leaders and stakeholders. This individual will develop a deep understanding of specific business areas, including their goals, challenges, and priorities—and identify opportunities where technology can drive measurable value. Serving as the primary bridge between IT and core grocery functions such as Merchandising, Supply Chain, Finance, Store Operations, and Distribution, the BRM ensures that business needs are effectively translated into technology solutions.

The ideal candidate brings extensive expertise in SAP S/4HANA and a comprehensive understanding of grocery retail operations to support modernization and enterprise-wide optimization efforts. This role is instrumental in leading strategic initiatives, process improvements, and digital transformation, ultimately enhancing both customer experience and operational efficiency in a competitive retail environment.

In addition to driving solution delivery, the BRM will help build compelling business cases to support initiative prioritization and investment decisions. They will act as a trusted liaison between business units, IT, and cross-functional teams to champion business needs and ensure value realization. The successful candidate must demonstrate strong business analysis and project management skills, along with the ability to oversee the day-to-day direction, planning, and support of enterprise applications across multiple lines of business. Experience managing large-scale software implementations and a collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset are essential.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Initiate and develop relationships with business users to build rapport and credibility as well as develop a deep knowledge of assigned program area(s)
• Perform research and take advantage of learning and development opportunities to gain an understanding of business strategies, competitor capabilities, and industry and technology trends
• Identify opportunities and innovative ideas which have the potential to streamline/automate processes, reduce costs or staff effort, improve quality, solve real business problems, and/or grow the sales 
• Facilitate and manage business requests, facilitate the creation of business cases and roadmaps, and set appropriate stakeholder and user expectations
• Ensure business value realization and optimization, from value plans through consultancy, business case development, financial awareness, managing expectations, and identifying opportunities to add value
• Ensures business benefits associated with IT projects are quantified and realized including determining metrics and data necessary to demonstrate cost/time savings and/or value added
• Work with Business Analysts and others to gather, document, and prioritize business requirements, assess options, risks, and costs, assist in the identification, evaluation, and design of technical and non-technical solutions, and develop and execute test plans
• Serve as liaison between IT and business end users
• Advocate within IT, helping the delivery teams better understand business strategies and actions
• Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills as well as superior listening, critical thinking, and probing skills – with subtlety, tact, and diplomacy
• Assist business stakeholders with communication, training, and change management
• Serve as the strategic partner between IT and business stakeholders across the grocery enterprise, including Category Management, Inventory, Procurement, and Store Ops.
• Translate business challenges into scalable technology solutions within the SAP S/4HANA platform, including modules such as Retail, Finance (FI/CO), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), and Materials Management (MM)
• Lead end-to-end project delivery—gathering requirements, mapping business processes, developing solutions, and ensuring effective roll-out and adoption
• Support SAP S/4HANA roadmap development and guide future-state architecture for core grocery functions such as promotions, pricing, POS integration, and fresh item management
• Drive standardization and automation while considering regulatory compliance and operational complexities specific to the grocery sector

REQUIREMENTS / QUALIFICATIONS:

• Education and Experience: 
  • Bachelor’s degree in information systems, Computer Science, Business, or a related field
  • 10 years of experience in Business Relationship Management, IT project leadership, or similar roles
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience with SAP S/4HANA (grocery or retail environment preferred)
  • Strong understanding of the retail business landscape, with exposure to functions such as Marketing, Store Operations, Distribution, Logistics, Warehousing, Accounting, and Administration

• SAP and Technical Expertise:
  • In-depth knowledge of SAP S/4HANA modules relevant to the grocery industry, including Retail, SD (Sales & Distribution), MM (Materials Management), and FICO (Finance & Controlling).
  • Familiarity with grocery-specific processes including pricing, replenishment, planograms, vendor integration, and perishable inventory management
  • Strong background in structured systems analysis and design, as well as experience with data and information management and end-user reporting tools
  • Experience with program/portfolio management and business analysis, including requirements definition and solution evaluation

• Communication and Collaboration: 
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to clearly convey complex or technical concepts in a business-friendly language
  • Proven ability to build and manage relationships across all levels of an organization, from store managers to executive leadership
  • Skilled in presentation, conflict resolution, stakeholder engagement, and negotiation

• Soft Skills and Professional Attributes: 
  • Highly analytical, detail-oriented, and intellectually curious
  • Strong organizational, problem-solving, and troubleshooting abilities
  • Adaptable and capable of working effectively in a fast-paced, high-volume, and diverse environment
  • Self-motivated, with the ability to work both independently and collaboratively