Copy of Business Engagement Lead - Finance Operations

The Business Engagement Lead – Finance Operations

Accelerant is a data-driven risk exchange connecting underwriters of specialty insurance risk with risk capital providers. Founded in 2018, Accelerant is known for its award-winning AM Best A- (Excellent) rating and operates across more than 20 countries and 250 specialty products.

Strategic Business Partnership

• Serve as the trusted advisor and primary interface for leadership in Finance Operations function.
• Ensure IT investments and initiatives are directly aligned to Finance strategy and business goals.
• Build trust and foster strategic dialogue between Finance and Technology.

Demand Management & Requirements Definition

• Capture, elicit, and document Finance business requirements with precision and clarity.
• Translate business needs into actionable requirements, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture.
• Hand-off requirements to technical delivery teams, while continuing to provide input and act as the business voice during design and build.

Roadmap & Capability Alignment

• Own and manage Finance products and capability roadmaps, ensuring priorities are visible, sequenced, and achievable.
• Define Finance capabilities, processes, and models to create a blueprint for aligning initiatives with enterprise strategy.
• Balance short-term delivery needs with long-term platform capabilities and scalability.

Business Outcome Ownership

• Own all business outcomes delivered by BSGIT for Finance Operations function in Finance.
• Partner with delivery teams to ensure delivered solutions provide measurable business benefit.
• Monitor progress against outcomes, escalate risks, and validate that solutions meet expectations.

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Act as the primary interface with Finance leadership, ensuring business needs and priorities are consistently represented.
• Be accountable for the business outcomes delivered for Finance Operations through BSGIT, ensuring solutions meet expectations across all Finance capabilities.
• Actively engage in Finance leadership forums to align goals, priorities, and outcomes.
• Champion Finance’s needs within enterprise planning and sequencing processes.

Experience

• 10+ years in business engagement / product management / finance–technology partnership roles within Financial Services, Insurance or Tech.
• Proven track record owning business outcomes for Finance while partnering with technology delivery (not accountable for technical delivery).
• Experience leading a small team of Business Engagement resources and orchestrating outcomes across Finance Operations.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex Finance needs into clear, testable requirements and to manage capability/product roadmaps.
• Hands-on exposure working alongside ERP/EPM and Finance transformation programs.
• Professional credentials such as CPA/ACCA/CIMA, or product/analysis certifications.

Skills

• Requirements elicitation & documentation: user stories, acceptance criteria, process mapping, and traceability to outcomes.
• Roadmap & prioritization: demand intake, sequencing, and value-based prioritization with clear success criteria.
• Stakeholder leadership: senior-level facilitation, influence, conflict resolution, and clear, executive-ready communication.
• Portfolio governance: intake triage, dependency/risk management, and outcome tracking across multiple Finance workstreams.
• Financial & analytical acumen: ability to interpret P&L/BS/Cash Flow implications and translate into system/process requirements.
• Change management & adoption: readiness planning, training/enablement, and business process embedding.
• Data literacy: understanding of Finance data models, controls, reporting/MI needs, and regulatory considerations (e.g., audit/SOX).

Preferred

• Experience with the implementation of Coupa or other spend management system(s).
• Familiarity with insurance/finance regulatory frameworks (e.g., SoX, US GAAP) and internal controls.
• Exposure to data & integration ecosystems (e.g., Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, dbt, integration middleware).
• Working knowledge of Agile/Scaled Agile practices and product tooling (e.g., Jira, ADO).