Engineering Lead – ERP Services

About Us The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide. At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Together, we help audiences stay better informed and deepen their understanding of the world around them. Our Product & Tech teams drive us forward in an ever-evolving digital landscape, delivering cutting-edge products to over one million digital subscribers daily. Our growth relies on a diverse, dedicated and dynamic group of product, tech, delivery and data specialists. With a supportive culture, entrepreneurial spirit and opportunities at every turn, there are no limits to where your FT career can take you. Build a newsworthy career at the FT. Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups. About you You are an experienced engineering leader with strong knowledge of ERP or similarly complex enterprise platforms and a track record of leading teams responsible for business-critical technology. You combine people leadership with credible technical judgement. You are comfortable setting direction, making engineering decisions and working with your team on complex technical problems, while creating the ownership and autonomy for engineers to succeed. You understand that enterprise platform engineering goes beyond implementing configuration or coordinating vendors. You think about the entire technology capability: the core platform, integrations, data flows, extensions, operational processes, security, resilience and how the platform evolves over time. You are comfortable working closely with Finance and other business stakeholders, translating priorities and requirements into sustainable technology solutions and constructively challenging approaches that create unnecessary complexity or risk. You are also interested in building capability. You can identify gaps in skills and knowledge, develop engineers and create a team that understands and genuinely owns its technology rather than relying disproportionately on individual specialists or external partners. About the team ERP Services sits within Corporate Technology, part of Internal Products, and owns the engineering capabilities supporting critical Finance and enterprise business processes across the FT. The team is responsible for the engineering, operation and continuous evolution of our ERP technology estate, including Oracle Fusion and the integrations, data flows and supporting capabilities that connect it to the wider FT technology landscape. ERP Services works closely with Finance, Product, Architecture, Integration & Engineering Services, Security and other Corporate Technology teams to ensure these critical enterprise capabilities remain reliable and can evolve as the needs of the organisation change. We are strengthening the engineering leadership and platform expertise within ERP Services as part of a wider evolution of the Corporate Technology operating model. The Engineering Lead will establish clear platform and team ownership, reporting to the Principal Engineer – Corporate Technology. What you’ll work on As Engineering Lead – ERP Services , you will own the engineering, operation and continuous evolution of the FT’s ERP technology capability. You will lead the ERP engineering team, providing people leadership, technical direction and clear accountability for the health and performance of the platforms and services the team owns. A key part of the role will be strengthening our internal ERP engineering capability. You will develop the technical knowledge of the team, establish clear ownership of platforms and services and ensure we have the skills and understanding required to operate and evolve our ERP estate effectively. You will work closely with Product and Finance stakeholders to understand business priorities and translate them into engineering plans, balancing new capabilities and business change with platform health, technical debt and operational investment. You will also work with the Principal Engineer and Architecture to ensure decisions within ERP Services support the longer-term direction of Corporate Technology and the wider FT technology estate. Your responsibilities will include Engineering & Platform Ownership Owning the engineering, operation and continuous evolution of the ERP technology capability. Providing clear technical direction for the platforms, integrations and supporting services owned by ERP Services. Ensuring ERP platforms remain secure, resilient, scalable, maintainable and appropriately supported. Establishing clear ownership across the team for systems, integrations and technical capabilities. Ensuring engineering decisions consider reliability, security, operability, maintainability, cost and long-term sustainability. Maintaining visibility of platform health, technical debt, lifecycle risks and significant dependencies. Working with the Principal Engineer and Architecture on material technical decisions and longer-term platform direction. Ensuring the team maintains sufficient technical understanding of its platforms to make informed decisions and challenge external recommendations. People & Engineering Leadership Leading, supporting and developing the engineers within ERP Services. Setting clear expectations and providing regular coaching, feedback and career development. Building a team culture based on ownership, accountability, collaboration and constructive technical challenge. Developing ERP and enterprise platform expertise across the team rather than allowing critical knowledge to remain concentrated in individuals. Identifying capability and skills gaps and developing plans to address them through development, recruitment or appropriate external expertise. Creating opportunities for engineers to take greater technical ownership and develop their leadership capability. Supporting recruitment and building a resilient team with the skills required for the future ERP technology landscape. Ensuring appropriate succession and knowledge sharing across critical areas. Delivery & Planning Working with Product to translate business priorities and technology strategy into clear engineering plans and deliverable outcomes. Owning engineering planning and resource allocation within ERP Services. Ensuring engineering capacity appropriately balances business change, platform improvement, operational work and technical debt. Identifying technical dependencies, risks and constraints early and ensuring these are visible in planning and prioritisation. Ensuring delivery commitments are realistic and supported by appropriate technical understanding. Working across teams where initiatives involve multiple platforms, integrations or engineering capabilities. Providing clear visibility of engineering progress, risks and trade-offs to Product, technology leadership and relevant stakeholders. ERP Platform Evolution Developing a clear understanding of the current ERP estate and identifying opportunities to simplify, modernise and improve it. Working with Product, Architecture and the Principal Engineer to shape the longer-term evolution of ERP technology. Evaluating platform capabilities and determining when requirements should be addressed through standard functionality, configuration, integration or other engineering approaches. Challenging unnecessary customisation and complexity where more sustainable solutions are available. Ensuring platform upgrades, new capabilities and significant changes are introduced safely and sustainably. Understanding vendor roadmaps and assessing their implications for the FT’s technology direction and investment decisions. Ensuring technical debt and lifecycle concerns are actively managed rather than accumulating through incremental business change. Integration & Enterprise Technology Ensuring the team understands and owns the integrations and data flows connecting ERP with the wider FT technology estate. Working closely with Integration & Engineering Services and other platform teams to establish clear ownership of cross-system capabilities. Ensuring integrations follow appropriate FT engineering and architectural standards. Identifying opportunities to simplify interfaces, reduce duplication and improve reliability. Supporting technical decisions that span ERP, Tax, People and other Corporate Technology capabilities. Ensuring changes within ERP appropriately consider downstream and upstream impacts. Operational Excellence & Risk Owning the operational performance of ERP Services and ensuring critical services are appropriately monitored and supported. Establishing effective approaches to observability, incident management, problem management, change management and operational readiness. Ensuring recurring incidents and operational problems are investigated to their underlying causes and addressed sustainably. Maintaining appropriate approaches to resilience, disaster recovery and business continuity. Ensuring relevant security, data governance, compliance and technology standards are met. Maintaining visibility of material operational and technical risks and ensuring appropriate mitigation plans are in place. Using operational insight to inform engineering priorities and platform investment. Vendors & Technology Partners Managing the technical relationship with ERP vendors, implementation partners and specialist service providers. Ensuring external partners are used effectively while maintaining clear internal engineering ownership. Providing informed technical challenge to vendor recommendations and proposed solutions. Ensuring externally delivered work meets FT engineering, security and operational expectations. Building internal knowledge from vendor and partner engagements rather than allowing expertise to remain externally concentrated. Contributing technical input to vendor performance, technology selection and investment decisions. Stakeholder & Cross-Team Collaboration Building strong working relationships with Product, Finance and other business stakeholders. Translating business requirements and priorities into clear engineering implications, options and trade-offs. Helping stakeholders understand platform constraints, technical risks and investment requirements. Partnering with the Principal Engineer, Architecture, Security and other engineering leaders on decisions that cross platform or organisational boundaries. Working constructively with specialist engineers, including Tax and Compliance engineering, on shared capabilities and dependencies. Representing ERP Services in relevant engineering and technology forums. Technical and leadership experience we’re looking for Significant experience leading engineering teams responsible for complex, business-critical enterprise technology. Strong experience with ERP platforms or similarly complex enterprise SaaS ecosystems. Experience with Oracle Fusion or comparable enterprise ERP platforms would be highly advantageous. Experience providing both people leadership and technical leadership to engineering teams. Strong understanding of enterprise platform engineering, including integrations, APIs, data flows and system dependencies. Experience owning technology through its full lifecycle, from change and delivery through to production operation and continuous improvement. Experience developing engineering capability and strengthening technical ownership within teams. Experience working with Finance or other complex enterprise business domains. Strong understanding of reliability, security, observability, operational risk and technology lifecycle management. Experience translating business priorities into engineering plans and balancing feature delivery with platform health and technical investment. Experience leading technical decisions involving enterprise SaaS platforms, integrations and supporting services. Experience working with vendors, implementation partners and managed service providers while maintaining internal technical ownership. Experience identifying and addressing technical debt, platform lifecycle concerns and key-person dependencies. Ability to communicate complex technical considerations and trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Experience working effectively with Principal Engineers, architects, Product Managers and other engineering leaders. Experience of major ERP transformation, implementation or modernisation would be advantageous. Characteristics we value Strong engineering judgement and a willingness to remain close to the technology. A strong sense of ownership and accountability for both the team and the platforms it operates. The ability to develop people while setting clear expectations for engineering quality and delivery. Pragmatism when balancing business priorities, technical quality and operational risk. Curiosity and a willingness to develop deep understanding of complex enterprise technology. Confidence challenging vendors, stakeholders and technical colleagues constructively. An instinct for building capability and distributing knowledge rather than becoming the person who owns every technical answer. A collaborative approach to working across Product, business and technology teams. A focus on addressing underlying problems rather than repeatedly managing symptoms. An appreciation for simplicity, resilience and long-term platform sustainability. What’s in it for you? Our benefits Our benefits vary by location, but we are committed to providing best-in-class perks across all our offices. These include generous annual leave, medical cover, inclusive parental leave packages, subsidised gym memberships and opportunities to give back to the community. Full details of our benefits are available on the FT Careers website. We’ve embraced a 50% hybrid working model (averaging two to three days onsite) that fosters trust and remote adaptability while encouraging in-person camaraderie and peer learning. Additionally, we are open to accommodating specific flexible working pattern requests for all roles where feasible. Accessibility We are a disability confident employer and Valuable 500 signatory. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments/personalisation as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements or have any questions, email [email protected] and a member of our team will be happy to help. Further information At the FT, we embrace innovation and the use of technology and appreciate that individuals may leverage AI tools as part of their job application process. Whilst we are happy for you to use AI to assist with your application, it is essential that all information provided is authentic and accurately represents your skills, experience, and qualifications.