Business Deployment & Readiness Manager (m/w/d)

Job Title: ERP Deployment & Business Readiness Manager

Location: Düsseldorf, hybrid with occasional travel to deployment sites
Start Date: January 2027
Contract Type: Contract / Freelance
Language: English required

Overview

We are seeking an experienced ERP Deployment & Business Readiness Manager to support a large-scale business transformation programme. The successful candidate will play a key role in ensuring the successful deployment of ERP solutions across multiple business entities, driving operational readiness, business testing, cutover activities, hypercare support, and post-go-live stabilization.

This is a hands-on role requiring strong business process knowledge, stakeholder management skills, and proven experience delivering ERP-enabled transformation initiatives in complex international environments.

Key Responsibilities

Business Testing & Quality Assurance

• Lead User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and business regression testing activities.

• Develop and coordinate end-to-end business test scenarios.

• Ensure readiness of test data, user access, test cases, and resources.

• Monitor testing progress and coordinate defect management activities.

• Facilitate issue triage, retesting, and business sign-off processes.

• Collaborate with IT teams to improve testing efficiency and support automation initiatives.

Business Readiness & Cutover Management

• Develop and maintain business readiness and cutover plans.

• Coordinate readiness activities across business and functional teams.

• Ensure users are trained and prepared for new business processes.

• Lead cutover rehearsals and readiness review sessions.

• Track dependencies, risks, and critical actions prior to go-live.

• Support business continuity planning and contingency preparations.

• Facilitate go/no-go decision-making through readiness reporting and risk assessment.

• Coordinate cutover execution and post-deployment operational validation.

Hypercare & Post-Go-Live Support

• Lead business-facing hypercare activities following deployment.

• Coordinate business users, process owners, project teams, and IT support functions.

• Manage and prioritize issue backlogs based on business impact.

• Ensure prompt investigation and resolution of system, process, data, access, and training-related issues.

• Provide regular status reporting and escalation management.

• Oversee the transition from hypercare into steady-state support.

• Drive stabilization of critical business processes after deployment.

Continuous Improvement & Delivery

• Identify process and system improvement opportunities.

• Work closely with business stakeholders and IT teams to prioritize enhancements.

• Coordinate requirements gathering, testing, delivery, and business validation activities.

• Manage project plans, risks, dependencies, and reporting.

• Capture lessons learned and contribute to the continuous improvement of deployment methodologies and practices.

• Balance ongoing improvement initiatives with business stabilization priorities.

Required Experience

• Proven experience supporting ERP deployment, transformation, or implementation programmes.

• Strong hands-on experience with UAT, business testing, cutover planning, go-live support, and hypercare activities.

• Excellent understanding of end-to-end business processes and cross-functional dependencies.

• Experience assessing operational risks and translating business requirements into practical testing and deployment plans.

• Strong project management and coordination skills.

• Ability to work directly with business stakeholders and challenge risks or gaps in readiness where required.

• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams across business and IT functions.

• Hands-on experience using Jira for defect, action, and backlog management.

• Hands-on experience using ServiceNow for incident tracking and support coordination.

• Fluent English communication skills.

• Willingness to travel when required to support critical deployment and go-live activities.

Desirable Experience

• SAP S/4HANA implementation or deployment experience.

• Experience within manufacturing, industrial, engineering, or project-based environments.

• Business process management, key-user, or operational business experience.

• Familiarity with Tricentis Tosca for automated testing.

• Experience with SAP Signavio Process Insights.

• PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification.