BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION

A Business Engagement Manager translates what a business unit needs into technology investments the IT organization can plan and fund. Few enterprise roles demand equal fluency in ERP portfolio governance and executive-level stakeholder negotiation; the BEM must hold both simultaneously. In large matrixed organizations spanning global supply chain, finance, and clinical operations, that translation work determines whether multi-year IT roadmaps reflect real business imperatives or drift toward technical priorities no one asked for. BRMP or CBRM certification marks the professional standard for this function.

As the Business Engagement Manager, you own the demand pipeline between assigned business units and IT delivery teams, converting strategic priorities into funded capability roadmaps with measurable value plans. You operate within a matrixed IT organization, aligned to one or more functional verticals such as Finance or Supply Chain, and report to a senior IT leadership structure that holds you accountable for portfolio outcomes rather than project tasks alone.

Career Impact: Sustained experience managing IT business cases and multi-year roadmaps within large enterprise environments positions you competitively for Director of IT Strategy or VP of Business Relationship Management.

Business Impact: When this role performs well, ERP investments trace back to specific business KPIs and funding decisions reflect supply chain or finance priorities rather than technology assumptions.

Growth Opportunity: Ownership of the Ideation and Elaborate phases gives you direct exposure to enterprise architecture decisions, building the strategic planning competency that moves BEM professionals toward IT governance and portfolio leadership roles.

• Develop and maintain multi-year business capability roadmaps aligned to functional strategies across Finance, Supply Chain, or Operations verticals.
• Translate business demand into IT supply by creating Business Cases, Value Plans, and Functional Requirements during Ideation and Elaborate phases.
• Partner with business stakeholders and PMO to govern IT project portfolios, ensuring delivery within agreed scope, schedule, and budget.
• Lead working sessions to elicit, document, and prioritize business requirements, data requirements, and system requirements from functional owners.
• Monitor business value realization against approved value plans and communicate performance results to senior leadership periodically.
• Coach business leaders on articulating technology needs and guide them through IT governance processes to build functional self-sufficiency.
• Evaluate vendor proposals and emerging technology options against business capability gaps identified in roadmap planning cycles.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Business Administration, Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent work experience.
• 8 or more years of IT and business functional experience, with demonstrated progression into business relationship or IT strategy roles.
• Proven ability to elicit, document, and prioritize business and functional requirements across complex, multi-stakeholder engagements.
• Experience managing IT project governance processes including ideation, business case development, and requirements elaboration.
• Demonstrated skill in building and sustaining relationships at multiple levels of a matrixed organizational structure.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex analytical material to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience managing external vendor relationships, including product evaluations and contract-stage coordination.

• BRMP, CBRM, or MBRM certification from the BRM Institute, indicating formal competency in business relationship management disciplines.
• PMP or equivalent project management certification alongside hands-on portfolio governance experience in a large enterprise environment.
• Prior experience deploying or supporting Finance ERP systems, with working knowledge of integrated supply chain management platforms.
• Familiarity with business process optimization methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma, DMAIC, or value stream analysis applied within an IT demand context.

• IT portfolio delivery rate: percentage of projects completing within agreed scope, schedule, and budget.
• Value plan realization rate: proportion of approved business cases that achieve stated KPI targets post-implementation.
• Roadmap adoption: number of business capability initiatives advancing from Ideation to Elaborate within each planning cycle.
• Stakeholder satisfaction score (NPS or structured survey), measured against business partners for each active engagement.
• Requirements rework rate: frequency of scope changes attributable to incomplete or misaligned requirements documentation.
• Typical tools: ERP platforms (commonly SAP or Oracle); project portfolio management (commonly Planview or ServiceNow PPM); process modelling (commonly Bizagi or Visio).

• Base Salary Range: $110,000 to $145,000 annually, depending on seniority and industry
• Bonus: Annual performance bonus typically 10% to 15% of base salary
• Equity: RSUs offered at larger public enterprises; less common at mid-market firms
• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer contribution standard
• PTO: 15 to 20 days annually, plus federal holidays
• Common Perks: Hybrid work model, professional certification reimbursement, enterprise learning platforms

Figures are estimates based on general US market benchmarks and may be outdated. Adjust based on location, company size, and seniority level.

Background check completion, including verification of employment history and, where applicable, credit history relevant to roles with financial system access, is a condition of employment. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. Reasonable accommodations are available to applicants with disabilities throughout the hiring process upon request. Candidates must hold valid work authorization for the United States.

The Business Engagement Manager owns IT strategy and roadmap development for assigned healthcare business areas, translating business priorities into technology solutions and leading pre-project solution design. Reporting to senior leadership and collaborating with internal technology teams and external vendors, this role shapes operational efficiency and ensures compliance and regulatory requirements are addressed across a large clinical laboratory environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan, organize, and lead business requirements and priorities for assigned areas.
• Understand business processes and priorities.
• Evaluate and make technology recommendations to enhance business operations.
• Recognize business strategies for assigned business groups.
• Demonstrate working knowledge of industry trends and use this information to maintain continuous improvement.
• Lead pre-project business solution design.
• Create and maintain relationships with internal technology teams and external technology vendors.
• Identify opportunities for operational efficiency.
• Develop long-range technology strategies and maintain the IT Roadmap tied to business imperatives.
• Understand where compliance and regulatory requirements apply.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, business administration, or another discipline relevant to the healthcare industry, or equivalent experience.
• PMP Certification preferred.
• 8-10 years of business, functional, or IT experience.
• 4+ years of project management experience preferred.
• Experience working with external vendors and suppliers.
• Experience working with virtual teams.
• Good understanding of laboratory business processes and challenges.
• Experience working in a large clinical laboratory business within a highly matrixed organizational structure, with a basic understanding of the drug development process.
• Prior experience working in a large pharmaceutical company preferred.
• Strong IT, operational, financial, and strategic planning and development experience.
• Experience working in a global and multicultural organization, including across national and international boundaries.
• Strong time management, planning, and budgeting skills.
• Skilled in delivering presentations and leading meetings.
• Ability to interact with all levels of the organization and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

Embedded within the Finance and Global Supply Chain technology organization, the Business Engagement Manager delivers IT project governance across Ideation, Elaboration, and delivery phases to drive business value and capability growth. Working closely with Finance and Supply Chain business stakeholders, IT project teams, and external vendors, this role advances multi-year roadmaps and ensures business value realization through consultancy, business case development, and continuous improvement.

Core Functions

• Participate in the development and maintenance of multi-year business capability roadmaps.
• Partner with business to plan new joint initiatives, evaluate proposals, and determine how they fit into capability roadmaps and priorities.
• Coach business leaders and enable them to articulate their function's needs and requirements to advance business performance.
• Measure adoption and work with business leadership to develop future roadmaps and opportunities.
• Focus on business value rather than solutions while leading requests through the Ideation and Elaboration phases.
• Advocate for awareness of and focus on business partner strategic plans.
• Create executive-level presentations for corporate management.
• Correlate business value and priorities to planning activities and goal-setting.
• Ensure business value and project KPIs are captured, realized, optimized, and recognized.
• Partner with Finance and Global Supply Chain to ensure a well-managed IT Finance Portfolio.
• Drive working sessions to formulate business strategy, objectives, KPIs, business requirements, data requirements, and system requirements.
• Partner with all IT teams and business stakeholders to successfully deliver projects per the agreed scope, schedule, and budget.
• Ensure business value realization and optimization through consultancy, business case development, financial awareness, managing expectations, and identifying opportunities to add value.
• Educate business partners about processes, roles, and capabilities, and establish communication processes and channels across business functions.
• Measure and communicate business value realized with the business partner periodically.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, communications, computer science, project management, engineering, or a related field; an advanced degree is preferred.
• Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP), Certified Business Relationship Manager (CBRM), or Master of Business Relationship Management (MBRM) preferred.
• Minimum of 12 years of experience in IT.
• Minimum of seven years of experience deploying, enhancing, and supporting Finance IT systems.
• Minimum of five years of experience in a business analyst function.
• Minimum of five years of experience in a project management function.
• Experience collaborating with business stakeholders, business process owners, technical project managers, and technical teams.
• Experience soliciting, documenting, and prioritizing business and functional requirements.
• Experience with process mapping, documenting complex processes, and recommending improvements.
• Experience driving new vendor product evaluations.
• Experience ensuring clear communication and accountability between business stakeholders and IT project delivery teams.
• Advanced written and verbal communication skills, with expert ability to explain complex systems and analytical solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Reporting to senior IT and business leadership, the Business Engagement Manager shapes technology strategy and process improvement by translating complex business requirements into actionable IT solutions across assigned business units. Partnering with the Project Management Office, internal IT functions, and external vendors, this role builds trusted advisory relationships and deploys process automation tools including RPA, Bizagi, Celonis, and UiPath to strengthen operational performance.

Primary Duties

• Collaborate with business partners to establish an understanding of processes and data requirements necessary to implement and sustain new initiatives.
• Participate in business strategy sessions to understand business context and goals, and develop the technology and resourcing roadmaps needed to deliver them.
• Develop effective relationships and become a trusted advisor, acknowledged subject matter expert, and valued member of the business team.
• Communicate, coordinate, and champion all business requirements as input to drive IT strategy and solutions delivery.
• Stimulate innovative thinking, seek out best practices, manage conflict, and drive change.
• Work with business partners to assess and establish priorities for technology-related initiatives within assigned business functions.
• Develop an in-depth understanding of assigned businesses and processes.
• Ensure supporting technology teams have a clear and complete understanding of business requirements.
• Work collaboratively with the Project Management Office and internal IT functions to ensure alignment of IT demand and supply and effective resource planning.
• Interpret internal or external issues and recommend solutions and best practices.
• Direct the resolution of highly complex or unusual business problems by applying advanced analytical thought and judgment.
• Engage with and effectively manage partners, vendors, and contractors.
• Analyze current business process architecture and identify improvement opportunities.
• Understand and apply appropriate modeling tools, including Bizagi, Celonis, and UiPath, to simulate, simplify, and strengthen processes and workflows.
• Understand and deploy the right tools to document and automate process steps using RPA and bots.

Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, business, engineering, or a related discipline preferred.
• Minimum five years of progressive IT experience, preferably in a manufacturing company or similar industry.
• Minimum five years of experience in IT and business relationship management and process improvement.
• Expertise in business process optimization methodologies, including SIPOC, DMAIC, Six Sigma, Lean, 5S, and value stream analysis, along with a strong background in the appropriate IT domain and toolsets.
• Experience with business process architecture and modeling tools, including Bizagi, Celonis, and UiPath.
• Experience performing business analysis and requirements definition.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Strong analytical and financial skills with the ability to develop and leverage data to make business decisions and take informed risks.
• Strong oral, written, and influencing skills, with the ability to present complex material compellingly to senior managers and non-technical staff.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a matrixed and highly collaborative environment and to drive change.
• Demonstrated strong change management skills, with the ability to align and bring others along.
• Highly motivated, self-starting, and committed to achieving results with a strong sense of ownership and follow-through.
• Ability to multitask and work in a fast-paced environment under limited supervision.

Sitting at the intersection of operational excellence and organizational transformation, the Business Engagement Manager leads cross-functional teams to deliver process improvement, automation, and change initiatives across a global portfolio. Operating across all levels of the organization, this role applies Lean Six Sigma, Agile, and Design Thinking methodologies to build sustainable process capability and coach teams in continuous improvement.

Duties

• Lead cross-functional teams across multiple business units to deliver targeted operational excellence initiatives across the operational excellence project portfolio.
• Support the operational excellence leader in the development and management of measurements, metrics, and dashboards.
• Act as a coach and mentor in teaching and training designated process, data, and product owners to measure, manage, and improve processes.
• Support the development of junior resources through formal training and coaching.
• Engage effectively with leaders globally to support and deliver on AI and robotics initiatives.
• Act as an agent for change, challenge the status quo, and obtain support and buy-in for improvement projects.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams across the organization to develop and implement operational excellence initiatives.
• Undertake analysis of specific business processes and provide effective solutions for improvements through streamlining, automation, or organizational change.
• Deliver and execute solutions and process improvement plans with cross-functional teams.
• Ensure project governance, communication, and reporting throughout projects.
• Establish controls for sustainable process changes and create business-as-usual process capability to operationalize improvements or new processes.
• Identify and manage dependencies and interfaces between business functions.
• Provide training and mentor employees on operational excellence and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in business process design aligned to strong analytical capabilities.
• Experience conducting, facilitating, and leading business process improvement workshops or similar engagements.
• Excellent knowledge of continuous improvement methodologies, including Lean Six Sigma, Agile, and Design Thinking, enabling self-sufficiency and autonomy in process improvements.
• Experience managing multiple stakeholders across all levels of the organization, ideally in the context of implementing major operational change.
• Knowledge of robotic process automation and intelligent process automation capabilities to aid in the automation of processes.
• Experience delivering continuous improvement and change in a financial services environment.
• Strong personal impact and influencing skills with a proven ability to engage a range of stakeholders.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, presentation, and communication skills.

A key member of the Centre for Technology and Innovation commercial team, the Business Engagement Manager leads new business generation and pipeline management for tech start-ups and established SMEs seeking additive manufacturing and digital prototyping support. Collaborating across technical staff, referral partners, and marketing, this role builds client relationships from project initiation through to completion and converts prospects into funded engagements via commercial and ERDF-supported programmes.

Functions

• Proactively manage the customer relationship from project initiation through to successful completion.
• Lead meetings to understand the customer's product development requirements and how they fit into their overall business plan.
• Develop and execute a business development strategy targeting specific customer groups.
• Deliver on-site events and identify appropriate external events for networking, exhibiting, and presenting.
• Collaborate with the marketing team on campaigns to target suitable prospects and identify good news stories that demonstrate impact.
• Deliver presentations and pitches at relevant events and networking opportunities.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with key referral partners, including joint venture partners, business growth hubs, and those relevant to the manufacturing sector.
• Translate prospects into business won and bring companies into facilities to improve the impact of capabilities and expertise.

Experience & Qualifications

• Degree in a science, technology, business, or management field, or equivalent experience.
• Experience working with technology businesses, especially SMEs or start-ups, in a customer-facing role.
• Demonstrable experience achieving results in a sales or business engagement role.
• Comprehensive understanding of technology business needs and the support they require.
• Proven track record of prioritizing pipeline opportunities to make the best use of technical resources.
• Extensive relationship management experience.
• Knowledge and awareness of the business support, funding and investment landscape.
• Knowledge of marketing or sales training.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and customer relations skills.
• Highly motivated, enthusiastic self-starter with effective teamworking skills.
• Ability to work alongside technical people, engineers, and business people within and outside the organization.
• Presentation skills, including the ability to deliver presentations to a business audience.
• Willingness to travel regularly within the region, with occasional overnight stays.

Sustainable sourcing outcomes across palm oil supply chains depend on the Business Engagement Manager, who leads client work plan development, coordinates field and program activities, and supports traceability and grievance management initiatives. Based within the Programs Implementation Team in Malaysia, this role serves as the primary liaison between clients, member managers, and the local office to advance supply chain sustainability goals.

Accountabilities

• Support the development of client work plans and strategies, coordinate the implementation of activities and initiatives based on the agreed work plan, and ensure efficient execution.
• Act as a point of contact for relationships between clients, member managers, and the local office, and maintain regular and consistent communication on the development and delivery of the work plan.
• Participate actively in developing new programs and strategies.
• Support the traceability and grievance management project.
• Support the Programs Implementation Team's assessment and field activities.
• Contribute to business development opportunities where necessary.

Technical Qualifications

• Master's or bachelor's degree, or equivalent higher-level training, in agriculture, supply chain management, forestry, natural resource management, environmental sciences, or a related field.
• A minimum of three to five years of working experience in sustainability, environmental, or palm oil supply chain fields.
• Proven field-based experience resolving issues by understanding conflicting inputs, achieving alignment, and proposing forward-going solutions.
• Program management experience, including managing multiple projects and coordinating with internal staff, external consultants, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Good understanding of environmental and social issues in Malaysia related to the palm oil industry, and of business supply chains and sourcing issues.
• Advanced computer skills in the Microsoft Office suite.
• Proficiency in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.