Sr. Functional Lead Consultant (m/w/d)

The primary focus of this position is to align with the Client Product Owner/Client SME on specific requirements documented through the Business BluePrint to meet their business needs. The Lead Consultant designs and validates client requirements, support the technical teams during building and the execution of the testing leveraging client data and liaises with the Client Product Owner (Client SME) on validating the results.The Sr. Functional Lead Consultant (m/w/d) will work with Client Product Owner (Client SME) to resolve any issues and escalations throughout the implementation process. The Sr. Functional Lead Consultant (m/w/d) provides coaching and mentoring to all team members and aligns with the Communities of Practice for further knowledge development across the organization. The Sr. Functional Lead Consultant (m/w/d) is expected to work on multiple client projects within the same timelines/targeted go-live date.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Act as primary functional point of contact between business stakeholders and the delivery team (Configuration, data conversion and testing teams)
• Lead the requirements during the BBP workshops.
• Translate business needs into clear, structured functional requirements.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and provide functional guidance and recommendations.
• Own the end-to-end functional solution design.
• Validate solution feasibility with technical and integration leads.
• Ensure solutions meet business objectives.
• Review and approve functional specifications and design documents.
• Conduct functional reviews of configurations, custom developments, and integrations.
• Proactively identify functional risks and dependencies, proposing mitigation actions.
• Support project planning inputs (effort estimates, milestones, dependencies.
• Define functional test strategy, review and approve functional test cases and test data.
• Collaborate closely with technical, integration, data and testing teams and coordinate activities and tasks across these teams in conjunction with Project manager.
• Support cutover planning and readiness activities.
• Participate in go‑live decision making from a functional standpoint.
• Provide functional leadership during go‑live and hypercare phases.
• Ensure all functional documentation is complete, accurate, and up to date
• Lead knowledge transfer sessions for business users and support teams
• Identify opportunities for process optimization and continuous improvement
• Mentor and coach junior functional consultants
• Demonstrate strong ownership, accountability, and decision‑making
• Lead Implementation Team forums, contribute and participate in knowledge sharing and team development sessions.
• Liaise with the ADP Project Manager/Team Manager assigned to the project and Line Manager, providing regular status updates and early warning of any slippage/ problems that may occur.
• Support pre-sales process, including analysis of client needs, and attend any workshops where specialist knowledge of payroll is required.
• Provide functional feedback on the template and help with definition of future product direction/ changes in cooperation with technical team.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

• Bachelor's Degree or its equivalent in education and experience.
• Experience in SAP Payroll is highly desirable.
• Must have solid functional / blueprinting knowledge.
• Fluent English and German

This position may require travelling needs if/when requested and approved.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Strong knowledge of one or more Country Payrolls
• Client-facing skills
• Ability to work on multiple client projects at the same time.
• Proven ability to annually lead Multi Country HR/Payroll implementations.
• Professional manner and presentation and ability to professionally set, manage and satisfy customer expectations through personal involvement or delegation.
• Teamwork, work collaboratively with others to achieve group goals, working together to accomplish business results.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Analytical thinking problem solving skills -- work systematically and logically to resolve problems, address opportunities or manage the situation at hand, identify causes, relationships and implications.
• Consulting skills, understanding business requirements and mapping to ensure consistency to ADP solution, while minimizing risk to both client and ADP.
• Methodologies - demonstrate knowledge and application of key methodologies employed by Implementation team and Project implementation methodology.
• Ability to prioritize tasks and time management skills, ability to work across various projects, ability to lead a team of consultants to effectively implement a solution.
• Ability to use tools such as Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Project and Visio to effectively update and maintain documentation/ training/ demonstrations.
• Client focused, demonstrate concern for meeting and exceeding immediate and future needs of clients.
• Very strong documentation skills
• Self-development (ADP AI tools, ADP trainings, Legislation updates)