Leading prestigious college bookseller based in New Jersey delivering an unmatched retail and digital education experience is seeking a is seeking an experienced independent consultant to serve as Senior Project Manager for the full replacement of its end-of-life PeopleSoft V9 financial platform. This is a mission-critical, company-wide program spanning multiple divisions, three general ledgers, and integrations with point-of-sale, inventory, wholesale, and e-commerce systems across more than 1,400 campus locations. The system has been without Oracle vendor support since 2021; this engagement is a full-platform migration, not an upgrade. The consultant will serve as the single accountable delivery owner — from vendor selection through go-live and integrating Finance, IT, external implementation partners, and the executive team. This is the highest-priority and highest-risk initiative in company's IT modernization portfolio. Company is looking for a consultant who has led ERP financial transformations of comparable complexity, understands the risks that derail them, and can operate with credibility at both the Board and technical delivery levels.

SCOPE OF WORK

Program Leadership Lead all phases of the financial system replacement: vendor selection, contracting, implementation, data migration, cutover, and hypercare Serve as the single accountable owner of program scope, timeline, budget, and quality Maintain the master project plan, milestone register, RAID log, and executive status reporting Chair the weekly steering committee with the CFO, CIO, and Controller; escalate decisions and risks that require executive action Vendor & Implementation Management Coordinate the RFI/RFP-equivalent evaluation and selection process led by the business committee Manage the system integrator (SI) relationship and hold the SI accountable to contractual deliverables, quality gates, and timelines Negotiate change orders, scope variations, and resource adjustments with vendors Stakeholder & Change Management Partner with Finance leadership to align the program with ongoing audit remediation activities and material weakness resolution Own the organizational change management plan — communications, training strategy, and business readiness assessments Maintain stakeholder maps and manage expectations across Finance, IT, Operations, Legal, and external auditors Risk Management Proactively identify, quantify, and mitigate project risks — with particular attention to the two highest-risk factors for this program:

◦ Resource commitment gaps across Finance, IT, and change management workstreams

◦ Key-person dependency and knowledge transfer risk from employee turnover Maintain a 90-day rolling risk assessment; present mitigation plans at each steering committee meeting Define and manage the parallel-run strategy to ensure financial reporting continuity during cutover Financial & Reporting Governance Own program budget tracking — forecast vs. actual spend, vendor invoices, and capitalization classification (CapEx vs. OpEx) Provide monthly written updates to the IT Modernization Steering Committee and quarterly summaries for Board consumption Coordinate with external auditors to ensure the implementation timeline does not conflict with audit cycles or introduce new control gaps

KEY DELIVERABLES

Vendor selection recommendation package with scoring rationale and committee sign-off documentation Executed implementation project plan with milestones, owners, and dependency map RAID log maintained and distributed weekly throughout the engagement Data migration strategy document validated by Finance and approved by external auditors Monthly executive status reports and quarterly Board-level summaries Go-live readiness assessment and hypercare transition plan End-of-engagement knowledge transfer package for internal company IT ownership post-go-live

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

— 12 MONTHS IN Vendor selected and implementation contract executed on schedule and within board-approved budget All workstream leads staffed — internal and external — with no critical resource gaps Data migration strategy documented, validated with Finance, and approved by external auditors First integration milestones (GL, AR, AP) delivered on time with zero unplanned financial reporting disruptions Risk register current, escalation paths clear, and steering committee fully informed at every meeting

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience 8+ years of project management experience, with at least 3 full-lifecycle ERP financial system implementations (GL, AR, AP, multi-entity consolidation) as the lead PM Demonstrated experience managing implementations of Workday Financials, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, or a comparable enterprise cloud ERP — from contract through go-live Demonstrated experience operating as an independent consultant or in a contract PM capacity on enterprise programs Experience managing system integrators and holding external implementation partners accountable to contractual commitments Prior experience in retail, higher education, or similarly complex multi-site, multi-entity environments strongly preferred Experience working on programs with active financial restatements, audit remediation, or material weakness disclosure environments is a significant advantage Skills & Capabilities Command of project management fundamentals: WBS, critical path, dependency management, change control, and risk registers Ability to communicate at the Board level — crisp, accurate, and without jargon — and equally able to hold technical delivery conversations with architects and developers Strong financial literacy — able to read a P&L, understand ledger structure, and have informed conversations with the CFO and Controller Proven ability to manage programs where employee retention is a live risk; experience building knowledge transfer plans and succession for key roles Familiarity with data migration methodology for financial systems — chart of account mapping, opening balance validation, historical data archiving Certifications PMP certification required SAFe, PMI-ACP, or equivalent agile certification preferred Workday, NetSuite, or Sage implementation partner certification a strong plus

ENGAGEMENT STRUCTURE

This engagement operates under company's IT Modernization governance framework. The selection committee is chaired by IT and includes business owners from Finance, Operations, and Legal. Vendor selection follows a structured committee process with AI-assisted evaluation and scoring against five weighted criteria: risk reduction, cost/TCO, strategic fit, time to value, and implementation risk. The consultant reports to the VP of MIS with a dotted line to the CFO for the duration of the financial system program. A dedicated steering committee meets weekly during implementation phases. The consultant is expected on-site at company's Florham Park, NJ office a minimum of three days per week, with two days remote. On-site presence is required for all steering committee meetings, key vendor sessions, and milestone reviews. This engagement will be structured as a statement of work under a master services agreement.

Job Types:

Full-time, Contract Pay:

$55.00 - $75.00 per hour

Work Location:

Hybrid remote in Florham Park, NJ 07932