Forsyth Barnes Consultancy
D365 Functional Lead (Ref: 198125)
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About the Role
Manufacturing fresh and slow-cooked consumer meat products for the food industry, this organisation supports a portfolio of brands from established operations founded in 1981 and headquartered in Clonee, Ireland. Its work spans the production, processing, and supply of food products, creating a commercially active environment where reliable systems and disciplined processes are essential to operational performance. The business now requires strong functional leadership to help its manufacturing and corporate teams gain greater value from its enterprise technology landscape.
Job Description
The D365 Functional Lead will provide strategic and hands-on functional leadership for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations across a complex food manufacturing environment. Based in or supporting operations in Preston, the role will translate business objectives into scalable processes, clear functional requirements, and practical system improvements that support production, supply chain, finance, and wider operational activity.
Success will depend on combining deep D365 Finance and Operations knowledge with the ability to challenge existing ways of working, shape future-state processes, and guide stakeholders through change. The postholder will lead discovery and design activity, connect business users with technical delivery teams, and ensure that implemented solutions are understood, tested, adopted, and aligned with the organisation’s operational priorities.
This is a visible position for a functional specialist who can influence decisions without relying solely on architectural authority. By bringing structure to requirements, workshops, testing, and adoption, the D365 Functional Lead will help establish a dependable platform for continued business improvement across a multi-brand manufacturing operation.
Key Responsibilities
- Set the functional direction for D365 Finance and Operations, ensuring proposed changes support business strategy and measurable operational outcomes.
- Assess existing processes across relevant business areas and document practical future-state models that improve consistency, control, and efficiency.
- Facilitate structured workshops with business stakeholders to uncover needs, resolve ambiguity, and secure agreement on priorities.
- Convert business requirements into precise functional specifications that technical teams can design, configure, and deliver effectively.
- Coordinate functional design decisions across finance, manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, inventory, and related operational processes where required.
- Own the planning and coordination of user acceptance testing, including scope definition, test preparation, defect triage, and readiness reporting.
- Maintain clear communication between business representatives, delivery teams, and senior stakeholders throughout the change lifecycle.
- Evaluate proposed solutions against standard D365 capability, identifying opportunities to simplify processes and minimise unnecessary customisation.
- Support data, process, and change-readiness activities so that new functionality can be introduced with appropriate controls and business understanding.
- Guide users through future-state ways of working by contributing to communications, training input, documentation, and adoption planning.
- Monitor post-implementation outcomes, gather feedback, and recommend refinements that strengthen system performance and user experience.
- Contribute to the development of consistent functional governance, delivery standards, and a sustainable roadmap for the D365 environment.
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Requirements
- Demonstrable experience leading functional workstreams within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations implementations or improvement programmes.
- Strong understanding of how enterprise systems support manufacturing, food production, supply chain, finance, inventory, or related operational environments.
- Proven ability to map current-state processes, design future-state models, and identify practical opportunities for standardisation and improvement.
- Experienced in planning and leading stakeholder workshops involving both operational users and senior business decision-makers.
- Track record of translating business needs into clear functional requirements, process documentation, acceptance criteria, and delivery priorities.
- Substantial experience managing or coordinating user acceptance testing, including test scenarios, execution tracking, issue resolution, and sign-off.
- Confident communication skills, with the judgement to explain complex system implications in language appropriate to different audiences.
- Ability to build productive relationships across business and technical teams while maintaining focus on scope, quality, risk, and outcomes.
- Practical knowledge of change adoption, user enablement, and the organisational impact of introducing new processes or system capabilities.
- Analytical and structured approach to problem-solving, with the confidence to challenge inefficient processes and recommend better alternatives.
- Experience working across multiple sites, brands, business units, or stakeholder groups would be highly valuable.
- Functional depth and strong business-facing capability are more important for this position than purely architectural credentials.
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Benefits
- Opportunity to shape the functional roadmap of a critical D365 Finance and Operations environment within an established food manufacturing business.
- High visibility across manufacturing and corporate functions, with direct influence over processes that affect operational control and business performance.
- Scope to work across a multi-brand organisation and gain broad exposure to interconnected production, supply chain, finance, and commercial activities.
- Meaningful ownership of workshops, solution definition, testing, and adoption rather than a narrowly defined support remit.
- Access to a role where practical improvements can deliver tangible benefits in consistency, efficiency, reporting, and user experience.
- Opportunity to build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and become a key point of functional expertise for the D365 landscape.
- Professional development through involvement in transformation, continuous improvement, and enterprise technology governance.
- Competitive remuneration and an employment package aligned with the scope and level of responsibility.
Other
The role is based in Preston, England, and will require effective engagement with stakeholders across the organisation and its wider operational footprint. Candidates should be comfortable working in a setting where priorities may span day-to-day manufacturing needs, longer-term system improvement, and the practical realities of change adoption.
Applications are particularly well suited to functional leaders who enjoy turning complex business requirements into clear, usable outcomes. Experience in food manufacturing is advantageous, while strong transferable experience from other process-led manufacturing or supply chain environments will also be considered.
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