Product Line Manager, ERP

About the Organization

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, bringing together 191 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Guided by the principles of response, resilience, and respect, IFRC supports disaster and crisis response, community resilience, and humanitarian action across climate and environment, health and wellbeing, migration, and displacement. Its work is rooted in humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, along with a strong focus on values, power, and inclusion.

IFRC is led by the Secretary General and operates from its headquarters in Geneva, with regional offices in Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, and MENA, as well as other offices and delegations worldwide.

The organization maintains a strict zero-tolerance approach to misconduct that conflicts with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s principles, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and any form of integrity breach, including financial misconduct. Child safeguarding standards are also applied rigorously.

Role Context

The Digital Transformation Department leads IFRC’s digital transformation strategy and its impact across the global network. It provides strategic direction for digital services, data-enabled decision-making, business transformation, IT, and digitalization across the Secretariat and member societies.

This role sits within the Digital Product Development and Management Unit and is responsible for the ERP product. The position works closely with Enterprise Architecture, Strategy & Planning, Data Management, Service teams, and IT managers across the five regional offices, along with functional counterparts in different departments. Until the organizational change process is completed, the role reports to the GSC IT Manager in Budapest.

The ERP is IFRC’s core platform, built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, and supports a more efficient, transparent, and accountable organization by enabling automation, better data use, and stronger operational alignment with the Agenda for Renewal.

Purpose of the Role

The main objective of this position is to define the ERP product vision, roadmap, and service model so that IFRC can operate through a global digital platform that improves efficiency and effectiveness in line with the Agenda for Renewal and the Digital Transformation strategy. The role also leads the organization-wide adoption and enhancement of the ERP, manages a broad network of direct and dual reports worldwide, allocates human and financial resources responsibly, and drives communication and change management to sustain continuous use and improvement of the platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Shape and continuously refine the ERP product vision, strategy, and outcome-based roadmap.
• Convert IFRC strategic priorities into a clear product direction, measurable outcomes, and an evolving backlog that delivers value step by step.
• Define and own the ERP’s Objectives and Key Results in partnership with business owners.
• Set the integration and interoperability approach for ERP as the organization’s core platform, in coordination with Enterprise Architecture and target architecture standards.
• Maintain an ongoing discovery process with business systems analysts through user research, workshop facilitation, and analysis of adoption and usage trends.
• Own and prioritize the ERP backlog through the full lifecycle, balancing new features, improvements, technical debt, and compliance requirements.
• Track and manage technical debt so it remains visible and prioritized alongside product delivery.
• Lead and develop 7–10 direct reports, while guiding functional and dual-report teams across departments and geographies.
• Promote a product-oriented culture across the organization.
• Ensure ERP delivery follows a human-centred design approach, including usability testing, accessibility, and user research.
• Prepare high-quality inputs for governance forums and steering committees to support effective decisions.
• Drive change management and communication for ERP evolution in partnership with business owners.
• Build and sustain strong relationships with business leaders, headquarters teams, regional offices, and National Societies.
• Keep external and internal networks active to gather ERP market intelligence, sector insights, and product management best practices.
• Stay updated on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the wider ERP ecosystem to evolve the product strategy.
• Monitor ERP performance, availability, user satisfaction, and key metrics together with service teams and suppliers.
• Review audits and role-based access arrangements to ensure controls and segregation of duties are in place.
• Coordinate with information security partners to maintain appropriate security measures.
• Ensure compliance items are treated as priority backlog work.
• Oversee the support model across L1, L2, and L3 support, including the right supplier mix.
• Track support quality using metrics and user feedback, and push systemic issues into the backlog.
• Lead release and patch management planning with service teams and suppliers, ensuring production readiness reviews are completed and users are properly informed.
• Own the ERP product line budget and demonstrate return on investment to the DT Steering Committee.
• Identify cost optimization opportunities and ensure the solution delivers value for money.
• Work on licensing strategy and forecasting so the model remains suitable for current and future needs.
• Manage the strategic relationship with ERP suppliers, including Microsoft and implementation/support partners.
• Set performance expectations, conduct regular reviews, and hold suppliers accountable for delivery and quality.
• Partner with Data, Service, and Architecture teams to support data management, enterprise architecture, and transitions to production and maintenance.
• Work with the Planning team on digital transformation strategy development and the application of project management standards.
• Collaborate with the Service Unit on service delivery, business value case development, feasibility analysis, and product production/maintenance decisions.

Education and Certifications

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or equivalent experience in managing organization-wide ERP products is required.
• An ITIL Foundation certification or higher, or a recognized agile/product certification such as PSPO, SAFe Product Manager/Product Owner, or Pragmatic Institute PMC, is required.
• A project management professional certification is preferred.

Experience Required

• At least 7 years of professional experience, or equivalent, in ERP operational support with Microsoft Dynamics 365.
• Experience leading and managing large teams in a matrix structure.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in product management.
• At least 7 years of experience in ERP rollouts, maintenance, upgrades, and customizations.
• Experience in contract and supplier management.

Preferred Experience

• At least 4 years of professional experience in business requirements analysis.
• Experience with service management and reporting tools.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability
• Strategic and conceptual thinking
• Stakeholder communication and negotiation
• Product roadmap and backlog management
• Human-centred design practices
• Change leadership and adaptability
• People management and conflict resolution
• Cross-cultural collaboration and relationship building
• Training, mentoring, and knowledge transfer
• Planning, prioritization, and execution under pressure
• Creative problem solving
• Service monitoring and continuous improvement

Additional Information

The ERP product line is expected to operate as a stable, enterprise-wide platform that strengthens agility, transparency, accountability to donors and communities, and value from data. The role also requires balancing multiple priorities across product discovery, delivery, operations, governance, supplier coordination, and organizational change.

IFRC seeks a leader who can work in complex, ambiguous environments and turn uncertainty into opportunities for improvement and innovation.