Open interim project
Project1411
Interim ERP Program Director, Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation, North-eastern Poland
Confidential mandate. The client name is not disclosed. Further mandate details are shared under a signed NDA.
Decision inUnited States
Intervention inPolandGroup-wide ERP for a US-owned manufacturer
Cross-border executive leadership, bridging the decision centre and the operation.
The mission in three moves
- GovernSet up the programme core, phase gates and change control from the global blueprint
- DeliverDrive phased go-lives on site with process owners, holding the integrator to its deliverables
- RealiseClose out with adoption, a defended business case and measurable value for the group
- Function
- ERP Program Director
- Scope
- Cross-border ERP Implementation
- Location
- North-eastern Poland
- Duration
- 18 months
- Start
- Immediate
The situation
Strong growth, a US owner, and spreadsheets where an ERP should be
Our client is a premium manufacturer of high-value, configure-to-order products, with its main production site in north-eastern Poland. It has grown strongly in recent years and is now part of a US industrial group. Each order carries customer-specific options.
Growth has outpaced the systems. Several legacy finance and payroll tools sit side by side, and parts of production planning still live in spreadsheets. The group is now moving its European entities onto Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. The approach is deliberate: one common design is agreed up front, entities and modules then go live in stages, and time for testing and training is ring-fenced. A tier-1 system integrator carries out the implementation, while a Global Process Owner is responsible for how the processes are designed.
The company now needs an experienced Interim Programme Director on its own side of the table: accountable for delivery week by week, and the independent check on the integrator.
Growth has outpaced the systems. Several legacy finance and payroll tools sit side by side, and parts of production planning still live in spreadsheets. The group is now moving its European entities onto Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. The approach is deliberate: one common design is agreed up front, entities and modules then go live in stages, and time for testing and training is ring-fenced. A tier-1 system integrator carries out the implementation, while a Global Process Owner is responsible for how the processes are designed.
The company now needs an experienced Interim Programme Director on its own side of the table: accountable for delivery week by week, and the independent check on the integrator.
Confidential mandateFurther mandate details will be shared with qualified Interim Managers under a signed non-disclosure agreement. CE Interim publishes every mandate anonymously to protect the companies it works for.
Your mandate
Own the programme on the company side and keep the integrator honest
As Interim ERP Program Director you lead the European rollout on the company side, from the common design through each staged go-live and the stabilisation period that follows. You report to the company’s Accountable Executive and sit alongside the integrator’s programme manager and the programme lead for the US business as an equal. Most of your time is spent on site in north-eastern Poland with the local process owners and key users, working in Polish and English, with regular travel within Europe and occasional trips to the United States. CE Interim, a leader in cross-cultural executive interim management, leads this mandate.
- Chair the weekly programme meeting and the change board, keep the plan, responsibilities and risk log current, and bring hard evidence to every go/no-go decision
- Own a detailed plan with named owners and costs, manage the critical path and dependencies, and secure backfill where key people are stretched
- Plan jointly with the integrator, accept work only against agreed deliverables, link payments to milestones, and keep statements of work and change requests under control
- Bring the local process owners and key users together on site, and treat Polish statutory and localisation requirements (JPK_VAT, SAF-T) as a condition for cutover
- Agree with process and data owners in which order today’s finance, payroll and planning tools are switched off or connected
- Speak to plant and office teams in their own language, send the sponsor a fortnightly update, and work with the change lead so that people actually use the new system
- Follow programme spend in EUR and USD together with Finance, keep the business case up to date, and close the programme with a value report and a clean audit trail
Expected results
Success is a live, adopted ERP and a business case that still holds
Success means the company runs on one ERP, its people use it, and the investment case can be defended to the US group.
- A signed-off global blueprint and a credible, resourced plan within the first months
- Every phase gate passed on evidence, with go-lives delivered as planned and hypercare closed
- Polish statutory reporting (JPK_VAT, SAF-T) live and compliant at cutover
- Legacy tools and planning spreadsheets taken out of daily use, with clean data in the new system
- The integrator managed to its deliverables and milestones, with change orders under control
- Programme cost tracked in EUR and USD and the business case maintained throughout
- A value-realisation report and an auditable closeout handed to the sponsor
The Interim Manager we look for
A seasoned ERP programme leader who has burned his or her fingers before
A high-drive, results-minded ERP and programme management executive who knows what good looks like, and who has been through full implementations from the client side.
- Eight or more years delivering IT or business systems, with at least five spent running ERP programmes or projects
- Has led two or more ERP implementations from design to stabilisation, one or more of them on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
- Has directed a tier-1 or Big Four integrator from the client side, with a firm grip on vendors, data and processes
- Understands discrete or configure-to-order manufacturing: bills of material, engineering changes, purchasing, stock and production
- Has rolled out ERP across several EU entities and countries, including Polish statutory reporting (JPK, SAF-T) or an equivalent
- Plans by deliverables, runs a critical path and resource plan, and keeps change, risk and the programme budget under tight control
- A structured leader and natural people person: assertive, practical, sleeves-up, and able to make it happen
- Comfortable between a US owner and a Polish operation: an influencer and stakeholder manager across countries and cultures
- Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in technology, business or equivalent
Your fit
This mandate is for a hands-on D365 programme director fluent in Polish and English
- Fluent Polish and fluent English: both are required
- Hands-on leadership of at least one Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations implementation
- Client-side programme leadership of a tier-1 or Big Four integrator
- Based in the EU with the right to work in Poland, contracting on a B2B basis
- Able to work on site in north-eastern Poland most of the week, with travel within Europe and occasionally to the United States
- Available to start immediately for 18 months
Track record
Show us the programmes you have personally led
Please provide specific examples of programmes you have personally led, covering:
Priority will go to Interim Managers who have led a Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations rollout in a Polish manufacturing environment in recent years.
- The ERP programmes you led: system, modules, number of entities and countries, budget and team size
- Your role versus the integrator’s: how you planned, accepted deliverables and controlled change orders
- A go-live you owned: the phase gates, the cutover and what happened in hypercare
- The statutory and localisation work you delivered, in Poland or a comparable country
- How you drove adoption with plant and office staff, and in which languages
- How you reported to an owner or sponsor abroad, and how you tracked the business case
Priority will go to Interim Managers who have led a Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations rollout in a Polish manufacturing environment in recent years.
Next steps
What happens in the next 48 hours
CE Interim works in hours, not weeks. This is what happens after you apply for Project 1411.
- Hour 0You applyComplete the form below with concrete evidence for Project 1411.
- Same dayPartner reviewA CE Interim Partner reviews your experience against this mandate.
- Within 24 hoursVettingIf you are not yet vetted by CE Interim, we verify your experience with referees from comparable mandates.
- Within 48 hoursPartner conversationA dedicated CE Interim Partner contacts you personally to discuss, under a signed NDA, how we would approach this mandate together to make it a success.
- NextClient interviewWe arrange your interview with the client’s leadership team to agree the mandate.
This is how CE Interim operates: a proven, mandate-matched executive ready to start within 72 hours of the completed mandate brief.
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Questions
Before you apply
Who is this mandate for?
- ERP programme directors and senior programme managers with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations experience
- Client-side leaders who have managed a tier-1 or Big Four integrator to deliverables and milestones
- Executives with discrete or configure-to-order manufacturing background
- Fluent Polish and English speakers comfortable working for a US owner
- Interim Managers available immediately for 18 months, mostly on site in north-eastern Poland
Who is this mandate not for?
- Managers in a permanent position looking for their next employment: this is a fixed-term interim mandate
- Functional consultants or solution architects without overall programme accountability
- Leaders who do not speak fluent Polish and English
- Anyone unable to be on site in north-eastern Poland for most of the week
Who is the client?
The client’s name is not disclosed. The mandate is handled confidentially, and further mandate details are shared with qualified Interim Managers under a signed non-disclosure agreement.
What kind of engagement is this?
A fixed-term interim mandate of 18 months, starting immediately. Contracting terms are covered in the confidential briefing.
Who supports me during the mandate?
A CE Interim Partner stays involved from mandate alignment to handover: assignment governance, progress visibility, escalation and knowledge transfer. You lead the mandate; the Partner supports you and the client throughout.
How quickly does CE Interim move on a mandate?
Within hours. A Partner reviews every application the same day, and within 48 hours a dedicated Partner discusses the mandate under NDA with the Interim Managers who fit. Clients receive a proven, mandate-matched executive ready to start within 72 hours of the completed mandate brief.
How should I present my experience?
Be specific. Name the situation, what you personally did, the size of the team and the measurable result. The evidence section above lists exactly what the Partner review looks for.
How do I refer to this mandate?
Please quote Project 1411 in every message, email or call with CE Interim, so your application is matched to the right mandate.
This mandate is not quite right for me. What now?
Browse all open interim projects, or follow CE Interim and subscribe to our newsletters on LinkedIn to stay close to future mandates.
Apply confidentially
Apply for Project 1411
Complete the form with specific examples of comparable mandates. Concrete evidence and your availability help the Partner review your fit quickly.
Project 1411: please quote this number in all communication
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Why CE Interim
Why work with CE Interim on a cross-border ERP programme between the USA and Poland
CE Interim Management Group provides cross-border executive leadership for critical business transformations. For ERP programmes in manufacturing companies, we manage the assignment end to end, from the first weeks of governance set-up to an auditable closeout handed back to the sponsor. For our clients, that means a proven, mandate-matched executive ready to start within 72 hours of the completed mandate brief.
What sets us apart is leadership across borders and cultures. When a US owner integrates a European manufacturer, expectations on pace, reporting and decision rights rarely line up by default. Our Interim Managers bridge the two: they run the programme with Polish teams in their own language, and report the way an American group needs to see it. CE Interim has led many ERP implementations in Poland, including for US-owned companies.
Every engagement is personally guided by a CE Interim Partner: former CEOs, CFOs and COOs who have carried executive responsibility themselves. As a member of Valtus Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of executive interim management firms, we work alongside 100+ partners in 50+ countries of intervention, with a global network of 60,000+ Interim Managers.
What sets us apart is leadership across borders and cultures. When a US owner integrates a European manufacturer, expectations on pace, reporting and decision rights rarely line up by default. Our Interim Managers bridge the two: they run the programme with Polish teams in their own language, and report the way an American group needs to see it. CE Interim has led many ERP implementations in Poland, including for US-owned companies.
Every engagement is personally guided by a CE Interim Partner: former CEOs, CFOs and COOs who have carried executive responsibility themselves. As a member of Valtus Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of executive interim management firms, we work alongside 100+ partners in 50+ countries of intervention, with a global network of 60,000+ Interim Managers.
Trust Before Deployment. Partnership Through Delivery.
- Built by executivesLed by partners who have carried executive responsibility themselves.
- Cross-border by designMandates across Europe, the Americas and the Middle East, between international owners and local operations.
- Member of Valtus AllianceInternational delivery reach through the world’s largest alliance of executive interim management firms.
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