By Greg Mills, Senior Consultant, Finance Transformation, Stanton House

Over the last few months, I've spent a lot of time speaking to CFOs, Finance Directors, Transformation Directors and Programme Leaders about the challenges they're facing.

Most of those conversations begin in a similar way.

"We need a Finance Transformation Manager."

"We need someone with ERP experience."

"We need a transformation lead with AI expertise."

On the surface, those sound like recruitment requirements. However, after a little exploration, the conversation often reveals something different. The organisation isn't struggling to find talent. It's struggling to define the capability it actually needs.

The problem is that many organisations are still starting with a job title rather than a business problem.

Over the last three months, Stanton House analysed 207 conversations with CFOs, Finance Directors, Transformation Directors and Programme Leaders. One finding stood above all others: role definition was often a bigger challenge than candidate availability. Almost half of clients were not completely sure what capability they needed, 61% of roles combined multiple disciplines into a single requirement, and AI appeared regularly in conversations despite often being poorly defined.

In my experience, that is becoming one of the biggest risks facing Finance Transformation programmes today.

The Problem Isn't a Talent Shortage

Yet many hiring challenges attributed to a talent shortage are actually symptoms of something else.

A client might tell us they need a Finance Transformation Manager. After further discussion, the brief expands to include:

• ERP implementation
• Finance process redesign
• Reporting improvement
• Change management
• Automation
• AI enablement
• Data governance
• Team leadership
• Stakeholder management

Each requirement is reasonable in isolation.

Collectively, they often represent several different capabilities rather than one realistic role.

At that point, organisations are no longer searching for a candidate. They're searching for an idealised combination of skills that rarely exists in the form they've described.

As Ben Adcock recently observed in a Stanton House article, many transformation roles gradually accumulate responsibilities until one role quietly becomes five.

When that happens, hiring becomes more difficult, recruitment processes take longer and the likelihood of success after appointment decreases.

Why Finance Transformation Roles Are Becoming Harder to Define

Organisations no longer view ERP programmes as technology projects alone. They expect them to deliver stronger controls, better reporting, improved decision-making, higher productivity and greater business agility. As a result, transformation leaders are increasingly expected to connect process, platform and people.

However, hybrid does not mean unlimited.

Many organisations recognise they need broader capability but struggle to prioritise which capabilities are genuinely essential. Job descriptions become collections of aspirations rather than realistic definitions of what success requires.

One of the biggest lessons from our client conversations is that organisations often describe roles instead of capabilities. They ask for a Finance Transformation Manager when what they really need is ERP leadership, change management capability, data governance expertise or programme ownership.

How AI Has Made Role Definition Even More Complicated

No topic illustrates this challenge more clearly than AI.

In our client intelligence analysis, AI appeared in 38% of conversations, yet organisations were often unclear about what they expected AI to achieve.

The challenge is that enthusiasm often arrives before clarity.

I frequently see briefs that include "AI experience" as a core requirement. When I ask what that actually means, the answer is often less clear.

Is the objective to:

• Identify automation opportunities?
• Improve forecasting?
• Enhance reporting?
• Embed AI-enabled ERP functionality?
• Strengthen governance and controls?
• Lead organisational adoption?
• Build an AI roadmap?

These are very different requirements.

McKinsey has highlighted a similar issue, noting that many organisations continue to struggle moving from AI experimentation to scaled business value because initiatives are not sufficiently integrated into core processes and operating models.

The danger is that AI becomes another item added to an already overloaded brief without a clear link to business outcomes.

The organisations making the most progress tend to approach AI differently. Instead of asking for AI skills, they first define the problem they are trying to solve.

Only then do they determine whether AI capability is genuinely central to the role or simply one part of a wider transformation programme.

Why Organisations Keep Creating Unrealistic Job Descriptions

A requirement that begins as an ERP leadership role gradually absorbs process redesign, reporting improvement, automation, AI, stakeholder engagement and people leadership.

Eventually, the organisation has bundled multiple workstreams into a single position.

Interestingly, our client analysis found that one of the simplest questions often creates the most clarity:

"If you could only prioritise three capabilities, which would create the biggest impact?"

That question forces leaders to distinguish between must-have capability, desirable experience and future requirements.

It also reduces one of the biggest hidden risks in transformation hiring: expecting one person to solve several different business problems simultaneously.

Why Capability Should Come Before Recruitment

One observation keeps emerging from client conversations.

The most successful transformation programmes often start long before recruitment begins.

They begin with a discussion about capability.

Rather than asking, "Who should we hire?", leaders ask a more valuable question:

"What capability is missing from our organisation today?"

That conversation changes everything.

It shifts the focus from job titles to outcomes.

It encourages leaders to think about whether they need programme leadership, ERP expertise, process redesign, change management, data capability, stakeholder alignment or AI governance.

It also creates clarity around what success should look like six to twelve months after someone joins.

The Finance Transformation Capability Diagnostic Workbook was designed around this principle. Before discussing recruitment, it encourages leaders to work through six questions:

1. What problem are you trying to solve?
2. What capability is missing?
3. Is AI genuinely central to the role?
4. Are you hiring one person or solving several problems?
5. What does success look like?
6. What's the best route to capability?

In many cases, those questions completely reshape the original brief.

A Real Example of Role Inflation

One example reflects a pattern we are seeing repeatedly in the market.

A client approached us looking for a permanent Finance Transformation Manager. The brief combined ERP implementation experience, AI expertise, reporting transformation, process improvement, stakeholder leadership and programme delivery responsibility.

At face value, it appeared to be a straightforward recruitment assignment.

However, once we explored the programme in more detail, a different picture emerged.

The organisation was experiencing delivery risk within a wider transformation initiative. The immediate requirement wasn't a permanent manager. It was leadership, programme stabilisation and clearer ownership.

Following discovery, the requirement evolved into an interim Transformation Lead who could shape the programme, establish priorities and define the long-term structure. Once that work was complete, the organisation hired a permanent Finance Systems Manager with a much clearer remit.

The resulting solution looked very different from the original brief.

More importantly, it addressed the actual problem.

This is becoming increasingly common. Stanton House's analysis found interim capability is being considered much earlier in transformation programmes, as organisations look to reduce risk, accelerate delivery and create clarity before making permanent hiring decisions.

Five Questions Every Finance Leader Should Ask Before Launching a Search

Before writing a job description, I encourage finance leaders to ask five questions.

1. What business problem are we trying to solve?

Start with the challenge, not the role title.

The trigger often reveals more than the vacancy.

2. What does success look like?

If success cannot be clearly defined, the role probably is not fully defined either.

Consider what should be different six or twelve months after appointment.

3. What capability is genuinely missing?

Focus on capability before roles.

You may need programme leadership, ERP expertise, process redesign, data governance, reporting improvement or change management.

4. Are we expecting one person to solve too many problems?

Challenge every requirement.

If you could only recruit three capabilities first, which would create the greatest impact?

5. Is recruitment actually the first step?

Sometimes it is.

Sometimes the better option is interim expertise, advisory support, operating model design work or further role scoping before going to market.

Final Thoughts

Many organisations believe their biggest Finance Transformation challenge is accessing talent.

From what I'm seeing in the market, that's often the wrong diagnosis.

The greater risk is defining the wrong role.

As Finance Transformation programmes become broader, and as AI, automation, ERP modernisation and operating model change continue to converge, role design is becoming as important as recruitment itself.

The organisations that achieve the best outcomes are not necessarily those that move fastest to market. They are the ones that spend time understanding the problem, defining the capability required and aligning stakeholders around what success looks like before a search begins.

That approach also reflects a broader shift we are seeing across the market. Technology investment is increasing, AI ambition is growing and transformation programmes are becoming more strategic. Yet success still depends on the same fundamental principle: aligning capability to outcomes.

If you're currently planning a Finance Transformation programme, implementing a new ERP platform or reviewing the capability required to deliver your roadmap, our Finance Transformation Capability Diagnostic Workbook provides a practical framework to help challenge assumptions, prioritise essential skills and reduce hiring risk before recruitment begins. Rather than starting with a job title, it helps finance leaders identify the business problem they are trying to solve, define the capability required and determine the most effective route to securing it.

Reach out to me to request your copy.

Because successful transformation programmes don't start with recruitment.

They start with capability.

Sources

• Stanton House Finance Transformation Client Intelligence Report
• Stanton House Finance Transformation Capability Diagnostic Workbook
• Stanton House Finance Transformation Salary Guide 2026
• Ben Adcock, Before You Hire for Your NetSuite Programme, Stop and Ask Yourself This One Question
• Deloitte CFO Survey Q2 2026: https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/services/consulting-financial/perspectives/deloitte-cfo-survey.html
• McKinsey, How Finance Teams Are Putting AI to Work Today: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-finance-teams-are-putting-ai-to-work-today