CTC Functional Solution Architect

Job Description :
Purpose of the Role:
The Solution Architect — Functional, Credit to Cash is the functional design authority for the end-to-end Credit to Cash value chain. The outcome is a Credit to Cash process that is predictable, automated and controlled: faster and better credit decisions, higher straight-through cash application, risk-based and largely automated collections, fewer exceptions and disputes, lower DSO and overdue, and <1 Day Resolution wherever the process allows. Everything this role does serves that outcome.
The scope is the Credit to Cash value chain end to end, not a single module or platform — customer onboarding and credit risk assessment, credit limits, scoring, reviews and order hold or release; billing and invoice presentment as they feed receivables; customer statements and self-service portals; collections strategy, worklists and dunning; payment capture, bank statement and lockbox processing, remittance capture and cash application; unapplied and on-account cash; deductions, short-pays, claims and disputes; AR accounting, reconciliation, write-offs and bad-debt provisioning; and the period-end close, controls, reporting and KPIs that sit on top. The role designs across this scope as one integrated solution rather than as separate credit, collections and cash solutions.
A central part of the remit is bringing HighRadius into Diageo. The postholder leads the functional architecture and design for the HighRadius Cash Application, Collections and Credit Management modules — and the adjacent capabilities that touch them, such as deductions and integrates them with S/4HANA / ECC FI-AR and FSCM, banks, ClaimOne (under Control Tower) and the wider Customer Operations landscape. HighRadius is an enabler of the target design, not the design itself; the role decides what the process should be first, and then how the platform best delivers it.
The role combines four capabilities in one person. As a functional solution architect, they own the end-to-end Credit to Cash solution blueprint, the fit-gap against the global standard and the design decisions that hold it together. As a platform expert, they turn the blueprint into working configuration and integration design on HighRadius and SAP FSCM — matching rules, AI models, collection strategies, credit scoring and workflows. As a consultant, they diagnose where cash, credit and collection issues are really created and build the case for the fix. As a design authority, they set standards, review and assure the work of Specialists, system integrators and vendors, and keep the solution coherent as it scales across markets.
The defining discipline of this role is architecting the value chain, not the module. A well-configured cash application engine is a smaller prize than a remittance that arrives clean; a sophisticated collections strategy is a smaller prize than a credit decision and invoice that never become overdue. The postholder is expected to design the hand-offs — order and credit, invoice and remittance, payment and dispute, AR and the ledger — as carefully as the modules themselves, and to push the fix upstream into O2I, Commercial, master data or the customer setup where that is where the problem starts.
Understanding of markets and of upstream and downstream impact is central to the role. Credit to Cash outcomes are shaped by pricing, promotions, customer agreements, invoicing, banking practice, local regulation and the retained, GBO and BPO operating model. The postholder is expected to know how these differ across LAC, NAM, Europe, Africa and APAC, to define what must be global standard and what genuinely requires localisation, and to design accordingly.
This is a transformation design and architecture role, not an operational one. The postholder does not run credit, collections or cash application; that stays with market, GBO and BPO run teams. The role changes how that work is done and ensures the solution handed to run is controlled, measurable and sustainable.
The role works independently within the frame set by the workstream lead, forms its own view and brings recommendations and design decisions rather than questions. It partners closely with D&T Enterprise and Solution Architecture, which own the technical architecture, and provides functional design direction to Specialists working on Credit to Cash fragments. Decisions are expected to be based on evidence rather than opinion, and every artefact is expected to meet the programme documentation, taxonomy and quality standards, including BPQMS.
Key Accountabilities (3-5)
Own the end-to-end Credit to Cash functional architecture and target design — 25%. Define and maintain the Credit to Cash target process and solution architecture across credit, billing hand-off, collections, cash application, deductions and disputes, AR and close, aligned to the global standard and the target operating model. Lead current-state assessment and fit-gap across markets, platforms and controls, using exception, aging, matching, collection-effectiveness and dispute data to baseline the problem and size the opportunity. Own the solution blueprint, key design decisions and design principles; define what is global standard versus market localisation; and make sure the Credit to Cash design is joined up with O2I, Claims, Commercial and Customer Service.
Lead the HighRadius functional solution design and deployment — 25%. Act as functional lead for bringing HighRadius into Diageo across Cash Application, Collections and Credit Management. Design remittance capture and cash-application rules toward straight-through posting — bank, lockbox, EDI 820, email and portal remittances, matching logic, auto-match and AI-led recommendations, unapplied-cash and exception handling. Design risk-based collection strategies, segmentation, prioritised worklists, automated dunning and correspondence, promise-to-pay and dispute routing. Design credit applications, scoring models, credit-limit setting and review cycles, blocked-order release and credit workflows. Lead fit-gap, configuration design, functional specifications and sign-off with HighRadius, system integrators and D&T, and shape the multi-market deployment approach and template.
Design integration, data and controls across the Credit to Cash landscape — 20%. Own the functional design of data flows and integration between HighRadius, SAP S/4HANA / ECC FSCM, banks and payment providers, ClaimOne, customer portals and the reporting layer — customer master, open items, payments, postings, disputes, credit exposure and limits. Define master-data and reference-data requirements, reason-code frameworks and posting logic. Embed financial controls, segregation of duties, audit trail and SOX / internal-control requirements in the design, and define the KPIs and reporting — DSO, CEI, overdue, auto-match rate, unapplied cash, credit-decision cycle time, exception and resolution time — that let the business manage the process in BAU.
Deliver the outcome and assure design quality through the value drops — 20%. Break the architecture into fragments that can be delivered on the two to four week value drop cadence, and act as design authority on each: review requirements, specifications, configuration and test coverage produced by Specialists, integrators and vendors. Define end-to-end test scenarios, lead integrated SIT and UAT across the value chain, and own resolution of design-level defects. Support cutover, data migration, deployment, hypercare and handover into run. Monitor post-go-live performance against the baseline and drive continuous improvement in automation rates, exception volume and resolution time. This is the accountability every other accountability serves.
Shape the roadmap and lead across the programme — 10%. Own the Credit to Cash functional roadmap: sequencing of modules and markets, adoption of new HighRadius and SAP capability, AI and automation opportunities, and retirement of legacy tools and manual workarounds. Act as trusted adviser to the workstream lead, market Finance, Credit and Collections leaders, GBO, D&T and vendors. Coach and guide Specialists on Credit to Cash design, and surface cross-boundary impact with Order-to-Invoice, Claims, Customer Service and Record-to-Report before it becomes a deployment defect.
Key Competencies (3)
1. End-to-end Credit to Cash mastery and functional architecture. Expert, end-to-end knowledge of the Credit to Cash value chain — credit risk and credit management, collections and dunning, payments and cash application, deductions, claims and disputes, AR accounting, reconciliation and close — and of how each