Application Portfolio Owner - Finance and Accounting

About Us

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that safely delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $8.1 billion in revenue for 2025, Clayco specializes in the "art and science of building," providing fast track, efficient solutions for mission critical, industrial, life sciences, power & energy, aviation, commercial, institutional, residential and sports & entertainment related building projects.

The Role We Want You For

The Application Portfolio Owner (APO) manages the Finance and Accounting application portfolio to keep it aligned with business strategy, delivering measurable value, and well controlled on cost, performance, and risk. The APO is the key partner to Finance and Accounting leaders, IT teams, architects, software vendors, and managed service providers, and guides application decisions and the long-term direction of the portfolio.

The portfolio includes JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Dataserv, Concur, Yardi, Hubble, and other applications that support Finance and Accounting business processes. The APO acts as the liaison between business and technical teams.

The Specifics of the Role

Portfolio Strategy & Governance

• Maintain a strategic roadmap for the Finance and Accounting portfolio aligned with business objectives and IT strategy
• Lead application rationalization to reduce redundancy and technical debt and improve return on investment
• Define and enforce governance standards, including ownership, support models, performance metrics, and accuracy of the CMDB / system of record

Contract & Vendor Management

• Manage software contracts and managed service agreements for all portfolio applications
• Lead negotiations, renewals, amendments, and terminations, avoiding lapses and unintended auto-renewals
• Run structured reviews ahead of contract expirations, evaluating functional fit, adoption, licensing levels, training needs, and future requirements
• Hold vendors and managed service partners accountable for service levels, deliverables, and value
• Plan for risks tied to application exits, including data retention, business continuity, and timing constraints
• Keep contract and service agreement documentation accurate and current

Budget & Financial Management

• Forecast and manage licensing, maintenance, support, and upgrade costs across the portfolio
• Work with vendors and internal IT teams to develop cost estimates and forecasts
• Ensure spending aligns with approved budgets, business priorities, and IT strategy
• Hold annual application reviews with stakeholders to identify enhancement, optimization, or retirement opportunities

Application Lifecycle & Maintenance

• Manage the enhancement and demand backlog across all Finance and Accounting applications
• Work with platform engineers and managed services teams to prioritize enhancement and administration work, using clear, transparent criteria
• Oversee version upgrades, module deployments, disaster recovery testing, and technical debt remediation
• Make sure requirements are clear, testing is ready, and delivery succeeds
• Coordinate deployment activities, including user acceptance testing, go-live, rollback planning, and hypercare
• Ensure compliance with licensing, contractual, security, and data governance requirements

Application Retirement & Replacement

• Evaluate successor applications with Enterprise Business Architecture when current applications no longer meet business needs
• Stay engaged through replacement implementations to ensure continuity
• Lead decommissioning of legacy applications and retain or archive data per company policy

Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary IT contact for Finance and Accounting stakeholders
• Give routine, proactive updates on application status, upcoming changes, contract events, and work in progress
• Gather feedback on needs, pain points, and future requirements to inform the roadmap and priorities
• Report application health, risks, and roadmap status to IT and executive stakeholders
• Work with security, compliance, and data governance teams to ensure policy alignment

Process Documentation & Continuous Improvement

• Document and review the processes Finance and Accounting teams use with their applications
• Identify opportunities to consolidate, modernize, automate, or integrate applications, and to strengthen controls and reduce manual effort
• Stay informed of emerging technologies and assess their impact on the portfolio
  

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• 5+ years of experience in application ownership, product or portfolio management, or enterprise systems ownership [confirm minimum]
• Demonstrated experience managing software contracts and vendor relationships, including negotiation, renewals, and amendments
• Experience managing SaaS and enterprise platforms in finance or accounting
• Strong understanding of application lifecycle management, vendor management, and IT governance
• Proven ability to partner with business stakeholders and technical teams, and to communicate clearly with both

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Deltek Vantagepoint, Concur, or Yardi
• Experience in construction, real estate, or professional services
• Experience managing managed service partners against defined service levels
• Familiarity with application rationalization and TCO analysis
• Experience in regulated or compliance-focused environments, including internal controls, audit, and access governance for financial systems
• Strong documentation and change management skills
• Product ownership, portfolio management, or ITIL certification

Some Things You Should Know

• This position will service our clients regionally.
• No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
• We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
• The pace is fast!
• This position is classified as a safety-sensitive role in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. Candidates selected for this position will be subject to a comprehensive background check, which includes mandatory drug testing.

Why Clayco?

• 2025 Best Places to Work – St. Louis Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Phoenix Business Journal.
• 2025 ENR Top 400 – Top Data Center Contractor (Top 3).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms – Design-Build Contractor (Top 5).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors – Green Contractor (Top 3).

Benefits

• Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!

Compensation

• The salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for the role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. The Clayco Nationwide salary range for this position is approximately $110,000 - $140,000 +/- annually (not adjusted for location).