ERP Communications and Engagement Lead

ERP Transformation Communications & Engagement Lead

Hybrid * must be able to attend site (Dorchester DT1 1XJ)

Must have Local Government and Oracle Fusion experience.

£600 a day

Ongoing assignment (18 months)

Outside IR35

About Connect2Dorset

Connect2Dorset is the managed service recruitment partner to Dorset Council, providing temporary, contract, and interim opportunities across the organisation. Built on values of being ethical, trustworthy, and caring, our profits are reinvested back into our Local Authority shareholders.

Role purpose

To lead the communications and stakeholder engagement workstream for the Council's ERP transformation - the migration from SAP to Oracle Fusion Cloud across Finance, HCM, Payroll and Commissioning & Procurement. The role holder develops and executes the end-to-end communications and engagement strategy that carries every stakeholder group, from executive leadership and elected members through to operational front-line users, on the journey from the current SAP environment to confident adoption of the new Oracle Fusion Cloud system.

This is a hands-on senior role: it both sets the strategy and delivers it. The successful candidate is ERP-literate, fluent in the language of business change, and has a demonstrable track record of having designed and run communications and engagement on a major ERP transformation - not communications in the abstract, but the specific challenge of taking a large, diverse workforce through a system and ways-of-working change of this scale.

The role operates as a fully embedded member of the Council's Internal Communications function, ensuring ERP communications are fully aligned with corporate messaging, priorities, channels and governance, and contribute to a joined-up organisational narrative.

Key responsibilities

Strategy & planning

Develop and maintain the ERP communications and engagement plan as part of the Council's overall internal communications forward planning, ensuring alignment with corporate priorities, other transformation programmes, and organisational messaging. Work within established Internal Communications governance, planning cycles and approval processes. Define the audiences, core narrative, key messages, channels and cadence - aligned to the programme roadmap, waves and milestones. Translate complex, technical ERP and process change into a clear, compelling, plain-English story that resonates at every level.

Stakeholder engagement - senior to operational

Engage senior stakeholders - the SRO, Senior Leadership Team, programme board and (where relevant) elected members - building credibility and securing visible, active sponsorship. Engage middle management, service leads and directorate stakeholders, equipping them to lead change within their teams. Engage operational and front-line staff and end users - the people whose day-to-day work changes - with tailored, relevant, reassuring communication. Map and segment stakeholders, track sentiment, and tailor messaging and approach to each audience's needs and concerns.

Delivery & execution

Plan and run multi-channel campaigns - intranet, email, leadership briefings, town halls, roadshows, drop-ins, digital and video. Create high-quality content: the programme narrative, FAQs, briefing packs, plain-English guides, leadership talking points, and go-live and adoption materials. Plan and deliver engagement events and the rhythm of programme communications across the lifecycle. Establish, brief and support a change champion / change agent network to extend reach into every service. Ensure all ERP communications are coordinated with wider organisational communications activity, avoiding duplication, message conflict or overload across programmes and services. Align timing, messaging and channel use with the corporate communications grid and forward plan. Use and optimise existing corporate channels, platforms and products as the default for ERP communications, only introducing new channels where agreed through Internal Communications governance. Ensure all outputs meet corporate standards for tone of voice, accessibility, branding and inclusion.

Business change alignment

Work hand-in-glove with business change, training and business readiness activity so communications actively drives adoption - not just awareness. Support change-impact communications, readiness campaigns, and go-live and hypercare communications. Embed communications and engagement within the programme's overall change approach and governance. Work with communications leads across other transformation programmes to ensure a coherent, joined-up narrative and aligned engagement approach across organisational change. Actively contribute to organisation-wide communications planning and coordination forums.

Essential experience & skills

Public sector / local government experience, including engaging elected members and political stakeholders. Direct experience of a SAP-to-Oracle Fusion Cloud transformation specifically. Familiarity with recognised change frameworks (e.g. Prosci / ADKAR). Experience of go-live and hypercare communications on a comparable programme. ERP transformation experience - demonstrable experience leading communications and engagement on a major ERP transformation programme (e.g. SAP, Oracle Fusion/Cloud, Workday or comparable). ERP-literate - a working understanding of ERP concepts and modules (Finance, HCM, Payroll, Procurement), cloud SaaS delivery, and what genuinely changes for users - able to translate technical change into language the business understands. Strategy developed and executed end-to-end - a proven track record of having both designed an ERP transformation communications and engagement strategy and delivered it in practice, from blank page to live campaigns and measured outcomes. Business change fluency - a strong grasp of how communications supports adoption, readiness and benefits realisation, with experience working alongside business change and training functions. Full-spectrum stakeholder engagement - credible and effective with stakeholders at every level, from executive leadership, SRO and board down to operational front-line staff and end users. Outstanding communication craft - exceptional writing, narrative and messaging skills; able to make complex change clear, compelling and human. Multi-channel campaign expertise - experience planning and running internal communications campaigns across a full mix of channels and events. Pace and self-sufficiency - able to operate independently and at pace in a demanding programme environment, with minimal direction. Complex organisations - experience communicating change within large, diverse, multi-stakeholder organisations. Public sector / local government experience, including engaging elected members and political stakeholders. Direct experience of a SAP-to-Oracle Fusion Cloud transformation specifically. Familiarity with recognised change frameworks (e.g. Prosci / ADKAR). Experience of go-live and hypercare communications on a comparable programme.

Key deliverables

Indicative deliverables in the first 90 days and on an ongoing basis (to be confirmed with the Programme Director):

Timeframe

Deliverable

First 30 days

Stakeholder map and segmentation; rapid communications audit; draft communications & engagement strategy and narrative.

By 60 days

Approved communications & engagement strategy and rolling plan; channels and governance established; change champion network designed.

By 90 days

Initial campaigns live; engagement baseline measured; reporting rhythm in place to the programme board.

Ongoing

A live strategy and rolling plan; sustained engagement across all audiences; milestone-aligned content and campaigns; engagement measurement and reporting; go-live, adoption and hypercare communications.

Connect2Dorset is a trading style of Dorset & Kent Commercial Services LLP - A joint venture between Dorset Council & Commercial Services Kent Ltd. Connect2Dorset is an equal opportunities Employment Agency & Business. It positively encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates