SAP Technical Lead – Operations & Critical Programs
Location
Dublin, Ireland
Role Summary
The SAP Technical Lead is responsible for end-to-end SAP technical operations, stability, and execution of critical transformation and remediation programs. This role owns SAP production reliability, leads incident and outage management, drives RISE with SAP operational governance, and ensures high-quality service delivery from System Integrators (SIs) and SAP internal teams.
The role requires strong technical depth, decisive leadership during crises, and the ability to operate seamlessly across business, SAP, hyperscalers, and SI partners.
Key Responsibilities
SAP Operations & Production Stability
- Own SAP technical operations across ECC and S/4HANA landscapes, including ABAP, Basis, integrations, and related middleware.
- Ensure 24x7 production stability, performance, availability, and compliance with defined SLAs and OLAs.
- Lead proactive monitoring, problem management, and root cause analysis to prevent recurring incidents.
- Drive operational excellence across transports, upgrades, patching, performance tuning, and system housekeeping.
RISE with SAP Operations & Governance
- Act as the technical owner for RISE with SAP environments, including Private Cloud / hyperscaler-hosted landscapes.
- Manage SAP RISE governance covering:
- SAP Cloud ALM / Solution Manager processes
- Incident, change, release, and escalation management
- Contractual SLAs and service credits
- Coordinate with SAP RISE operations teams during incidents, capacity events, upgrades, and planned maintenance.
- Ensure clear ownership boundaries between SAP, hyperscaler, SI, and internal teams.
Critical Incident & Outage Management
- Serve as the command center lead during Priority-1 / critical outages impacting business operations.
- Directly engage with:
- SAP Product Support and RISE Mission Control
- Hyperscaler teams (AWS/Azure/GCP where applicable)
- System Integrators and internal technical teams
- Lead war rooms, ensure rapid containment, drive restoration, and communicate status to senior leadership.
- Own post-incident reviews, root cause documentation, and corrective/preventive action plans.
System Integrator (SI) Service Delivery Management
- Provide technical oversight and governance of System Integrators responsible for SAP build and run services.
- Ensure SI adherence to:
- Architecture standards
- Security and compliance requirements
- Delivery quality, timelines, and cost controls
- Challenge SI recommendations constructively and ensure decisions align with enterprise strategy.
- Review SI deliverables including designs, transports, testing outcomes, cutover plans, and hypercare support.
Critical Programs & Transformations
- Lead or support high-impact SAP technical programs such as:
- S/4HANA transformations
- Landscape separations (carve-outs / spin-offs)
- System consolidations and decommissioning
- RISE transitions and optimization initiatives
- Ensure technical readiness for cutovers, go-lives, and Day 2 operations.
- Partner with business and functional leads to reduce risk and ensure operational continuity.
Stakeholder & Leadership Engagement
- Act as a trusted technical advisor to IT leadership and business stakeholders.
- Translate complex technical issues into clear business impact and risk statements.
- Mentor and guide SAP technical teams, fostering operational ownership and engineering discipline.
Required Skills & Experience
Mandatory
- 12+ years of SAP technical experience across Basis, ABAP, integrations, and SAP operations.
- Proven leadership in production operations and critical outage management.
- Hands-on experience with RISE with SAP (Private Cloud preferred).
- Strong experience working with System Integrators in both build and run models.
- Deep understanding of SAP incident, problem, change, and release management processes.
Preferred
- Experience with S/4HANA transformation or selective carve-out programs.
- Exposure to Hyperscaler platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
- Familiarity with SAP Cloud ALM, Solution Manager, and SAP support escalation models.
- Experience operating in global, multi-time-zone environments.
Leadership & Behavioral Competencies
- Calm, decisive leadership under pressure
- Strong ownership mindset and accountability
- Excellent communication with senior stakeholders
- Ability to challenge vendors constructively
- Outcome-driven and highly structured in execution
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