Requisition Number: RR-0005188

Position Title:

External Description:

Senior Project Manager – SAP S/4HANA Infrastructure & Platform

Position Overview

A large global organization is seeking a Senior Project Manager to support a highly complex enterprise SAP S/4HANA transformation. This role will provide project leadership across the SAP infrastructure, platform and Basis workstream, with responsibility for planning, governance, methodology, stakeholder alignment, change management, environment readiness, release execution, hypercare and transition into ongoing operations.

This is specifically a senior project management role. It is not a Basis administrator, SAP architect or enterprise program-management position. The successful candidate must be an accomplished Project Manager who has led complex global SAP S/4HANA initiatives and has prior experience managing SAP infrastructure and Basis teams within a project-delivery environment.

Approximately 80% of the role will focus on project planning, methodology, governance, playbooks, trackers, executive presentations, change management, stakeholder leadership and delivery execution. Approximately 20% of the role will involve coordinating SAP Basis system installation, environment builds, configuration activities and related technical dependencies.

The ideal candidate will bring strong project-management discipline, executive presence, self-direction and the ability to establish structure within a large, matrixed global organization. They should understand SAP infrastructure and Basis activities well enough to ask informed questions, identify risks and hold technical teams accountable, but they do not need to serve as the hands-on Basis engineer.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead project delivery across the SAP infrastructure, platform and Basis workstream within a global SAP S/4HANA transformation.
• Develop and maintain integrated project plans, timelines, milestones, dependencies, critical-path activities and delivery schedules.
• Build and implement project-management playbooks, methodologies, governance processes and operating cadences.
• Establish clear decision-making forums, escalation paths, reporting structures and accountability across the workstream.
• Create and maintain detailed project trackers, dashboards, status reports, executive presentations and decision-support materials.
• Translate complex technical information into clear, concise and actionable updates for senior leadership.
• Coordinate SAP RISE environment planning and readiness across Sandbox, Development, QA, Pre-Production and Production environments.
• Manage planning and execution activities related to environment builds, system installations, Basis configuration and production-readiness milestones.
• Coordinate SAP Basis, infrastructure, platform, application, security, integration and operations teams.
• Manage dependencies across multiple SAP workstreams, regions, environments and stakeholder groups.
• Lead release planning, cutover preparation, hypercare planning and transition into business-as-usual operations.
• Build and maintain release calendars, readiness trackers and environment deployment schedules.
• Identify, assess and mitigate project risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies.
• Lead corrective-action planning when milestones, resources or deliverables are at risk.
• Facilitate project meetings, technical working sessions, leadership reviews, governance forums and executive updates.
• Drive stakeholder alignment, ownership and timely decision-making across a large and highly matrixed global organization.
• Manage systems integrators, business integrators, vendors and third-party delivery partners.
• Support organizational change activities, including stakeholder engagement, communications, operational readiness and training coordination.
• Assess project health and implement recovery plans or process improvements when needed.
• Capture lessons learned and continuously improve project-management practices, tools, controls and governance.
• Take ownership of overall project outcomes and proactively remove obstacles affecting scope, schedule, quality or readiness.
• Work effectively with global stakeholders and leaders across multiple time zones.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional experience.
• At least 7 years of experience managing large, complex technical projects.
• Demonstrated senior-level project management experience within SAP S/4HANA transformation programs.
• Experience leading highly complex, global SAP deployments involving multiple workstreams, regions, environments and stakeholder groups.
• Experience managing SAP infrastructure, platform and Basis teams within a project-delivery role.
• Experience supporting SAP S/4HANA deployments through SAP RISE.
• Demonstrated ability to personally build and manage detailed project plans, methodologies, playbooks, trackers, dashboards, reports and executive presentations.
• Experience establishing or strengthening project governance, operating cadence, delivery controls and accountability.
• Experience managing environment readiness, release planning, cutover, hypercare and transition into ongoing operations.
• Strong change management experience within a large-scale technology or business transformation.
• Experience navigating, influencing and driving decisions within a large, highly matrixed global organization.
• Working knowledge of SAP Basis system installation, environment builds and Basis configuration activities.
• Familiarity with SAP landscape sequencing across Development, QA, Pre-Production and Production.
• Experience managing technical SMEs, infrastructure teams, Basis resources, systems integrators and third-party partners.
• Strong risk, issue, dependency, scope and stakeholder-management capabilities.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and executive-communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Demonstrated self-motivation, curiosity, adaptability and willingness to quickly learn unfamiliar technical areas.
• Ability to operate independently in a fast-moving environment with changing priorities and some ambiguity.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, technology, engineering or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP certification.
• Two or more full-lifecycle SAP S/4HANA implementations.
• Experience managing SAP RISE infrastructure, platform or Basis workstreams.
• Experience supporting global, multi-instance SAP landscapes.
• Familiarity with SAP transports, Fiori, SAP Gateway Services and environment refreshes.
• Familiarity with release management, patching, performance testing, backup and recovery, disaster-recovery testing or vulnerability management.
• Experience with SAP change-control or transport-management tools such as ActiveControl.
• Experience managing service transition from project deployment into business-as-usual operations.
• Prior consulting experience.
• Experience working within Agile, hybrid or large-scale enterprise delivery models.
• Experience using Monday.com, Smartsheet, Jira, Azure DevOps or similar project-management tools.
• Agile or other relevant project-management certification.

Technical Environment

The project includes coordination across a complex SAP S/4HANA landscape delivered through SAP RISE. Relevant areas may include:

• SAP environment builds and readiness
• Sandbox, Development, QA, Pre-Production and Production environments
• Basis system installation and configuration
• Transport and release coordination
• SAP Fiori and Gateway Services
• Environment refreshes
• Systems patching
• Performance testing
• Backup and recovery
• High availability and disaster recovery
• Security vulnerability management
• Batch processing
• Hypercare and operational transition

The Senior Project Manager will not be expected to personally perform all technical activities. However, they must understand the work sufficiently to manage plans, dependencies, risks, milestones and technical resources effectively.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be a strong Project Manager first. They will bring advanced planning, governance, communication and delivery-management skills, along with enough SAP infrastructure and Basis experience to credibly lead technical teams.

The ideal candidate will have previously managed SAP Basis and infrastructure teams during a complex S/4HANA implementation and will be comfortable discussing environment builds, configuration, transports, release readiness, cutover, hypercare and operational transition.

This person should be able to:

• Create structure where processes are incomplete or evolving
• Build project methodology and governance rather than simply inherit it
• Develop detailed project plans and hold teams accountable to them
• Communicate clearly with senior leaders and technical stakeholders
• Navigate a large global organization and influence without direct authority
• Learn unfamiliar technical areas quickly
• Operate independently with a high level of ownership
• Manage multiple complex workstreams and competing priorities
• Maintain delivery discipline in a changing environment
• Balance strategic thinking with hands-on project execution

Success in the Role

Success will be measured by the candidate’s ability to:

• Establish strong project-management structure and governance
• Produce clear, actionable plans, trackers and executive reporting
• Improve visibility into risks, dependencies, milestones and ownership
• Drive SAP environment and release readiness
• Coordinate infrastructure and Basis teams effectively
• Support successful cutover, hypercare and transition into operations
• Build trust with senior leadership and global stakeholders
• Proactively identify and resolve delivery issues
• Maintain accountability across multiple teams and partners
• Deliver consistently in a complex and evolving transformation environment

Remote: 1

City: McLean

State: Virginia

Ext Portal Job Header:

Community / Marketing Title: Senior Project Manager – SAP S/4HANA Infrastructure & Platform

Company Profile:

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