Managing SAP Development Architect

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You’ll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you’ll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You’ll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Your role and responsibilities

As a Managing SAP Development Architect, you are responsible for a hands-on technical leadership role responsible for designing SAP solution architectures, leading development teams, governing development standards, and ensuring successful delivery of SAP customizations, integrations, and extensions.

Compared to a Senior Manager, the Manager role is generally more focused on solution execution and team leadership, while the Senior Manager has broader ownership of enterprise architecture strategy, transformation roadmaps, and executive stakeholder management.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

Solution Architecture & Design:

• Design SAP technical solutions aligned with business requirements.

• Define application architecture for:

o SAP S/4HANA

o SAP ECC

o SAP BTP

o Fiori/UI5

o Workflow and Forms

• Review and approve technical specifications and design documents.

• Ensure adherence to Clean Core and SAP best practices.

Development Team Leadership:

• Lead SAP developers, technical consultants, and offshore teams.

• Assign development tasks and manage workload balancing.

• Provide technical guidance and mentoring.

• Conduct code reviews and enforce development standards.

Development Delivery Management:

• Manage end-to-end development lifecycle:

o Requirements analysis

o Technical design

o Development

o Unit testing

o Integration testing support

o Deployment

• Track development progress and resolve technical blockers.

• Ensure delivery meets quality, schedule, and budget objectives. Responsibilities such as defining development standards, managing development activities, overseeing build execution, and tracking development issues are reflected in SAP project delivery documentation.

Integration & Technical Governance:

• Define integration approaches between SAP and non-SAP systems.

• Review interface designs and middleware solutions.

• Ensure performance, scalability, and maintainability.

• Govern technical debt and architecture compliance.

Quality Assurance & Risk Management:

• Establish coding standards and development governance.

• Review transports and release readiness.

• Identify technical risks and propose mitigation strategies.

• Support audit, compliance, and security reviews.

1. Stakeholder Coordination

• Collaborate with:

o Functional Leads

o Business Process Owners

o Basis Teams

o Security Teams

o Project Managers

• Translate functional requirements into technical solutions.

• Communicate development status, risks, and dependencies to project leadership.

Release & Environment Management:

• Support transport and release management processes.

• Coordinate deployments across Development, QA, UAT, and Production environments.

• Ensure smooth cutover and hypercare activities.

This role can be performed from anywhere in the US.

Required education

Bachelor's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

SAP Technical

• ABAP / ABAP OO

• CDS Views

• RAP / ABAP Cloud

• Fiori/UI5

• OData Services

• SAP BTP

• SAP Workflow

• SAP Forms (Adobe/Smart Forms)

Leadership

• Team Management

• Agile/Scrum Delivery

• Technical Governance

Preferred technical and professional experience

Skills Expected:

• SAP S/4HANA Architecture

• SAP Integration Suite/CPI

• SAP Security concepts

Leadership

• Vendor Coordination

• Stakeholder Management

• Risk Management