SAP Upgrade Planning-Deputy Director

Overview The size and complexity of our SAP landscape with 20+ SAP products & 800+ instances, combined with multiple deadlines for patching / versioning & end of life and deep dependencies across strategic programs—make SAP Upgrades a mission‑critical function. Over the next 5+ years, we will have to efficiently run all the large business critical upgrades with 100% efficiency & no disruption to business – factoring in the deeply integrated global landscape. The upgrade planning manager is a strategic role which develops and maintains the Pepsi Co SAP multi year upgrade strategy in collaboration with SAP and Pepsi Co teams Responsibilities Primary 'Own the multi-year SAP upgrade roadmap across all Pepsi Co platforms, markets and regions Prioritize upgrade initiatives based on risk, business value, innovation, and SAP support deadlines Identify and resolve cross-program dependencies and conflicts before execution begins Align with SAP/vendor roadmaps, licensing changes, and product lifecycle milestone Develop AOP plans including funding, resources, environments, and governance approvals Maintain and promote a single source of truth at the system ID level in the applications' inventory Shared Partner with Infrastructure and Cloud teams to align upgrade roadmaps with hosting capacity, environment strategy, and platform modernization plans Partner with Functional/DSO teams and Product Owners to prioritize upgrades based on business value, risk, and operational calendars Partner with Testing teams to estimate effort and reserve test windows, environments, and long-range regression capacity for upcoming releases Partner with SAP/Vendors and Architecture teams to assess dependencies, product lifecycle changes, and required remediation actions- Partner with Modernization team ensuring there is a wholistic view of the global SAP roadmap and north start which includes not only Upgrades but also modernization re-platform applications Decision Rights Approve and maintain the multi-year SAP upgrade roadmap, sequencing, and prioritization of initiatives Decide go/no-go for entering execution based on readiness, dependencies, funding, and resource availability Decide whether upgrades priorities should be changed, accelerated or deferred based on risk and business priorities Qualifications 12+ years in SAP programs, ERP transformations, or enterprise technology strategy-Proven experience building multi-year roadmaps for SAP ECC, S/4HANA, cloud, and adjacent platforms Strong knowledge of SAP product lifecycle, maintenance deadlines, licensing, and vendor governance Experience managing cross-functional dependencies across infrastructure, security, data, testing, and business teams Executive presence with ability to influence senior leadership, secure funding, and drive prioritization decisions
Primary 'Own the multi-year SAP upgrade roadmap across all Pepsi Co platforms, markets and regions Prioritize upgrade initiatives based on risk, business value, innovation, and SAP support deadlines Identify and resolve cross-program dependencies and conflicts before execution begins Align with SAP/vendor roadmaps, licensing changes, and product lifecycle milestone Develop AOP plans including funding, resources, environments, and governance approvals Maintain and promote a single source of truth at the system ID level in the applications' inventory Shared Partner with Infrastructure and Cloud teams to align upgrade roadmaps with hosting capacity, environment strategy, and platform modernization plans Partner with Functional/DSO teams and Product Owners to prioritize upgrades based on business value, risk, and operational calendars Partner with Testing teams to estimate effort and reserve test windows, environments, and long-range regression capacity for upcoming releases Partner with SAP/Vendors and Architecture teams to assess dependencies, product lifecycle changes, and required remediation actions- Partner with Modernization team ensuring there is a wholistic view of the global SAP roadmap and north start which includes not only Upgrades but also modernization re-platform applications Decision Rights Approve and maintain the multi-year SAP upgrade roadmap, sequencing, and prioritization of initiatives Decide go/no-go for entering execution based on readiness, dependencies, funding, and resource availability Decide whether upgrades priorities should be changed, accelerated or deferred based on risk and business priorities
12+ years in SAP programs, ERP transformations, or enterprise technology strategy-Proven experience building multi-year roadmaps for SAP ECC, S/4HANA, cloud, and adjacent platforms Strong knowledge of SAP product lifecycle, maintenance deadlines, licensing, and vendor governance Experience managing cross-functional dependencies across infrastructure, security, data, testing, and business teams Executive presence with ability to influence senior leadership, secure funding, and drive prioritization decisions