SAP Architecture Lead

Role Summary

The SAP Architecture Lead is responsible for overseeing the architecture of the Company's SAP landscape from end to end. This includes managing the S/4HANA digital core and the SAP Business AI Platform, which integrates SAP BTP, SAP Business Data Cloud, and AI Foundation into a cohesive stack. The role involves setting architectural standards, governing the technology roadmap, and ensuring alignment between business objectives and technical execution across global teams.

In addition to design responsibilities, this role emphasizes building. A key aspect is to establish and lead a shared-services BTP foundation team that manages the identity, connectivity, transport, and observability backbone for the organization. The successful candidate will utilize SAP LeanIX to model and communicate the landscape, maintain a clean core to facilitate the adoption of new SAP capabilities, and provide sound judgment on the integration of AI within the architecture.

Key Responsibilities

1. Own the target-state SAP architecture across application, data, integration, and technical layers on the converged stack (S/4HANA plus the SAP Business AI Platform: BTP, Business Data Cloud, AI Foundation, and the SAP Knowledge Graph), ensuring alignment with the Company’s enterprise architecture.
2. Establish and lead a shared-services BTP foundation team. Determine what operates as a shared, centrally governed service versus what remains dedicated to specific regions or business units, and manage the backbone, including identity (IAS, IPS, IDS, IAG), connectivity (Cloud Connector, Integration Suite), transport and CI/CD, observability, and the landing zone for delivery teams.
3. Own the SAP identity roadmap through the SAP IDM end-of-maintenance transition in 2027. Design the target identity model across SAP Cloud Identity Services and Microsoft Entra, covering single sign-on, principal propagation, provisioning, and machine and agent identity.
4. Define the role of Business AI within the architecture. Clarify where Joule fits as SAP-native, in-context, transactional work grounded in Business Data Cloud and the Knowledge Graph, and where it does not, including general cross-vendor work that should be handled by Microsoft Copilot or Claude, and processes requiring human oversight.
5. Govern agents and interoperability. Manage agent identity and authorization, the use of the SAP AI Agent Hub, and the boundaries where SAP and non-SAP agents interact.
6. Oversee the data foundation in Business Data Cloud, including data products, formations, and the distinction between SAP-managed foundation services and customer-managed capacity, considering cost, control, data residency, and lock-in trade-offs.
7. Maintain a clean core. Ensure the digital core remains upgradable, move custom logic to side-by-side BTP extensions, and align with SAP’s Clean Core certification to facilitate the adoption of new capabilities without rework.
8. Manage consumption and commercial architecture. Model and govern capacity unit and AI consumption costs across BTP, BDC, and the AI stack, securing documented API and integration rights as part of SAP and partner agreements.
9. Set and enforce architecture governance, design principles, and standards across projects and operational activities. Utilize SAP LeanIX to model the landscape, drive portfolio rationalization, and support data-informed decision-making.
10. Provide architectural oversight for major programs, including greenfield, brownfield, and selective transformations, RISE with SAP, hyperscaler decisions, and BTP-based extensions.
11. Collaborate with security, infrastructure, and data teams on identity, data residency, sovereign cloud, performance, scalability, and resilience.
12. Mentor architects and technical leads, enhancing the architectural maturity of the organization.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
• Approximately 15 years of experience in SAP architecture, with deep expertise in S/4HANA solution and technical architecture.
• Proven experience in establishing and managing shared-services or platform foundation capabilities on SAP BTP, including account models, entitlements, connectivity, and transport.
• Hands-on experience with SAP Cloud Identity Services (IAS, IPS, IDS, IAG), single sign-on, principal propagation, and provisioning. Experience with IDM-to-cloud or Microsoft Entra transitions is advantageous.
• Strong understanding of the SAP Business AI Platform, including BTP, Business Data Cloud, and the broader SAP AI and intelligent enterprise portfolio.
• Familiarity with SAP LeanIX for enterprise architecture management and portfolio rationalization.
• Track record of leading architecture for large, multi-region SAP landscapes.

Soft Skills and Leadership

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, capable of engaging global functional, technical, and business stakeholders and translating complex architecture into business terms.
• Strong influencing, facilitation, and consensus-building abilities across diverse geographies and cultures.
• Confident decision-making skills, with the maturity to balance strategic vision against delivery constraints.
• Proven people leadership experience, with a history of hiring, leading, and developing technical talent.

Preferred and Nice-to-Have

• SAP and/or TOGAF architecture certifications.
• Experience in manufacturing, consumer goods, or other regulated environments.
• Exposure to RISE with SAP and hyperscaler large-scale transformation programs.
• Familiarity with multi-assistant environments, where Joule operates alongside Microsoft Copilot and other enterprise AI, and with agent governance.
• Experience in identity governance migration, ideally from SAP IDM to SAP Cloud Identity Services and/or Microsoft Entra.