SAP S/4HANA Upgrade Programme Manager

The successful candidate will provide customer-side leadership for a business-critical SAP S/4HANA upgrade, with accountability from assessment and business case approval through mobilisation, execution, cutover, adoption and stabilisation. The role will represent the customer organisation, translate technology impacts into business decisions and maintain clear ownership of programme outcomes.

Working closely with senior business and technology leaders, SAP, TCS and other delivery partners, the Programme Manager will establish an integrated plan, direct cross-functional delivery, hold vendors to account and ensure the organisation is ready to adopt the upgraded platform.

Your responsibilities:

• Own the end-to-end SAP S/4HANA upgrade programme, including scope, outcomes, integrated plan, budget, governance and benefits.
• Act as the customer-side programme lead and single point of accountability across business, IT, SAP, TCS and third-party partners.
• Build the investment case, delivery roadmap and funding submissions, clearly articulating business value, cost, risk and implementation options.
• Engage senior leadership and business process owners across Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Technology to secure decisions and active participation.
• Translate technical findings into clear business impacts, choices and actions, enabling leaders and users to understand the change and prepare effectively.
• Direct the assessment of business processes, functionality, integrations, custom code, security, data, archiving, testing and operational readiness.
• Establish programme governance, steering forums, decision rights, reporting standards and escalation routes.
• Maintain the integrated plan, RAID log, dependencies, critical path, financial controls and executive-level status reporting.
• Coordinate SAP RISE readiness activities and manage dependencies with SAP and application, infrastructure and integration vendors.
• Lead and hold delivery partners accountable for plans, commitments, quality, commercials and outcomes, while preserving clear customer ownership of decisions.
• Provide direction to Business Change Management, communications, training and adoption activities to ensure organisational readiness.
• Drive test strategy, business validation, cutover readiness, go-live decision-making, hypercare and transition into support.
• Challenge assumptions, resolve cross-workstream issues and escalate material risks with clear recommendations.
• Ensure assessment outputs are converted into an executable programme plan with validated resources, timelines, costs and acceptance criteria.

• Significant experience leading complex, business-critical SAP programmes in a customer-side leadership capacity.
• Demonstrable ownership of programmes from assessment and business case development through execution, cutover and stabilisation.
• Strong executive stakeholder management, with the confidence to influence, challenge and secure timely decisions.
• Proven ability to lead business change, explain programme impacts to non-technical audiences and mobilise business ownership.
• Experience managing system integrators, SAP and multiple third-party vendors within a clear governance and accountability model.
• Excellent commercial, financial, planning, governance, risk and dependency management skills.
• Ability to integrate business, functional, technical, data, testing, change and operational workstreams into one delivery plan.
• Excellent written communication, facilitation, negotiation and executive reporting capabilities.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience:

• Direct experience of SAP S/4HANA upgrades or major SAP transformation programmes.
• Experience of SAP RISE or cloud-hosted SAP environments.
• Understanding of SAP Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain and associated business processes.
• Experience in logistics, distribution, warehousing or similarly operationally intensive environments.
• Experience shaping business cases, investment approvals and benefits realisation plans.
• Professional programme or project management qualification, such as MSP, PRINCE2 or PMP.