SAP FS Technical Delivery Lead at Sanlam Group

What will you do?

• As an SAP Financial Systems (FS) Technical Delivery Lead, the incumbent be responsible to oversee and maintain smooth end-to-end technical support operations within the SAP S/4HANA Financial Systems platform as a service.
• In addition, the incumbent will play a leading role in the design of new system solutions or major enhancements relating to SAP S/4HANA on-premise Finance and Procurement related modules.
• The incumbent will report to the Head of SAP Centre of Expertise, a unit within the Applications Platform portfolio of Sanlam Group Technology (SGT) and collaborate with direct and indirect teams to ensure governance, adherence, seamless service delivery and top-notch client support.
• The client Sanlam Finance Shared Services (FSS) in Sanlam Life and Savings, provides a chargeable offering to over 70 entities in Sanlam Group and is responsible for, amongst others, payment of supplier invoices, reconciliations, posting resolutions, period end closing, master data changes, cost allocation, processing of fixed assets, etc.

What will make you successful in this role?

• Maintain a close client and SAP CoE relationship to effectively support SLA’s and OLA’s between SGT and FSS.
• Engage with teams of configuration experts, developers, testers, infrastructure/basis analysts and application security specialists to deliver system and user access change requests for both business as usual and projects where applicable.
• Ensure all periodic system upgrade and maintenance activities are successfully completed.
• Oversee the design of complicated, high-impact system requirements to address potential risks to integration, usability and deadlines.
• Receive, assess and allocate JIRA requests 
• Drive delivery of system related tasks against agreed priorities and deadlines
• Ensure periodic client cadences for alignment, prioritisation and escalation activities
• Ensure adequate resource levelling in response to backlog and incoming JIRA requests
• Ensure adherence to release, incident and SAP change management procedures
• Ensure audit compliance in user access and change management
• Where applicable, ensure all SAP legislative changes are addressed
• Ensure all system upgrades and maintenances activities are planned and successfully delivered
• Ensure alignment with SAP CoE governance, procedures and principles and other applicable SGT standards
• Act as a support expert to system analysts when designing system changes 
• Design and validate a complex architecture and ensure successful implementation
• Provide recommendations and guidance on the SAP S/4HANA platform and tools
• Understand the business processes for which any solution architecture is being developed
• Influence SGT IT Strategies ensuring collaborative alignment
• Identify, assess, and solve complex business problems for area of responsibility, where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of variable factors
• Closely follows the strategic direction set by senior management when establishing near-term goals
• Interacts with senior management on matters where they may need to gain acceptance on an alternate approach
• Manage interactions and delivery with third parties contributing to the overall solution
• Oversee, manage and support a team of SAP Finance Systems technical experts

Qualification

• Post Grade 12 qualification in Computer Science, Information Systems or a related qualification
• ITIL Certification or similar 

Experience

• 5 years in SAP Service delivery
• At least 5 years in technical support of SAP S/4HANA Finance related applications
• Involvement in 5 full life SAP S/4HANA Finance related cycle projects 

Knowledge 

Advanced knowledge of:

• SAP service delivery principles
• Planning deliverables i.e. timelines and resources
• System change management processes preferably using JIRA or similar
• Waterfall methodology
• Agile methodologies will be advantageous
• SAP ABAP and FIORI will be advantageous

Technical knowledge of:

• SAP S/4HANA on-premise FI, CO, PS, MM, SD, EAM, MDG
• SAP Data Services will be advantageous
• SAP Insurance Analyser will be advantageous

Skills

Ability to:

• interpret and interrogate written requirements specification documents
• prioritise tasks
• deliver in accordance with strict deadlines
• negotiate with various stakeholders
• maintain delivery momentum
• Excellent interpersonal and communication (written and verbal) skills
• Strong analytical skills, problem solving and communication skills

Personal Attributes

• Organisational savvy - Contributing through others
• Decision quality - Contributing through others
• Plans and aligns - Contributing through others
• Optimises work processes - Contributing through others

Core Competencies

• Cultivates innovation - Contributing through others
• Customer focus - Contributing through others
• Drives results - Contributing through others
• Collaborates - Contributing through others
• Being resilient - Contributing through others