SAP Technical Architect
Role Overview:
We are looking for an experienced SAP Technical Architect to own the end-to-end technical architecture across SAP S/4HANA and the wider SAP landscape (on-premise and cloud).The role will be accountable for defining and governing the overall technical design, including:
- SAP S/4HANA core platform (and/or ECC where still in scope)
- SAP BTP and integration (CPI, APIs, eventing)
- Extensions and custom development (ABAP / CAP / RAP / Fiori)
- Interfaces to non-SAP systems (HR, CRM, legacy, data/analytics platforms)
- Security, performance, resilience and DevOps/automation
You will work closely with enterprise architects, functional leads, developers, basis/infra teams and third parties to ensure that the SAP solution is scalable, secure, supportable and aligned to best practice. You should be comfortable leading technical design workshops, challenging implementation approaches, and communicating architecture clearly to both technical teams and business stakeholders.Requirements
1. Overall SAP Technical Architecture
Own the end-to-end technical architecture across the SAP estate (S/4HANA, BTP, integrations, satellites).Define target-state and transition-state architectures for SAP programmes (Greenfield, Brownfield, carve-outs, upgrades, cloud migrations).Ensure the design aligns with:
- Enterprise architecture standards
- Cloud platform standards (e.g. Azure/AWS)
- Security and compliance requirements
- Performance, scalability and availability goals
Maintain architectural artefacts (high-level designs, interface catalogues, system landscapes, integration diagrams, data flow diagrams).
2. Solution & Technical Design Governance Lead technical design workshops with SAP functional teams and development teams.Review and approve technical designs for:
- RICEFW objects (Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements, Forms, Workflows)
- Integrations and APIs
- Extensions on SAP BTP (e.g. CAP/RAP, side-by-side extensions)
- Fiori/UI5 applications and custom apps
Define and enforce development standards and guidelines:
- ABAP and ABAP OO best practice
- Clean Core principles (keep S/4 standard, move customisation to BTP where appropriate)
- Naming conventions, code review processes, performance guidelines
- Documentation standards
Chair or actively participate in the Design Authority / Technical Design Board, making sure all changes are architecturally sound and consistent.
3. Integration Architecture
Design integration patterns between SAP and non-SAP systems:
- SAP BTP Integration Suite / CPI
- SAP PO/PI (where legacy still in use)
- REST/SOAP APIs, event-driven patterns, and file-based integrations where required
Produce and maintain:
- Interface catalogues and mappings
- Error handling and monitoring models
- Security and authentication patterns (OAuth, SAML, certificates etc.)
Work with integration and data teams to ensure loosely coupled, scalable and resilient integrations that support future change.
4. Platform, Basis & Cloud Infrastructure Work with Basis and cloud platform teams to define:
- System landscape (dev / test / pre-prod / prod) and refresh strategy
- Sizing, performance and capacity planning for S/4HANA and related systems
- HA/DR strategy, backup and restore, and failover scenarios
Contribute to the design of cloud hosting for SAP:
- SAP on Azure/AWS/Private Cloud
- Network, connectivity and security zones
- Use of managed services and platform services
Support technical upgrades and migrations (e.g. ECC to S/4HANA, on-prem to cloud, DB migrations).
5. Security, Compliance & Performance
Define security architecture for SAP
- Roles and authorisations strategy
- Segregation of duties (SoD) considerations
- Identity and access management (SSO, Azure AD or equivalent)
Ensure compliance with:
- Corporate security policies
- Regulatory requirements (e.g. GDPR, audit trails, logging)
Support performance tuning:
- Work with Basis and dev teams on performance bottlenecks
- Ensure good design choices around data volumes, indexing, queries and batch jobs.
6. Delivery Support & Technical Leadership
Provide hands-on technical leadership to SAP development teams and partners:
- Mentor developers and technical consultants
- Support solutioning and effort estimates for new requirements
- Provide guidance on when to use standard vs custom vs BTP extensions
Support project delivery:
- Participate in sprint planning and backlog refinement (for Agile projects)
- Resolve technical design issues and unblock delivery teams
- Ensure non-functional requirements are built into the backlog and delivered (performance, resilience, security, supportability).
Contribute to testing and cutover:
- Validate technical readiness for SIT/UAT
- Ensure monitoring, logs and technical operations are in place for go-live
- Support cutover planning for complex technical changes.
7. Stakeholder Management & Communication
Act as the primary technical point of contact for SAP with:
- Enterprise architecture
- Infrastructure and security teams
- Vendor/partner technical leads
Present technical options and recommendations in clear business language to project managers and senior stakeholders.Produce and present architecture decision records, risks and recommendations.
Essential Skills & Experience:
8+ years overall SAP experience with at least 3+ years in an SAP Technical Architect or Lead Technical role.Deep technical understanding of SAP S/4HANA (and ECC where relevant), including
- System architecture, landscape design and transport strategy
- Key technical components (HANA DB, Fiori, OData, CDS views)
Strong background in ABAP / ABAP OO development and enhancement frameworks, with a clear view of:
- User exits, BADIs, enhancements, BTEs
- CDS views, OData services, BOPF (where applicable)
Solid experience with SAP BTP and integration:
- SAP BTP Integration Suite / CPI
- API management, eventing and extension patterns
Experience designing and delivering complex integrations between SAP and non-SAP systems.Good understanding of Fiori/UI5, including architecture, app types and deployment options.Experience working closely with Basis and infrastructure teams on sizing, performance, HA/DR and upgrades.Strong grounding in security and authorisation concepts in SAP.Track record of working on large-scale SAP programmes or multi-system landscapes (e.g. multi-country, multi-entity)
Experience of solution governance:
- Running design reviews and technical design boards
- Enforcing development standards and quality gates
Comfortable working in Agile / hybrid delivery models (Scrum/SAFe/Waterfall blend), and with tools such as Jira / Azure DevOps.
Desirable Skills & Experience
Experience with Central Finance, SAP BW/4HANA, SAC or other SAP analytics tools.Exposure to SAP Industry solutions (e.g. IS-Utilities, IS-Retail, Public Sector, etc.) if relevant to your environment.Experience of S/4HANA Greenfield implementations and/or ECC to S/4HANA Brownfield migrations.Experience with DevOps / CI/CD for SAP:
- CTS+, ChaRM, or third-party tools (e.g. Rev-Trac, Azure DevOps pipelines for SAP, Git-enabled change management).
Experience defining monitoring and observability for SAP (e.g. Solution Manager, SAP Focused RUN, or APM tools).
Certification(s) such as:
- SAP Certified Technology Associate (S/4HANA, HANA, etc.)
- Cloud platform certifications (Azure/AWS/GCP)
Personal Attributes:
- Architect mindset: able to see the bigger picture while still understanding technical detail.
- Strong problem-solving skills and able to make pragmatic trade-offs between ideal architecture and delivery constraints.
- Confident communicator, able to translate technical topics into business language.
- Collaborative and comfortable working with multi-vendor / multi-team environments.
- Proactive, self-driven and able to take ownership of the SAP technical landscape.
