IT Team Lead

Main Objective

Lead the SAP Quality Management and Plant Maintenance teams in delivering reliable, scalable, and business-focused technology solutions. Partner with business leaders and cross-functional IT teams to drive process improvements, manage application support, and oversee the design, configuration, testing, implementation, and continuous enhancement of SAP and associated enterprise applications across both on-premise and cloud environments.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the SAP Quality Management (QM) and Plant Maintenance (PM) functional teams, providing direction, coaching, prioritization, and oversight of day-to-day support activities and project delivery.
• Develop a deep understanding of business processes, operational objectives, and organizational priorities to identify opportunities for process improvement and technology enablement.
• Partner with business stakeholders and cross-functional IT teams to define, challenge, and shape business requirements, recommending innovative and scalable solutions that align with enterprise standards and strategic objectives.
• Serve as the functional lead for SAP QM and PM, ensuring the effective design, configuration, testing, implementation, integration, and continuous improvement of SAP and related enterprise applications across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Oversee production support activities, ensuring timely analysis, resolution, escalation, and communication of incidents, service requests, and system issues while maintaining agreed service levels.
• Ensure the stability, availability, integrity, and performance of production systems through proactive monitoring, issue management, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, security, and application teams to support system reliability, backup and recovery processes, disaster recovery planning, business continuity requirements, and capacity planning activities.
• Participate in application lifecycle management activities, including security administration, user provisioning, access governance, patch management, system enhancements, and performance optimization.
• Lead and support SAP-related projects and initiatives through all phases of the project lifecycle, including requirements gathering, solution design, testing, deployment, change management, and post-production support.
• Coordinate solution requirements across business processes, enterprise applications, integrations, and user interfaces to ensure seamless end-to-end process execution.
• Develop and maintain project and operational artifacts including business cases, functional specifications, process flows, solution designs, test scripts, training materials, and support documentation.
• Evaluate technical alternatives, assess risks and impacts, and effectively communicate trade-offs, recommendations, and implementation strategies to business and IT leadership.
• Facilitate stakeholder discussions, manage competing priorities, and drive alignment across business and technical teams while escalating risks and issues as appropriate.
• Support business readiness and user adoption through training, knowledge transfer, communication, and change management activities.
• Adhere to Quality System Procedures, Change Control processes, validation requirements, and regulatory compliance standards applicable to the organization.
• Support internal and external audits and serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for SAP QM and PM processes, controls, and system capabilities, as required.
• Ensure Quality Assurance non-conformances, corrective actions, and compliance-related activities are addressed accurately and within established timelines.
• Foster a culture of operational excellence, customer service, continuous improvement, and collaboration across business and IT teams.

Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Supply Chain, Business Administration, or a related field is required.
• Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• Minimum of 8+ years of relevant SAP experience, including hands-on configuration, implementation, and production support responsibilities.
• Minimum of 3+ years of leadership experience managing functional analysts, consultants, or cross-functional teams.
• Experience supporting manufacturing operations, quality systems, maintenance processes, and regulated environments is strongly preferred.
• Extensive experience supporting and enhancing SAP Quality Management (QM) and SAP Plant Maintenance (PM) modules in a manufacturing environment.
• Proven experience leading and delivering complex SAP projects, including system implementations, enhancements, integrations, upgrades, and business transformation initiatives.
• Experience partnering with business stakeholders to define requirements, develop technology roadmaps, and deliver business-focused solutions.
• Experience working within a global support model, supporting multiple business units, regions, and manufacturing facilities.
• Demonstrated experience managing production support, incident resolution, problem management, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Specialized Skills

• Strong functional expertise in SAP QM, including quality planning, quality inspections, non-conformance management, quality notifications, certificates of analysis, and quality reporting.
• Strong functional expertise in SAP PM, including equipment management, functional locations, preventive maintenance, maintenance planning, work orders, notifications, and asset management processes.
• Solid understanding of SAP integration points with related modules, including: Materials Management (MM), Production Planning (PP), Warehouse Management (WM), Controlling (CO), Sales and Distribution (SD).
• Experience with SAP S/4HANA is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of SAP Fiori applications, workflows, reporting, and analytics solutions.
• Familiarity with cloud-based enterprise applications, integrations, APIs, and middleware platforms.
• Understanding of ITIL-based service management processes, change management, and application lifecycle management practices.
• Experience working in regulated industries preferred, including medical device, pharmaceutical, life sciences, or similar manufacturing environments.
• Knowledge of Quality System requirements, validation processes, change control procedures, and compliance frameworks.
• Experience supporting internal and external audits and ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop high-performing teams.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence decisions across business and technology organizations.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making capabilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and competing demands in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Excellent verbal, written, presentation, and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to drive cross-functional collaboration, process improvement, and organizational change.
• SAP QM and/or PM Certification preferred.
• SAP S/4HANA Certification preferred.
• PMP, Agile, Scrum, or related project management certification is a plus.
• ITIL Foundation Certification is desirable.

Additional Duties & Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and execution of the SAP QM and PM technology roadmap, ensuring alignment with business strategy and future capability requirements.
• Manage and coordinate the work of external consultants, vendors, and third-party partners supporting projects and operational activities.
• Provide advanced support and escalation management, including Level 2 and Level 3 on-call support responsibilities as required.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, cloud-based solutions, automation capabilities, and integration opportunities to drive innovation and enhance business processes.
• Support the design, maintenance, and optimization of application integrations, interfaces, APIs, and automation solutions across the enterprise application landscape.
• Partner with IT and business leadership to align technology investments, project portfolios, and process improvement initiatives with organizational goals and priorities.