Assistant Vice President - SAP Application Management Services (10-15 yrs)

AVP- SAP AMS

About The Company:

ARA's client is the world's leading managed services provider of AI-led quality engineering solutions. It helps brands transition through the digital assurance journey and make the move from conventional functional testing to adopt innovations such as automation, AI, blockchain, and XR.

They have offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Romania, India, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, and Argentina. It employs more than 7,000 engineers who serve over 400 customers worldwide.

The Role:

The Associate Vice President (AVP) of SAP Application Management Services (AMS) is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, delivery, and continuous improvement of SAP AMS operations across the organization. The AVP will lead a global team, manage key stakeholder relationships, and ensure that all SAP environments are optimized to support business objectives. This role requires a strong combination of technical expertise, leadership, and business acumen to drive innovation and operational excellence in SAP services, including ECC6 and S/4HANA environments.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Vision:

- Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for SAP AMS that aligns with the organization's broader IT and business goals.

- Lead the transition to next-generation SAP platforms (e.g., S/4HANA) and ensure that AMS operations are scalable, secure, and future-ready.

- Define long-term roadmaps for SAP application support, including system upgrades, cloud migration strategies, and process automation initiatives.

Operational Excellence & Service Delivery:

- Oversee the end-to-end management of SAP AMS services, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability of SAP systems.

- Implement best practices for incident management, problem resolution, change management, and continuous monitoring.

- Ensure compliance with SLAs and KPIs for system performance, user satisfaction, and issue resolution.

- Drive operational efficiencies through automation, process optimization, and proactive system monitoring.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement:

- Act as the primary executive liaison between IT and business stakeholders to ensure alignment on SAP AMS priorities.

- Lead regular service reviews with key stakeholders to assess performance trends, identify areas for improvement, and gather feedback.

- Collaborate with business leaders to understand evolving needs and ensure that SAP services are positioned to support future growth.

Team Leadership & Development:

- Lead a global team of SAP professionals (both internal teams and external partners) responsible for delivering high-quality AMS services.

- Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning within the team.

- Ensure effective resource planning to meet project demands while maintaining operational stability.

- Mentor senior managers and team leads to build leadership capacity within the organization.

Vendor & Partner Management:

- Manage relationships with external vendors providing outsourced AMS services or specialized consulting support.

- Negotiate contracts with third-party service providers to ensure cost-effective delivery of high-quality services.

- Ensure that vendors adhere to agreed-upon SLAs and deliverables.

Risk Management & Compliance:

- Identify potential risks related to SAP AMS operations (e.g., system downtime, security vulnerabilities) and develop mitigation strategies.

- Ensure compliance with relevant regulatory requirements related to data security, privacy, and financial reporting in SAP systems.

- Oversee disaster recovery planning for critical SAP applications to ensure business continuity.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement:

- Drive innovation in SAP AMS by leveraging emerging technologies such as AI/ML for predictive maintenance or cloud-based solutions for scalability.

- Lead initiatives to enhance user experience through improved system performance or self service capabilities.

- Continuously assess industry trends and best practices to keep the organization at the forefront of SAP technology advancements.

Skills Required:

- Minimum of 10 years of experience managing large-scale SAP environments (ECC6/S/4HANA), with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.

- Proven track record of delivering complex SAP projects such as system migrations (e.g., ECC6 to S/4HANA), upgrades, or cloud transitions.

- Extensive experience managing global teams across multiple geographies with a focus on service delivery excellence.

Qualifications & Experience:

- Education: Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration or related field. A Master's degree is preferred.

- Experience: Minimum of 10 years of experience managing large-scale SAP environments (ECC6/S/4HANA), with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.