SAP Program Manager

Location: Hybrid – 4 Days Onsite
Job Type: Full-Time
Experience: 6+ Years in IT, including 3+ Years in Program/Project Management
Education: Bachelor’s Degree Required

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced and highly organized SAP Program Manager to lead the planning, execution, and delivery of SAP implementation, upgrade, rollout, and support initiatives. The ideal candidate will have strong SAP project/program management experience combined with expert-level, hands-on JIRA expertise.

This role will support a large-scale SAP S/4HANA I-ERP program, working across multiple product teams and stakeholders to ensure effective governance, delivery, release management, risk mitigation, and continuous improvement.

The successful candidate will be comfortable working in both Agile/Scrum and Waterfall/Hybrid environments and will play a key role in PI Planning, release planning, dependency management, governance, and cross-functional collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the System of Governance (SoG) for a large-scale SAP S/4HANA I-ERP program.

• Lead tactical program activities while supporting overall strategic program objectives.

• Manage Epics, Sub-Epics, Features, User Stories, Tasks, and Subtasks within JIRA.

• Own and administer JIRA boards, backlogs, workflows, dashboards, custom fields, and project reporting.

• Create and utilize JQL queries for project tracking, reporting, and data-driven decision-making.

• Configure JIRA workflows and automation to improve project visibility and delivery efficiency.

• Manage integration and collaboration between JIRA and Confluence.

• Identify, assess, and manage project issues, risks, assumptions, dependencies, and opportunities.

• Maintain program-level CRAID/RAID logs and ensure appropriate escalation and resolution.

• Manage scope changes and change-control processes to minimize scope creep.

• Support metrics gathering and reporting for major releases, production releases, Release on Demand, and problem incidents.

• Support and facilitate SAFe Program Increment (PI) Planning activities, including logistics, breakout sessions, workshops, and presentations.

• Prepare Product Teams for PI Planning events and ensure readiness across workstreams.

• Consolidate Product Line Iteration Reviews into Product Group Iteration Reviews and retrospectives.

• Coordinate Product Teams and ensure progress against scope, timelines, milestones, and release commitments.

• Coordinate release activities including cutover, testing cycles, training, data readiness, and production deployment.

• Manage dependencies between SAP ERP modules and legacy/third-party systems.

• Partner with Product Managers to resolve foundational and program-level dependencies.

• Remove blockers and impediments by driving issues through appropriate governance forums.

• Lead project governance activities including status reporting, steering committee presentations, RAID reviews, and change management.

• Develop and maintain project plans, schedules, resource allocations, budgets, risk registers, and delivery milestones.

• Facilitate lessons learned and support transition from project delivery to steady-state operations.

• Drive continuous improvement of SAP project management processes, JIRA standards, governance practices, and reporting.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field.

• 6+ years of IT experience, including at least 3+ years managing SAP projects/programs.

• Proven experience managing SAP implementations, upgrades, rollouts, migrations, or support projects.

• Experience with SAP S/4HANA programs and enterprise ERP environments.

• Expert-level, hands-on JIRA experience, including:

  • JIRA board configuration

  • Workflow configuration and automation

  • JQL queries

  • Dashboard creation

  • Epics, Features, Stories, Tasks, and Subtasks

  • Backlog management

  • Custom fields

  • JIRA reporting

  • Confluence integration

• Strong understanding of Agile/Scrum and Waterfall/Hybrid project delivery methodologies.

• Experience with program governance, RAID/CRAID management, risk management, change control, and release management.

• Experience coordinating cross-functional and matrixed teams.

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, presentation, and organizational skills.

• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and competing priorities.

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to remove blockers and drive teams toward delivery.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, or SAFe certification.

• SAP Activate certification or relevant SAP certification.

• Experience with JIRA Align and/or JIRA Service Management.

• Experience with Power BI and/or Power Automate.

• Experience with ServiceNow or other ITSM/change-management platforms.

• Experience in automotive, manufacturing, or other complex enterprise environments.

• Experience managing SAP modules such as FI/CO, MM, SD, PP, HCM, and related integrations.

• Experience with large-scale SAP S/4HANA transformation or migration programs.

Key Skills

SAP Program Management | SAP Project Management | SAP S/4HANA | JIRA | JQL | JIRA Administration | JIRA Workflow Automation | Confluence | Agile | Scrum | SAFe | PI Planning | Waterfall | Hybrid Delivery | Release Management | Change Management | RAID/CRAID | Risk Management | Cutover | SAP Activate | Stakeholder Management

Key Attributes

• Detail-oriented with a strong focus on organized, traceable project artifacts.

• Data-driven approach to project reporting and decision-making.

• Strong servant-leadership mindset.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

• Comfortable working with senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.

• Able to operate effectively in fast-paced, complex enterprise environments.

• Strong ownership, accountability, and problem-solving skills.

Work Arrangement

Hybrid position – 4 days onsite per week.

Candidates should be comfortable working in an onsite, collaborative enterprise environment and coordinating closely with SAP product teams, business stakeholders, and technical teams.