The position combines end-to-end architectural ownership and Basis team leadership across a multi-client portfolio. The Enterprise Architect is the technical point of contact for CIOs and client steering committees, defines the target architecture, and oversees all phases: due diligence, sizing, transformation roadmap, system conversion, upgrades, and post-go-live.
The role requires technical program authority and the ability to lead distributed Basis teams—this is not a purely executive profile. The Enterprise Architect is accountable for architectural decisions, the technical quality of delivery, and the growth of the practice.
- Define the customer's SAP target architecture — S/4HANA, BW/4HANA, SAP HANA platform, SAP BTP, integration layer — consistent with clean-core principles and operational SLAs.
- Architectural governance of transformation programs: RISE with SAP private cloud, on-premise, hybrid and multi-cloud.
- Design of the transformation roadmap by selecting the correct approach: greenfield (new implementation), brownfield (system conversion), bluefield (selective data transition).
- Ownership of technical due diligence, sizing, Architecture Decision Records (ADR) and technical security blueprints.
- Pre-sales and technical RFPs, technical solutioning and effort estimation for new programs.
S/4HANA Conversion & Upgrade
- Conduct end-to-end S/4HANA system conversions across heterogeneous landscapes — DMO / DMOVE2S4 from AnyDB or HANA, cutover, go-live, hypercare.
- Planning and execution of multiple S/4HANA release upgrades on private cloud (RISE PCE) and on-premise.
- Migration scenario architecture: Homogeneous System Copy, SAP HANA Tenant Copy / Move, Homogeneous Update & Copy, Heterogeneous System Copy.
- Definition of cutover plan, downtime minimization (near-Zero Downtime, bridge solutions), fallback and rollback strategy.
- Lead brownfield, greenfield, and Selective Data Transition (SDT) programs — including in multi-country and multi-template contexts.
- SAP HANA architecture in scale-up and scale-out, HA/DR systems with SAP HANA System Replication (HSR), MDC tenant operations.
- Definizione di backup/recovery, patching e lifecycle strategy per database HANA.
- Ownership di HANA performance engineering, memory sizing, workload management e tuning.
- Governance della sicurezza HANA, encryption at rest, user provisioning e configurazione audit.
Basis leadership & team development
- Guida della practice Basis: System Administration, HANA DBA, OS/network, security — team multi-disciplinari e distribuiti.
- Gestione diretta di team Basis di almeno 8-10 risorse su programmi pluriennali, con accountability su capacity planning, allocazione e qualità.
- Definizione di standard tecnici, operating procedure, runbook e Basis governance trasversale ai clienti.
- Mentorship di consulenti senior e mid-level; definizione di career path, capability development plan e percorsi di certificazione del team.
- Punto di escalation per gli incident tecnici critici sui clienti del portafoglio.
RISE with SAP & non-RISE deployments
- Delivery experience su entrambi i modelli: RISE with SAP / S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition e deployment tradizionali on-premise / IaaS hyperscaler.
- Conoscenza del delivery boundary RISE — responsabilità SAP vs cliente vs partner — e governo dell’interfaccia operativa con SAP ECS.
- Architettura di landscape ibridi: produzione su RISE e sistemi satellite/non-prod on-premise; oppure migrazioni progressive a RISE per fasi.
- Operatività del modello FUE (Full Usage Equivalent): user classification, simulation, remediation, evidence per audit e contract review.
Dual Maintenance, Cloud ALM, Solution Manager
- Disegno e operatività dei landscape dual maintenance durante i programmi di trasformazione.
- Guida della transizione da SAP Solution Manager / ChaRM a SAP Cloud ALM (Solution Manager End-of-Maintenance 31/12/2027).
- Governance di Retrofit, Downgrade Protection, Transport Management, release orchestration e quality gates.
- Interlocuzione con CIO, IT Director e steering committee del cliente.
- Traduzione della strategia tecnologica SAP in proposte commerciali, programme structure, milestone plan ed effort estimation.
- Guide technical RFPs, architecture review boards, and go-live readiness assessments.
- 12+ years of SAP technology / Basis experience, of which at least 4 as Enterprise Architect or Technical Lead Architect on enterprise programs.
- Demonstrable track record of multiple end-to-end deliveries — minimum requirement:
- 3 S/4HANA system conversion (brownfield) completed, on private cloud and/or on-premise
- 3 S/4HANA release upgrades completed
- 2 RISE with SAP delivery programs completed
- 2 non-RISE (on-premise / IaaS hyperscaler) deployments completed
- Direct leadership experience on Basis teams of at least 8-10 resources, on multi-year engagements.
- Operational mastery of SUM, DMO / DMOVE2S4, SWPM, SAPinst, HANA System Replication, SAP HANA Cockpit / Studio.
- Deep experience on SAP HANA architecture — HA/DR, scale-out, HSR, MDC, performance engineering.
- Experience on dual maintenance, transport orchestration, SAP Solution Manager / ChaRM and SAP Cloud ALM.
- Knowledge of RISE with SAP deployment models — private cloud reference architecture, FUE metrics, customer / SAP ECS / partner delivery boundaries.
Certifications — required
- SAP Certified Technology Associate — SAP HANA 2.0 (C_HANATEC)
- SAP Certified Technology Consultant — System Administration for SAP S/4HANA on SAP HANA (C_TADM)
- SAP Activate Project Manager (C_ACTIVATE)
- SAP Certified Technology Specialist — SAP HANA Installation & Operations or equivalent latest release
Certifications — highly preferred
- SAP Certified Technology Specialist — SAP S/4HANA System Conversion
- SAP Certified Technology Associate — System Security and Authorizations
- SAP Certified Application Associate — SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition implementation with SAP Activate
- Consolidated leadership on distributed and multi-client teams.
- Ability to speak to CIOs with technical authority — not just operational tech leads.
- Fluent written and spoken English (C1 or higher). Native Italian or C2.
- Availability to travel to customers in Italy and possibly in the EU.
