Purpose of the Role

As a team player in the SGT SAP CoE team, you and your team will deliver development, integration, extension and automation services across Sanlam’s hybrid SAP estate, including S/4HANA Finance and GRC on RISE with SAP, SAP ECC HCM on-premise, SuccessFactors, SAP Data Services, Insurance Analyzer / PaPM transition activities, SAP Fiori and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).

You will lead SAP development and integration specialists responsible for business-as-usual change, project delivery, cloud-operated SAP integration, clean-core compliant extensions, and fit-for-purpose automation. The role must guide solution choices between in-core configuration, released APIs, side-by-side BTP extensions and governed integration patterns.

You will act as a subject matter expert on modern SAP development, integration and AI-enabled engineering practices, including RAP/CDS/OData, SAP Integration Suite, API-led and event-driven integration, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Build, Business Application Studio, Joule for Developers and SAP Business AI enablement where appropriate.

You will still undertake selected development and integration requests directly, while coaching the team to follow Sanlam SAP CoE governance, BTP governance, clean-core principles, secure-by-design integration and DevSecOps-aligned delivery practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership & People Management
• • Lead and manage the Development & Integration team.
  • Set individual and team objectives aligned to the SAP CoE and IT strategy.
  • Conduct performance management, goal setting, coaching, and development discussions.
  • Manage employee engagement, wellbeing, and retention.
  • Plan succession and talent development activities.
  • Drive a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Receive, assess, prioritise and allocate JIRA requests, ensuring appropriate separation between BAU, project, integration and technical debt work.
• Ensure periodic client and stakeholder cadences for alignment, prioritisation, escalation and capacity planning.
• Defining of and maintain development standards within the SAP CoE, adhering to best practice for this hybrid landscape
• Maintain resource levelling across support, project delivery, BTP, integration and AI enablement demand.
• Enforce Release, Incident, SAP Change Management, audit, security and SAP CoE governance procedures.
• Ensure development and integration decisions comply with BTP governance, clean-core principles, approved architecture patterns and formal design review requirements.
• Lead the modernization of custom code, integrations and extensions to support RISE with SAP, SAP BTP Cloud Foundry and hybrid landscape operations as well as SuccessFactors.
• Guide the transition from point-to-point integration to centrally governed Integration Suite, API-led and event-driven patterns.
• Troubleshoot technical defects across ABAP, BTP, integrations, Fiori, workflow and hybrid connectivity layers.
• Advise functional teams and business stakeholders on enhancement options, including standard SAP functionality, released APIs, side-by-side extensions, automation and embedded AI features.
• Provide uplift, mentoring and technical standards for internal resources.
• Undertake selected development and integration requests while ensuring knowledge transfer, documentation and operational handover.

Qualification

Matric
Bachelor’s degree or Diploma, preferably in Computer Science, Information Technology or a related field. 
Relevant SAP certifications in SAP BTP, Integration Suite, ABAP development, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Build and/or SAP Business AI will be advantageous

Knowledge Requirements

• Working technical knowledge of SAP S/4HANA Finance, GRC, ECC HCM, SuccessFactors, SAP Data Services, Master Data Governance, Insurance Analyzer and/or PaPM-related transition concepts.
• Strong knowledge of SAP BTP as Sanlam’s enterprise extension and integration platform.
• Knowledge of clean-core principles, side-by-side extensibility, released APIs, ABAP Cloud and upgrade-stable development practices.
• Knowledge of SAP Integration Suite, API Management, Cloud Connector, event-driven integration and secure hybrid integration patterns.
• Awareness of Joule for Developers, SAP Business AI, generative AI governance and responsible AI usage in SAP solution delivery will be advantageous.
• Knowledge of DevSecOps practices using SAP and enterprise tooling will be advantageous.
• Ability to interpret, interrogate and challenge written requirements, with a strong focus on fit-for-purpose architecture and operational sustainability.
• Ability to prioritise work based on operational risk, regulatory/audit impact, roadmap commitments and capacity constraints.
• Ability to deliver in accordance with strict deadlines while maintaining documentation, handover and support quality.

General Experience

• 7 years in SAP development and integration, including ABAP and modern SAP integration tooling.
• 3 years working with SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP, preferably in a hybrid or RISE with SAP / Cloud ERP operating model.
• Practical experience with SAP Integration Suite / CPI-S, APIs, OData, IDoc/RFC integration and secure connectivity patterns.
• Leading or coordinating technical teams, backlog prioritisation, release/change governance and stakeholder engagement.
• SAP Cloud ALM, BTP Cloud Foundry migration, clean-core remediation, custom-code modernization, or AI-assisted development will be advantageous.
• Regulated financial services or similarly controlled enterprise environments will be advantageous.
• DevSecOps practices, source control, CI/CD and controlled transport/release governance will be advantageous.

Required Behavioural Competencies

• Highly responsible with ability to work independently and make pragmatic technical decisions.
• Strong thirst for knowledge and continuous learning across SAP cloud, AI, integration and security topics.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to explain technical choices to functional teams and business stakeholders.
• Strong client focus and service ownership mindset.
• Excellent time management and prioritisation skills.
• Self-motivated with a strong focus on delivery, quality, documentation and operational handover.
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Able to work under pressure individually and as a member or leader of a team.
• Team player with a coaching mindset and commitment to building internal SAP CoE capability.
• Security-conscious, governance-aware and comfortable operating in a regulated financial services environment.