SAP Transformation Lead

Overview

Your Impact Join Leonardo UK as an SAP Transformation Lead and play a pivotal role in reshaping the digital backbone of a leading defence organisation. This is a rare opportunity to lead a complex, enterprise-wide SAP transformation—driving innovation across engineering, manufacturing, and operations while ensuring the highest standards of security, performance, and compliance in a mission-critical environment.

Your Impact Join Leonardo UK as an SAP Transformation Lead and play a pivotal role in reshaping the digital backbone of a leading defence organisation. This is a rare opportunity to lead a complex, enterprise-wide SAP transformation—driving innovation across engineering, manufacturing, and operations while ensuring the highest standards of security, performance, and compliance in a mission-critical environment.

You will take ownership of a major SAP upgrade programme, guiding the organisation from a legacy landscape to a future-ready platform aligned with long-term strategic goals. Working at the intersection of technology and business, you will define the transformation roadmap, lead solution design and integration across SAP, PLM, and MES systems, and enable a seamless digital thread that enhances visibility, efficiency, and decision-making across the enterprise.

In this role you will

• Own and drive the end-to-end upgrade of the legacy SAP system (including all functions). Ownership of end-end business processes which impact on SAP (BD –Planning - Engineering
  - Manufacturing – Customer Support – Finance).
• Define and manage the upgrade strategy, including scope, deployment approach, risk mitigation, and resource planning.
• Lead technical assessment, solution design, data migration strategy, and cutover planning.
• Ensure all processes, custom code, and integrations are mapped, rationalised, or redesigned to meet future business needs.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year SAP technology roadmap aligned with business objectives and defence-industry compliance requirements, which is to include the system management of secret (or higher) parts or products in an operational environment.
• Identify opportunities for standardisation, process harmonisation, automation, and adoption of new SAP capabilities.
• Define governance frameworks for enhancement requests, prioritisation, and change control.
• Serve as the primary SAP interface with PLM and MES programme teams.
• Design and own the integration strategy between SAP, PLM, and MES to ensure seamless engineering, manufacturing, and supply-chain workflows.
• Ensure data alignment, Bill of Materials (BOM) synchronisation, configuration management, and traceability across systems (including secret parts or products).
• Champion end-to-end digital thread capability.
• Collaborate with Future Factory, Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, IT Security, and Programme Leadership to define requirements and ensure solution alignment.
• Manage external partners and system integrators, ensuring delivery quality and adherence to standards.
• Communicate progress, relevant KPI’s, risks, and decisions to senior leader.
• Ensure all SAP solutions comply with defence-sector regulations, cybersecurity standards, export controls, and audit requirements.
• Establish high-quality documentation, system standards, and configuration controls.

• Proven experience leading major SAP upgrade or S/4
  
  HANA transformation programmes.
• Expert knowledge of core SAP modules (e.g., PP, MM, QM, SD, FI/CO) and integration technologies (BAPIs, IDocs, APIs).
• Strong background in SAP integration with PLM and MES environments.
• Experience working in highly regulated or defence/aerospace industries.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, and leadership skills.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity, configuration control, and compliance frameworks.
• Experience with SAP EWM, IBP, or SAP Cloud products.
• Knowledge of digital thread, model-based engineering, and Industry 4.0 principles.
• Project management certification (PMP, PRINCE2, Agile).
• Experience with classified system environments.

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline…