SAP Lead Solution Architect
Waltham, MA

Job Description

About us

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.

To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

Job Purpose

National Grid IT team is currently seeking an innovative, adaptable, and results-oriented leader to serve as the Lead Solution Architect for National Grid's global and local SAP back-office, cloud and mobility services implementation with a deep understanding of crital financial, supply chain, human resources processes and system configurations. The role involves overall design of the SAP application along with multiple computing platforms, including hardware and software. Lead Solution Architect is requires working alongside other System Integation Partner Solution architects, Business Process Experts, Technical Architect to validate and deliver complete solution for the business customer while adhering to SAP best practices, standards, and templates.

Key Accountabilities

* Assess application architecture of the SAP systems and integration to over a hundred internal and external partners' systems from legacy interfaces to web/cloud integration technologies
* Ensure projects are integrated into our exisiting solutions/roadmap, review technical design and approve them for the NG systems as listed below:-
* Backend: SAP ERP, SRM, MDM, PI, BPC, GRC, AVM/Greenlight, SOLMAN, BW/HANA, S/Finance FERC, Business Objects, S4/HANA, CIS, Salesforce
* Cloud: Fieldglass, Concur, Ariba, SalesForce, SuccessFactors, Workforce Management
* Integration platforms: SAP CPI, SAP PI/PO, Mulesoft, Oracle Fusion, EDI
* Mobility: Fiori solutions, including mobile offline processing solutions
* Produce reference architectures and to ensure the delivered solutions and/or platform is fit for purpose, effective when transitioned to service, balanced among functional, service quality, security, systems management requirements constraints
* Estimate work efforts and review costs for project proposals, interpret high-level business requirements and communicate them to both highly technical security engineers and non-technical business audience
* Research and recommend/implement changes to procedures and systems to better performance and tighter alignment with corporate policies
* Research, identify and provide technical solutions that can be globally applied across the system landscape
* Provide technical leadership for innovative technical solutions, and the governance of the solution architecture through its implementation
* Ensure that solutions provided conform to the National Grid Enterprise Architecture and all its standards
* Work with Project Managers during the prepare/explore phase, estimate project work, and create high-level process design.Provide input on methodology, scope, and processes
* Participate in Project Deliverables review to ensure alignment with processes, standards, etc. and to establish and review project deliverables.
* Produce solution architecture diagrams and documentation based on the Architecture standards and usage guidelines agreed with both internal and external customers
* Ensure architecture artifacts are approved by architecture governance boards, and design decisions align with the organization's vision, architectural security, and scalability
* Identify assets or services that can be re-used within an architecture platform, or a functional domain to drive consistency, cost reduction, and increases speed to market
* Lead the definition of Solution Architecture, adopting standards and best practices. This covers all architectural domains, including security, application, integration, information sharing, and infrastructures
* Work with domain and technical architects to develop detailed solution-specific application, data and infrastructure designs
* Articulate and socialize architectural and technical concepts to both technical and business audiences
* Participate in resolving cross-functional and cross-system design issues
* Responsible for ensuring that solution architectures have the optimal balance between functional, service quality, and security within the flexibility of compliance requirements
* Monitor the work of reporting solution architect, and manage solution provider partners to ensure standards are adhered to prior to their works Architecture Governance Board's submission
* Mentor, develop and build a team of solution architect through mentoring of less experienced Solution Architect, Basis, or Business Analyst resources.

Qualifications

* Minimum 5-7 years' prior experience in architecting and delivery of SAP integration solutions, and/or leading SAP design and development, focusing on cloud technology is required. Operational hyper-care support experience is highly beneficial
* Deep knowledge of the industry's best practices in cloud integration technology, its related tools, and the ability to scale and optimize them for the organization's needs
* Proven experience in SAP cloud computing, working with solutions involving cognitive AI/ML, IoT, or Blockchain, Big Data are highly desired
* Proven experience in estimating new work effort, leading technical teams in design and development managing risks and issues, and presenting such information to a wide variety of stakeholders
* Deep knowledge of a key SAP core functionality, such as finance, CRM, supply chain or human resources processes, and good general knowledge of other modules functionality
* Experience of developing a connectivity architecture, including networking concepts, authentication methods, and hosting environments that work with our technology platforms
* Good knowledge of SAP cost drivers and cost savings techniques
* Ability to review and approve technical solutions based on the organization's requirements and roadmap, including integration with existing RICEFW objects, security or platforms setup
* Proficient with Waterfall, Agile, Shiftleft, and DevOps methodolgies
* Must be self-motivated, committed to continual learning, and justify latest mature technology he designs and adoption into new project requirements
* Excellent leadership, build relationships and proven written and verbal communications skills. Proven presentation skills to executive leadership. Demonstrate the ability to document and communicate ideas to both business focused and technical focused audiences
* Strong negotiation and problem solving skills used to align the business capabilities and IT systems.
* Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline or, an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
* Relevant industry certification (e.g. SAP, Cloud, HANA, Fiori, ABAP, ITIL, TOGAF…etc) desirable



More Information

This position has a career path which provides for advancement opportunities within and across bands as you develop and evolve in the position; gaining experience, expertise and acquiring and applying technical skills. Internal candidates will be assessed and provided offers against the minimum qualifications of this role and their individual experience.

National Grid is an equal opportunity employer that values a broad diversity of talent, knowledge, experience and expertise. We foster a culture of inclusion that drives employee engagement to deliver superior performance to the communities we serve. National Grid is proud to be an affirmative action employer. We encourage minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans to join the National Grid team.