About the position
We are looking for an experienced and dynamic Senior Manager to lead complex, enterprise-wide SAP SuccessFactors HCM transformation programmes for some of our most strategic clients across South Africa. This is a senior programme leadership opportunity focused on driving business transformation—not system configuration.
As the overall programme lead, you will be accountable for the successful delivery of end-to-end SAP SuccessFactors implementations, guiding clients from strategic planning and solution design through to governance, multi-workstream execution, deployment, and post-go-live hypercare. You will ensure the seamless delivery of the full SAP SuccessFactors suite while maintaining the highest standards of quality, client satisfaction, and business value.
In this role, you will provide leadership to multidisciplinary teams of SAP SuccessFactors specialists across Employee Central, Employee Central Payroll (ECP), Time Management, Talent Management, Recruiting, Learning, Compensation, and Workforce Analytics. By fostering collaboration and alignment across workstreams, you will drive successful HR transformation programmes that deliver measurable outcomes for clients.
Programme Leadership & Governance
- End-to-end programme ownership: lead the full lifecycle of large, complex SAP SuccessFactors HCM implementations — from strategy, scoping, and solution design through multi-phase delivery, go-live, and stabilisation — spanning multiple workstreams and modules simultaneously.
- Programme governance: establish and maintain robust programme governance frameworks: steering committees, escalation paths, RAID logs, change control boards, and programme-level reporting cadences.
- SAP Activate leadership: manage delivery across all SAP Activate phases (Prepare, Explore, Realise, Deploy, Run), ensuring phase gates are met, quality standards are upheld, and tollgates are passed on time.
- Risk & issue management: proactively identify, assess, and mitigate programme-level risks and issues; escalate and resolve critical blockers with speed and pragmatism.
- Scope & commercial management: manage programme scope, budget, timelines, and resources; control variations and change requests; ensure commercial terms are upheld and margin targets are met.
Client & Stakeholder Engagement
- Trusted strategic advisor: advise clients on HR transformation roadmaps, SuccessFactors platform strategy, operating model design, and the integration of emerging technologies including Generative AI, SAP Joule, Work Zone, and SAP BTP.
- Stakeholder management: manage a complex web of client, third-party, and internal stakeholders; communicate programme progress, risks, and decisions with clarity, confidence, and executive-level gravitas.
- Pre-sales & business development: lead or contribute to business development activities — proposal development, RFP responses, solution presentations, client workshops, and thought leadership initiatives within the SA and African SuccessFactors market.
Solution Architecture & Quality
- Solution architecture oversight: provide architectural oversight across all SuccessFactors workstreams to ensure an integrated, coherent solution design; arbitrate cross-module design conflicts and enforce architectural principles.
- Cross-module integration: ensure seamless integration across EC, ECP, Time, Talent, Recruiting, and Learning workstreams, as well as with adjacent systems (SAP S/4HANA, SAP BTP/CPI, third-party platforms).
- Quality assurance: own overall programme quality: conduct design reviews, configuration sign-off, testing oversight (SIT, UAT, parallel run), and go-live readiness assessments.
- Innovation: introduce leading practices and the latest SAP SuccessFactors product innovations — GenAI features, embedded analytics, ESM, Joule, WalkMe — and position them as value-add opportunities for clients.
People Leadership & Practice Development
- Team leadership: lead, inspire, and manage a multidisciplinary team of SAP SuccessFactors functional consultants, technical specialists, and change management professionals across all HCM modules.
- Mentoring & talent development: coach and mentor senior and mid-level consultants; support their career development, technical growth, and certification journeys; build the capability of their SA SuccessFactors practice.
- Performance management: set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and conduct performance reviews for team members in alignment with the people management framework.
- Knowledge management: contribute to the internal knowledge base; share project learnings, reusable assets, and thought leadership content to strengthen the practice.
Change Management & Adoption
- Change enablement: oversee or collaborate with the change management workstream to drive user adoption, minimise change resistance, and ensure that the SuccessFactors solution is embraced by the client's workforce.
- Training strategy: guide the design and delivery of end-user training programmes, super-user networks, and hypercare support models across all deployed modules.
Required skills & experience
Non-Negotiable Requirements
- Programme leadership experience: minimum of 5 full end-to-end SAP SuccessFactors implementations delivered in a programme lead, project manager, or workstream lead capacity — with at least 2 of these spanning 3 or more SuccessFactors modules simultaneously.
- Broad SuccessFactors module coverage: deep functional knowledge of Employee Central (EC) and at least two of the following additional modules: Employee Central Payroll (ECP), Time Tracking/Time Off, Performance & Goals, Recruiting, Learning, Compensation, or Succession. Must be able to speak with authority across the full HCM suite.
- ECP / payroll programme experience: demonstrated experience leading or overseeing SAP Employee Central Payroll (ECP) workstreams, with a working understanding of South African payroll legislation (PAYE, UIF, SDL, SARS compliance). Candidates without any payroll programme exposure will not be considered.
- Commercial & scope management: experience managing programme budgets, resource plans, and commercial change requests within a consulting or professional services environment.
- Communication & executive presence: exceptional verbal and written communication skills; articulate, persuasive, and authoritative in client-facing settings; able to simplify complex technical concepts for non-technical executive audiences.
- Workshop & design leadership: proven ability to facilitate executive design workshops, solution architecture sessions, and blueprint sign-off meetings at programme level.
- Location & availability: must be based in Johannesburg (Gauteng) and available to work physically on client sites as required by programme delivery schedules.
Advantageous
- SAP SuccessFactors certifications: certification in one or more SuccessFactors modules (EC, ECP, Recruiting, Performance & Goals, LMS, or Compensation) is strongly preferred. Multi-module certification significantly strengthens the application.
- SAP Activate certification: certification or deep experience with SAP Activate methodology in a programme management or architecture role.
- Greenfield & brownfield experience: experience leading both greenfield SuccessFactors implementations and brownfield migrations from SAP HCM on-premise.
- BTP / GenAI & emerging HR tech: familiarity with SAP BTP, Joule, GenAI-enabled HR features, Work Zone, WalkMe, and SmartRecruiters; ability to articulate their business value and position them within client transformation roadmaps.
- Multi-country programme delivery: experience delivering SuccessFactors programmes across multiple African markets or global multi-country rollouts is a significant differentiator.
- Pre-sales leadership: track record of leading or winning SAP SuccessFactors proposals, RFP responses, and client pitches in a competitive consulting environment
Qualifications
- Degree (preferred): a recognised university degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field. A Master's degree (MBA or relevant postgraduate) is advantageous at this level.
- SAP SuccessFactors certifications: one or more current, valid SuccessFactors module certifications are highly preferred. Multi-module certification will be given preference.
- Project management qualifications: PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project/programme management certification is advantageous.
Based in Johannesburg, this position requires regular on-site engagement with clients and occasional travel throughout South Africa.
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Desired Skills:
- SAP SuccessFactors Programme Management
- SAP SuccessFactors HCM Implementation
- SAP Activate Methodology
- Enterprise HR Transformation
- Executive Stakeholder Management
- Programme Governance & Delivery
