Service Delivery Manager (SAP) — Luxury Fashion Retail
Location: Leeds, or London (Hybrid)
Role Type: Full‑time
Experience: 15+ years (8–10 years leading large SAP programs)
Functional Areas: SAP Retail, AFS, FICO
About the role
We’re hiring a seasoned Service Delivery Manager (SDM) to lead a high‑scale SAP landscape for a luxury fashion retail brand—covering end‑to‑end application development, enhancements, and 24×7 application support. You’ll own service outcomes, orchestrate multi‑vendor teams, drive platform modernization, and safeguard business continuity across core retail processes: merchandise buying, allocation, pricing, promotions, inventory, omni‑channel operations, and financial close.
What you’ll do
Service Delivery & Operations
* Own E2E delivery across incident, problem, change, release, environment, knowledge.
* Establish and enforce SLAs/OLAs, SLOs, runbooks, KT plans, and operational agreements across vendors.
* Lead RCA and permanent fixes; improve MTTR, reduce repeat incidents, and optimize backlog.
* Govern batches, jobs, and interfaces (POS, e‑Commerce, WMS), ensuring cutover readiness and seasonal stability.
Program & Stakeholder Management
* Act as SPOC for Business, IT, Finance, Retail Ops, and regional teams.
* Run weekly/monthly governance (release readiness, demand management).
* Translate priorities into delivery roadmaps, release plans, and capacity forecasts.
Financials & Commercials
* Own budgets, forecasts, SOWs/MSAs, resource planning, and cost optimization.
* Track financial KPIs (burn rate, cost per ticket/change, productivity, value realization); ensure contract compliance.
Engineering & Platform Modernization
* Champion automation (self‑healing, AIOps, observability), CI/CD, test automation, and reusable accelerators.
* Lead SAP CAR adoption (real‑time sales, inventory visibility, POS integration), API‑first integrations, and data quality.
* Guide solutioning across SAP AFS, Retail Pricing/Promotions, FICO (GL, AP/AR, Asset Accounting, COPA), and cross‑module touchpoints.
People Leadership
* Build, coach, and retain a high‑performing functional + technical team (SAP Retail/AFS/FICO, Integration, ABAP).
* Establish L3 expertise, shift models, and follow‑the‑sun support for global operations.
What you’ll bring (must‑have)
* SAP Retail (MM/SD): buying, allocation, pricing, promotions, store ops, inventory, vendor collaboration.
* SAP AFS: size/color matrix, seasonality, collections, allocation, replenishment for fashion.
* SAP FICO: financial close, AP/AR, GL, asset accounting, costing, COPA; integration with retail operations.
* Service Delivery Leadership: 15+ years; 8–10 years managing multi‑region, multi‑vendor SAP programs.
* Operations Excellence: ITIL v3/v4, incident/problem/change, RCA, release/environment management.
* Retail Domain Expertise: luxury fashion calendar cycles, markdowns, promotions, product lifecycle, peak events, omni‑channel.
* Governance & Commercials: budget ownership, vendor management, KPIs/SLAs, contractual adherence.
Nice to have
* SAP CAR: real‑time transactions, POS, forecasting, inventory visibility.
* ABAP: ability to guide technical teams, review designs/estimates, ensure performance & code quality (no hands‑on coding).
* Enterprise apps & integrations: POS/OMS/eCommerce/WMS, API/Middleware (SAP PO/PI, CPI), microservices.
* DevOps/AIOps: CI/CD pipelines for SAP transports, proactive monitoring, automation.
* Analytics/Reporting: BI/BO, SAC, KPI dashboards & business insights.
* Cloud/Infra awareness: hyperscaler hosting, DR/BCP, performance & scalability.
1. Behavioral competencies
Executive communication
• Outcome orientation
• Ownership & accountability
• Collaboration in multi‑vendor environments
• Adaptability to retail calendar & market shifts
Education & Certifications
Bachelor’s/Master’s in Engineering/Technology/Business (or equivalent).
Preferred: ITIL v4, SAP certifications (Retail/AFS/FICO/CAR), PMP/Prince2, SAFe/Agile.
Why join
Impact a marquee retail platform end‑to‑end, lead modernization at scale, and work with senior stakeholders across business and technology. Competitive compensation, global exposure, and the opportunity to shape operating excellence.
Apply now
Submit your LinkedIn application with a short note highlighting your SAP Retail/AFS delivery programs and peak‑season stabilization experience. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for next steps.