Business Applications Technical Operations Lead

Topcon Positioning•Livermore, CA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Business Applications Technical Operations Lead is a senior technical leader responsible for end-to-end ownership, governance, and operational excellence of SAP technical platforms delivered through an offshore delivery model. This role is not a pure hands-on developer role, but requires strong technical depth to effectively oversee, guide, review, and, when required, directly intervene to resolve complex production issues during US business hours. The role provides technical leadership, governance, and maturity definition across SAP CPI/BTP integrations, SAP Basis / system administration, and SAP Technical (ABAP) services delivered by offshore consultants. The successful candidate will establish standards, define operating maturity, ensure accountability for outcomes, and act as the single onshore technical owner for SAP technical operations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience
8+ years of SAP technical experience, with depth across at least two of the following: SAP CPI / SAP BTP integrations, SAP Basis / system administration, SAP Technical / ABAP development
Proven experience working with and leading offshore delivery teams
Strong understanding of SAP ECC landscapes and hybrid on-prem / cloud environments
Demonstrated ability to own production systems and resolve high-severity issues
Experience operating in SOX / ITGC-controlled enterprise environments
Strong communication skills with the ability to influence without direct authority

Nice To Haves

Prior experience with offshore delivery models
Experience defining technical KPIs, SLAs, and outcome-based delivery metrics
Exposure to SAP S/4HANA, BTP roadmap, or large SAP transformation programs
Experience partnering with multiple SAP vendors and system integrators

Responsibilities

Serve as the single onshore owner for SAP technical operations, including: SAP CPI / BTP integrations, SAP Basis and system administration including SAP hosted environment on AWS, SAP Technical / ABAP development and support.
Define and maintain technical governance frameworks, including: Operating standards, Design and coding standards, Integration patterns and naming conventions, System administration and security practices.
Establish KPIs, SLAs, and outcome-based metrics for offshore delivery.
Review and approve technical designs, integration approaches, and major changes.
Ensure compliance with internal IT policies, security controls, and audit requirements (SOX / ITGC).
Provide day-to-day technical leadership to offshore consultants in India.
Set clear expectations for quality, timelines, documentation, and accountability.
Review offshore work products (designs, integrations, transports, code, configurations).
Coach and mentor offshore leads to improve technical maturity and ownership.
Actively drive continuous improvement across delivery, reliability, and automation.
Own the architecture, reliability, and performance of SAP CPI-based integrations.
Define integration standards for error handling, monitoring, retry, and alerting.
Oversee integration lifecycle management including: Design and build reviews, Transport and release governance, Monitoring and incident response.
Ensure integrations are robust, supportable, and aligned with enterprise architecture.
Govern SAP Basis operations across ECC, SAP S/4 Public Cloud and related SAP landscapes like Solution Manager and SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (CALM) platforms.
Oversee: System availability, performance, and capacity; Transports, upgrades, patches, and kernel updates; Security notes, certificates, and system connectivity; Backup, recovery, and disaster recovery readiness.
Partner with Infrastructure, Security, and Hosting teams to ensure operational readiness.
Provide technical leadership for ABAP development and enhancements.
Review and guide complex ABAP developments, interfaces, and performance issues.
Ensure adherence to coding standards, performance best practices, and documentation.
Drive reduction of technical debt and promote reusability and standardization.
Act as the onshore escalation point for critical SAP technical incidents.
Be prepared to hands-on troubleshoot and resolve issues during US business hours when required.
Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and ensure corrective and preventive actions are implemented.
Drive stability improvements and reduction in recurring incidents.
Define and evolve the technical operating maturity model for SAP technical services.
Improve monitoring, automation, documentation, and knowledge transfer.
Transition the offshore team from reactive support to proactive operations.
Partner with IT leadership to align SAP technical operations with broader IT strategy.