Major Accountabilities

- Define and operate the end-to-end release management framework for the Enterprise Transformation Program, covering release strategy, release calendar, governance model, release gates, roles and responsibilities, and decision forums.
- Own and maintain the integrated SAP S/4HANA release plan, ensuring alignment across program increments, deployment waves, testing cycles, cutover activities, business readiness, and production go-live windows.
- Drive effective use of SAP Cloud ALM for requirement, feature, test, defect, deployment, and release traceability, ensuring transparent reporting of release scope, status, dependencies, risks, and decisions.
- Coordinate cross-functional release readiness across business process teams, SAP functional and technical teams, integration, data migration, security, testing, change management, cutover, operations, and external delivery partners.
- Govern change and deployment execution, including transport coordination, release bundling, dependency management, impact assessment, approvals, segregation of duties, and controlled movement of changes through non-production and production environments.
- Establish release quality criteria and go/no-go checkpoints, ensuring that testing evidence, defect status, business sign-offs, technical readiness, operational readiness, and compliance documentation are complete before production deployment.
- Identify, escalate, and actively manage release risks, conflicts, environment constraints, transport dependencies, testing bottlenecks, and readiness gaps that could impact deployment timelines or business continuity.
- Champion continuous improvement of release processes, automation, metrics, and reporting to increase delivery predictability, reduce deployment risk, and support a scalable SAP S/4HANA operating model.




- Responsible for performing all assigned activities in compliance with GxP regulations, company SOPs, and data integrity requirements.

Minimum Requirements

Experience and Skills

- 10+ years of experience in project delivery and/or application management or IT services within a multinational organization. Key skills include strategic planning, financial acumen, and team leadership.

- Excellent leadership, communication, and collaboration skills.
- Effective communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate business needs into data and system requirements.
- Robust leadership and team-building skills, with a focus on developing talent and fostering a collaborative team culture.
- Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and drive change and innovation.
- Experience in managing global projects and working in diverse cultural environments.
- Proficiency in using advanced software tools and platforms relevant to the job.
- Experience with ITIL frameworks and other service management methodologies.
- Expert knowledge and practical experience in SAP S/4HANA release management, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Activate delivery methods, and large-scale ERP transformation programs.
- Certification in project management methods (Agile, ITIL, Prince 2, PMI) is a plus.
- Certification or formal training in SAP S/4HANA, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Activate, project management, Agile, ITIL, Prince2, or PMI is a plus.
- Experience with Agile/DevOps methodologies;

Certification is a plus

Education

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology Business Administration, or related field; (Master’s degree is preferred)

Languages

- Fluent English required (oral and written)

📌 STEP Release Management Lead (Telangana)
🏢 Sandoz India
📍 Telangana