SAP Upgrade Planning-Deputy Director

Overview

The size and complexity of our SAP landscape with 20+ SAP products & 800+ instances, combined with multiple deadlines for patching / versioning & end of life and deep dependencies across strategic programs—make SAP Upgrades a mission‑critical function.

Over the next 5+ years, we will have to efficiently run all the large business critical upgrades with 100% efficiency & no disruption to business – factoring in the deeply integrated global landscape.

The upgrade planning manager is a strategic role which develops and maintains the PepsiCo SAP multi year upgrade strategy in collaboration with SAP and PepsiCo teams

Responsibilities

Primary

'Own the multi-year SAP upgrade roadmap across all PepsiCo platforms, markets and regionsPrioritize upgrade initiatives based on risk, business value, innovation, and SAP support deadlinesIdentify and resolve cross-program dependencies and conflicts before execution beginsAlign with SAP/vendor roadmaps, licensing changes, and product lifecycle milestoneDevelop AOP plans including funding, resources, environments, and governance approvalsMaintain and promote a single source of truth at the system ID level in the applications' inventory

Shared

Partner with Infrastructure and Cloud teams to align upgrade roadmaps with hosting capacity, environment strategy, and platform modernization plansPartner with Functional/DSO teams and Product Owners to prioritize upgrades based on business value, risk, and operational calendarsPartner with Testing teams to estimate effort and reserve test windows, environments, and long-range regression capacity for upcoming releasesPartner with SAP/Vendors and Architecture teams to assess dependencies, product lifecycle changes, and required remediation actions-Partner with Modernization team ensuring there is a wholistic view of the global SAP roadmap and north start which includes not only Upgrades but also modernization re-platform applications

Decision Rights

Approve and maintain the multi-year SAP upgrade roadmap, sequencing, and prioritization of initiativesDecide go/no-go for entering execution based on readiness, dependencies, funding, and resource availabilityDecide whether upgrades priorities should be changed, accelerated or deferred based on risk and business priorities

Qualifications

12+ years in SAP programs, ERP transformations, or enterprise technology strategy-Proven experience building multi-year roadmaps for SAP ECC, S/4HANA, cloud, and adjacent platformsStrong knowledge of SAP product lifecycle, maintenance deadlines, licensing, and vendor governanceExperience managing cross-functional dependencies across infrastructure, security, data, testing, and business teamsExecutive presence with ability to influence senior leadership, secure funding, and drive prioritization decisions