Senior SAP Solution Architect and Support Lead

Job Posting Organization:
UNESCO, established in 1945, is a specialized agency of the United Nations aimed at promoting world peace and security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security through international cooperation in education, the sciences, and culture. With a mission to build peace in the minds of men and women, UNESCO operates in over 190 countries and has a workforce of approximately 2,000 employees. The organization is committed to fostering inclusive and equitable quality education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, and ensuring the preservation of cultural heritage and diversity. UNESCO's initiatives are guided by its core values of commitment, integrity, respect for diversity, and professionalism.

Job Overview:
The Senior SAP Solution Architect and Support Lead will play a crucial role in ensuring the operational continuity and technical integrity of UNESCO's SAP landscape. This position involves overseeing the migration to SAP S/4HANA and supporting key transformational initiatives. The consultant will work under the supervision of the Chief Information and Technology Officer (CITO) and will be responsible for maintaining the existing SAP environment, which has evolved over 20 years and is extensively customized. The consultant will need to engage with various stakeholders to elicit and refine business requirements, ensuring that operational needs are translated into functional and technical specifications. This role requires a combination of strategic architectural capabilities and hands-on technical expertise, as the consultant will also act as a technical focal point for coordination with business owners, internal IT teams, and external service providers.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The consultant will be responsible for providing overall technical and solution architecture leadership for the SAP domain, ensuring coherence among SAP solutions, interfaces, custom developments, and workflows. Key responsibilities include leading and coordinating the internal SAP team, planning and monitoring SAP support and development activities, maintaining the SAP activity backlog, and preparing technical updates for management. The consultant will also facilitate workshops to clarify business requirements, analyze existing processes, and translate business needs into structured specifications. Additionally, the consultant will support the preparation for migration to SAP S/4HANA by assessing custom code and identifying necessary remediation. The role also involves exploring the application of agentic AI and automation within the SAP domain, designing AI-assisted capabilities, and developing custom SAP extensions.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess an advanced university degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, finance systems, business administration, or a related field. A first-level university degree combined with relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. The position requires a minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in SAP architecture, implementation, development, integration, and production support. Candidates should have demonstrated experience in a senior SAP technical leadership role and the ability to combine architectural leadership with hands-on technical delivery. Experience in public-sector financial and budget-management environments is also essential, along with the ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams and prepare technical plans and reports.

Educational Background:
An advanced university degree in a relevant discipline such as computer science, information systems, engineering, finance systems, or business administration is required. A first-level university degree combined with additional relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. This educational background is crucial for understanding complex technical and business processes and for effectively contributing to the SAP landscape.

Experience:
The position requires a minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in SAP architecture, implementation, development, integration, and production support. Candidates should have significant experience with complex, mature, and highly customized SAP ECC environments, as well as experience in public-sector or international-organization financial and budget-management environments. Demonstrated experience in a senior SAP technical leadership role is essential, along with the ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams and manage operational and transformation priorities effectively.

Languages:
Excellent written and spoken English or French is mandatory, along with a good working knowledge of the other language. Knowledge of another UNESCO official language would be an advantage, as it would facilitate communication within the diverse and multicultural environment of UNESCO.

Additional Notes:
The contract duration for this position is expected to be 11 months, commencing on or around January 1, 202

• The services will be delivered remotely or on UNESCO premises through a hybrid arrangement, depending on operational requirements. Availability may be required during critical production incidents, financial closing exercises, and major deployments. Any travel required for the assignment will be agreed upon in advance and handled according to UNESCO's applicable rules and procedures. The consultant's performance will be assessed against various indicators, including the continuity and stability of business-critical SAP services, timely resolution of incidents, and the quality of delivered solutions.