SAP Basis Lead

Bertelsmann; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 81,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus scheme

Benefits package

Job summary

Penguin Random House in London is seeking an experienced SAP Basis Lead to oversee our SAP technical and security environment. You will lead a team responsible for configuring, monitoring, tuning and troubleshooting the SAP landscape, with a focus on stability and security.

The role covers upgrades, transports, and documentation, and requires strong leadership, SAP Security expertise, and experience with BTP, GRC, and Windows/SQL Server.

Qualifications

• Significant experience of SAP Basis support and project delivery, including installations, upgrades and migrations.
• People management experience, with the ability to lead, support and develop a technical team.
• Strong SAP Security and Authorisations experience.
• Relevant experience of SAP BTP and GRC.
• Experience working with Windows Server environments, including Microsoft Clustering.
• Experience of SQL Server-based systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead and support the SAP Basis and Security workstreams, including oversight of the offshore team, ensuring activity is aligned with our Technology Strategy, agreed standards and best practice.
• Maintain and optimise the SAP environment across ECC, BTP and Solution Manager, ensuring strong system performance, availability and stability.
• Manage SAP transports, client administration and technical changes in line with PRH change-management processes and controls.
• Monitor the health of SAP systems, proactively identifying and resolving issues across areas including work processes, logs, dumps, locks, traces, interfaces and capacity.
• Work closely with database and infrastructure teams on upgrades, maintenance, performance, storage, backup and recovery.
• Plan and support SAP upgrades, kernel updates and other maintenance activity, including out-of-hours go-live or upgrade support where required.
• Maintain accurate technical documentation across SAP systems and interfaces, whilst ensuring appropriate evidence is available for audit and compliance purposes.
• Lead the resolution of complex technical issues, providing clear options and recommendations where appropriate.
• Mentor and guide the Basis and Security team, whilst providing clear status updates to management and supporting effective service management practices.

Skills

SAP Basis

People management

SAP Security

SAP BTP

GRC

Windows Server

SQL Server

Analytical skills

Communication

Education

SAP Basis certification

Tools

Okta

Automic

SAP Signavio

Job description

Company Description

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced SAP Basis Lead to join our Technology team here at Penguin. This role is offered on a permanent basis from our office in Embassy Gardens, London.

This role will take responsibility for the oversight of our SAP technical and security environment, helping us to ensure the platform remains stable, secure and well supported across the wider SAP landscape.

You’ll lead the team responsible for configuring, monitoring, tuning and troubleshooting the SAP technical environment, whilst also overseeing the delivery of SAP Security support and services.

A key part of the role will be ensuring effective role administration and Segregation of Duties adherence, providing strong technical leadership and helping us to maintain a secure, resilient and well-governed SAP environment.

About the team

The Technology team provides expertise and effective solutions to Penguin Random House. We integrate flexibility and agility which supports our consistent way of working. We set ourselves up for success by holding ourselves accountable and welcoming change. Each member of the Technology team brings skill and initiative to their role; we take personal ownership within a one team culture, working collaboratively to meet expectations from our stakeholders who trust us to deliver.

The role

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and support the SAP Basis and Security workstreams, including oversight of the offshore team, ensuring activity is aligned with our Technology Strategy, agreed standards and best practice.

• Maintain and optimise the SAP environment across ECC, BTP and Solution Manager, ensuring strong system performance, availability and stability.

• Manage SAP transports, client administration and technical changes in line with PRH change-management processes and controls.

• Monitor the health of SAP systems, proactively identifying and resolving issues across areas including work processes, logs, dumps, locks, traces, interfaces and capacity.

• Work closely with database and infrastructure teams on upgrades, maintenance, performance, storage, backup and recovery.

• Plan and support SAP upgrades, kernel updates and other maintenance activity, including out-of-hours go-live or upgrade support where required.

• Maintain accurate technical documentation across SAP systems and interfaces, whilst ensuring appropriate evidence is available for audit and compliance purposes.

• Lead the resolution of complex technical issues, providing clear options and recommendations where appropriate.

• Mentor and guide the Basis and Security team, whilst providing clear status updates to management and supporting effective service management practices.

What you’ll bring

Essential criteria:

• Significant experience of SAP Basis support and project delivery, including installations, upgrades and migrations.

• People management experience, with the ability to lead, support and develop a technical team.

• Strong SAP Security and Authorisations experience.

• Relevant experience of SAP BTP and GRC.

• Experience working with Windows Server environments, including Microsoft Clustering.

• Experience of SQL Server-based systems.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues.

• Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of SAP Signavio.

• Experience working with Okta in an SAP environment.

• Experience of Automic.

• Professional SAP Basis certification.

AI

Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team.

We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you.

Disability Confident

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section.

There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview. We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing [e-mail]. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request.

Salary

The salary for this opportunity is c.£70,000 depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus a generous bonus scheme and benefits.

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important.

For this role we expect that you will work from our head office in Embassy Gardens, London a minimum of 2 days per week (Tuesday & Thursday) with additional days for team meetings, townhalls etc as required. There may also be occasional travel to our warehouse site in Frating, Colchester.

Additional Information

Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data:

Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG.

The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here.

You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address.

Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here.