Senior Technical Services Manager - BASIS:Johannesburg

SAP; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 2,300,000; Full time

Job summary

SAP is seeking a Technical Service Manager (TSM) to lead end-to-end technical engagement across SAP Enterprise Cloud Services with focus on HANA Enterprise Cloud, S/4HANA editions, and related cloud offerings. The role acts as a trusted technical advisor, guiding migrations, architecture decisions, and service optimization for complex customer landscapes.

Ideal candidates have 12–16 years in SAP tech administration or cloud services, strong stakeholder management, and proven ability to drive

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Technical Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of SAP Basis administration, SAP system migration, SAP HANA, and SAP landscape operations.
• Solid knowledge of SAP cloud business, cloud infrastructure, hybrid environments, and cloud operational processes.
• Hands-on experience with Unix/Linux environments, SAP HANA, and Sybase databases.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills in English with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong customer engagement, stakeholder management, and de-escalation capabilities.
• Ability to manage multiple customer engagements in parallel within a global virtual organization.
• Proactive, problem-solving, customer-first mindset with strong ownership and accountability.
• Strong collaboration skills with experience working in global and matrix organizations.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary contact for customers on SAP technology discussions, innovations, technical escalations, incidents, and service requests.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with customer stakeholders and establish trusted technical advisor status.
• Lead End-to-End service delivery across customer landscapes as the technical orchestrator.
• Understand customer business goals, challenges, and technical requirements to recommend optimal SAP solutions and services.
• Provide expert guidance on SAP S/4HANA architecture, migration paths, conversion methodologies, and technical tooling.
• Understand SAP High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR), network, virtualization, and hyperscaler technologies.
• Identify top technical issues, define service improvement plans, and drive implementation of technical action items.
• Design and optimize SAP configurations to maximize system performance, stability, and availability.
• Act as a de-escalation point for critical customer situations and coordinate resolution across SAP delivery units.
• Support positioning of additional ECS offerings and contribute to contract renewals in alignment with SAP sales teams.
• Proactively manage operational and security risks through timely maintenance activities, compliance actions, and risk mitigations.
• Foster a culture of proactive problem management and continuous service improvement.
• Collaborate with ECS delivery teams to establish long-term technical roadmaps and account strategies.

Skills

SAP HANA

SAP Basis administration

Cloud infrastructure

Stakeholder management

Customer engagement

De-escalation capabilities

Unix/Linux

Communication

Problem solving

Architecture discussions

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering/IT

Tools

SAP Solution Manager

ITIL

SAP ALM

Run SAP methodologies

Job description

Overview

Technical Service Manager (TSM) for SAP Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) focusing on HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC), S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition, S/4HANA Cloud Extended Edition, and HANA Enterprise Cloud Advanced Edition. Leads end-to-end technical engagement from onboarding through continuous service delivery, governance, architecture discussions, release and maintenance planning, service optimization, escalation handling, and technical advisory across the customer lifecycle. Acts as a trusted technical advisor to customers and partners, understanding business requirements, resolving technical complexities, and orchestrating cross-functional SAP teams to deliver high-quality services.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary contact for customers on SAP technology discussions, innovations, technical escalations, incidents, and service requests.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with customer stakeholders and establish trusted technical advisor status.
• Lead End-to-End service delivery across customer landscapes as the technical orchestrator.
• Understand customer business goals, challenges, and technical requirements to recommend optimal SAP solutions and services.
• Provide expert guidance on SAP S/4HANA architecture, migration paths, conversion methodologies, and technical tooling.
• Understand SAP High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR), network, virtualization, and hyperscaler technologies.
• Identify top technical issues, define service improvement plans, and drive implementation of technical action items.
• Design and optimize SAP configurations to maximize system performance, stability, and availability.
• Act as a de-escalation point for critical customer situations and coordinate resolution across SAP delivery units.
• Support positioning of additional ECS offerings and contribute to contract renewals in alignment with SAP sales teams.
• Proactively manage operational and security risks through timely maintenance activities, compliance actions, and risk mitigations.
• Foster a culture of proactive problem management and continuous service improvement.
• Collaborate with ECS delivery teams to establish long-term technical roadmaps and account strategies.

Qualifications

Education, Skills, and Competencies

Required Skills

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Technical Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of SAP Basis administration, SAP system migration, SAP HANA, and SAP landscape operations.
• Solid knowledge of SAP cloud business, cloud infrastructure, hybrid environments, and cloud operational processes.
• Hands-on experience with Unix/Linux environments, SAP HANA, and Sybase databases.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills in English with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong customer engagement, stakeholder management, and de-escalation capabilities.
• Ability to manage multiple customer engagements in parallel within a global virtual organization.
• Proactive, problem-solving, customer-first mindset with strong ownership and accountability.
• Strong collaboration skills with experience working in global and matrix organizations.

Preferred Skills

• SAP Basis/Application certifications are highly beneficial.
• Hyperscaler certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP) are a strong advantage.
• Knowledge of SAP IT operations standards and methodologies such as ITIL, SAP Solution Manager, SAP ALM, and Run SAP methodologies.
• Experience with SAP High Availability and Disaster Recovery concepts is preferred.

Work Experience

• Total 12 to 16 years of experience in SAP Technical Administration, SAP Operations, SAP Basis, or SAP cloud technologies.
• Minimum 8+ years in a customer-facing role within cloud services or IT consulting environments.
• Minimum 4 implementation projects and 4 AMS/support project experiences.
• Strong experience handling mission-critical customer situations and escalations.

Why join us

This is an exciting opportunity to join SAP’s Enterprise Cloud Services organization and contribute to customers’ cloud transformation journeys. The role offers exposure to strategic customers, cutting-edge SAP cloud technologies, and collaborative global teams while contributing to SAP’s cloud-first future.