What You Will Do We are seeking an experienced
SAP Test Manager to support a major enterprise SAP transformation programme at a leading global life sciences organization. Reporting to the client's Testing Centre of Excellence (Testing COE), the SAP Test Manager will serve as the primary client-side testing representative for the Unify R2 Programme, providing strategic oversight, governance, coordination, and quality assurance across all testing activities delivered by the programme's Delivery Partner.
The ideal candidate will bring deep knowledge of SAP environments, extensive experience managing testing within complex SAP implementations, and the confidence to engage, influence, and challenge senior business and IT leadership. This is a highly visible, stakeholder-facing role requiring someone who can take ownership of testing governance, proactively identify risks, drive accountability, and ensure testing outcomes meet business expectations, programme milestones, and regulatory requirements.
This is not a hands-on testing role or a traditional project management position. The successful candidate must possess a strong understanding of SAP functionality, integrations, and testing methodologies to effectively evaluate the Delivery Partner's testing approach, challenge technical decisions, and provide informed recommendations to senior stakeholders. Test planning, test case development, and test execution will be performed by the Delivery Partner, with the SAP Test Manager providing independent oversight, assurance, and governance on behalf of the client.
Job Responsibilities - Serve as the client's primary testing representative for the SAP Unify R2 Programme, reporting to the Testing COE and providing governance and assurance across all programme testing activities.
- Oversee and govern the Delivery Partner's testing activities to ensure alignment with established testing standards, quality requirements, programme milestones, and regulatory obligations.
- Review, assess, and challenge test strategies, test plans, testing scope, execution approaches, and deliverables developed by the Delivery Partner to ensure they are comprehensive, effective, and fit for purpose.
- Leverage strong SAP functional and technical knowledge to evaluate testing coverage across business processes, SAP modules, system integrations, interfaces, and end-to-end workflows.
- Provide oversight across key testing phases, including System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT), regression testing, and other relevant testing activities.
- Ensure testing dependencies, entry and exit criteria, quality gates, and sign-off requirements are clearly defined, understood, and consistently applied.
- Monitor testing progress, execution quality, defect trends, test coverage, and readiness against agreed programme milestones and quality expectations.
- Evaluate testing risks, gaps, and issues, proactively challenging the Delivery Partner and coordinating appropriate mitigation and resolution actions.
- Provide independent assurance of testing deliverables, supporting evidence-based recommendations on testing readiness, quality, and programme progression.
- Work closely with Business Users, Product Owners, IT Delivery Leads, SAP Functional Teams, Test Architects, and the Delivery Partner's testing organization to ensure effective coordination and alignment.
- Facilitate discussions and drive decisions with senior management, confidently presenting testing status, risks, challenges, and recommendations to business and technology leadership.
- Hold the Delivery Partner accountable for the quality, completeness, accuracy, and timeliness of testing deliverables and agreed commitments.
- Oversee defect management governance, including defect prioritization, escalation, resolution progress, and the assessment of outstanding defects against business risk and release readiness.
- Support business stakeholders in understanding their testing responsibilities, particularly for UAT participation, business validation, and formal acceptance.
- Ensure testing governance, documentation, and evidence meet organizational standards and applicable regulatory and compliance requirements.
- Provide clear, concise, and actionable reporting to the Testing COE, programme leadership, and senior stakeholders, highlighting progress, risks, dependencies, and decisions required.
- Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, constructively challenging assumptions, influencing decisions, and driving alignment to achieve successful programme outcomes.
- Contribute to go-live readiness assessments by providing independent testing assurance, identifying residual risks, and supporting informed release and go/no-go decisions.
- Maintain a strong focus on business outcomes, ensuring testing provides sufficient confidence that SAP solutions are reliable, integrated, compliant, and ready for operational use.
Qualifications - 10+ years of experience in SAP testing, test management, or testing governance, with significant involvement in large-scale SAP implementations, transformation programmes, or complex enterprise technology initiatives.
- Demonstrated experience in an SAP Test Manager, SAP Test Lead, or equivalent role, with a strong emphasis on testing oversight, governance, quality assurance, and delivery partner management.
- Strong working knowledge of SAP environments and SAP testing practices is essential. Candidates must understand SAP business processes, system integrations, testing dependencies, and the complexities of validating enterprise SAP solutions.
- Proven ability to critically review SAP testing strategies, plans, execution results, and deliverables, identifying gaps and challenging approaches based on practical SAP testing expertise.
- Experience overseeing testing activities delivered by third-party systems integrators, implementation partners, or outsourced testing organizations.
- Solid understanding of end-to-end testing lifecycles, including SIT, UAT, regression testing, defect management, test governance, and release readiness.
- Experience supporting complex SAP programmes involving multiple functional teams, integrated systems, and cross-functional business processes.
- Demonstrated ability to engage, influence, and challenge senior business and IT stakeholders, including programme leadership and executive management.
- Strong executive communication and presentation skills, with the confidence to lead discussions, articulate testing risks, and recommend appropriate actions at senior management level.
- Proven ability to operate independently in a highly visible, client-facing role, exercising sound judgment and taking ownership of testing governance and outcomes.
- Experience managing competing priorities, coordinating multiple stakeholders, and driving accountability within complex programme delivery environments.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret testing metrics, evaluate quality risks, and translate technical information into meaningful business recommendations.
- Familiarity with SAP testing tools, test management platforms, defect tracking solutions, and associated reporting and governance practices.
- Experience working within structured Testing Centres of Excellence (COEs), established test governance frameworks, or enterprise quality assurance organizations.
- Experience within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, or other highly regulated industries is preferred.
- Familiarity with GxP, computer system validation (CSV), or other applicable regulated-system testing and documentation requirements is advantageous.
- Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to constructively challenge delivery teams while maintaining productive working relationships.
- proactive, confident, and results-oriented leadership style, with a demonstrated ability to influence outcomes without direct authority.
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business, Engineering, or a related discipline preferred.
