JOB DATA
JOB TITLE: Solution Architect - SAP IBP
DEPARTMENT: SAP Delivery DSC
Experience Required : 12+ years
Shift timings: EST/ CST
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced SAP IBP Solution Architect to lead the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of end-to-end Integrated Business Planning solutions. Operating at the intersection of supply chain strategy and technology, you will translate complex business planning requirements into scalable, best-practice SAP IBP architectures - while guiding clients or internal stakeholders from discovery through go-live and beyond.
Responsibilities:
Solution Design & Architecture
- Own the end-to-end architecture of SAP IBP implementations across one or more planning domains.
- Define data models, integration patterns, and system landscape for IBP deployments within an SAP S/4HANA or hybrid ecosystem.
- Translate business requirements into functional and technical solution blueprints, including fit-gap analysis and design decisions.
- Establish best-practice configuration standards and ensure alignment with SAP's quarterly release roadmap.
Delivery & Stakeholder Engagement
- Lead or support full project lifecycle activities: workshops, blueprint, build, testing, hypercare, and handover.
- Engage C-suite and VP-level supply chain stakeholders; present architectures, trade-offs, and recommendations with clarity.
- Mentor and review the work of functional consultants and junior architects on project teams.
- Coordinate with SAP basis, integration, and data engineering teams to ensure end-to-end solution integrity.
Practice Development
- Contribute to practice assets - accelerators, templates, methodology guides, demo environments.
- Stay current with SAP IBP product direction and bring insights back to the team and clients.
Required Skills:
Deep, hands-on implementation experience is required across all five core areas below.
Advanced Demand Planning (Statistical Modelling)
- Statistical forecasting: model selection (ARIMA, exponential smoothing, causal), MLR, and error metrics.
- Experience tuning forecast models, cleansing historical data, and improving baseline accuracy KPIs.
- Understanding of machine-learning-enhanced forecasting options within SAP IBP.
Response & Supply (R&S)
- Demand-driven planning, heuristics-based supply run, multi-echelon supply network design.
- Hands-on experience configuring supply network models, planning areas, and key figure hierarchies.
Optimizer
- Constraint-based optimisation using SAP IBP Optimizer (supply, demand, or inventory objectives).
- Familiarity with optimisation model configuration, constraints, objective functions, and KPI design.
Order-Based Planning (OBP)
- Order-based supply planning: MRP-like logic, pegging, firming rules, and order handling in IBP.
- Experience with integration touch-points between OBP and ERP order management.
- Custom dashboards and analytical apps.
- Hands-on SAP BTP Build Work Zone.
- SAP Business Application Studio (BAS)/Web IDE.
- SAP Gateway and backend integration
Qualification & Education:
- 8+ years in SAP supply chain planning; 4+ years as Solution Architect
- 5+ full-cycle IBP implementations (at least 2 as lead architect)
- Exposure to 2+ industries (e.g., CPG, retail, pharma, manufacturing)
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or related field (MBA a plus)
- Ability to present technical architecture to executive audiences
- Proven track record leading cross-functional, multi-vendor teams
Nice-to-Have Skills
- SAP IBP Business Planning (xP&A)
- SAP BTP / extension development
- Financial planning integration (BPC / Analytics Cloud)
- Anaplan, O9, Kinaxis or competing tool knowledge
- S&OP / IBP process design & facilitation
- SAP certification in IBP or related modules