Product Specialist

Job Summary

Senior SAP APO Consultant - 10+ years of experience
Role Overview
We are looking for an experienced Senior SAP APO Consultant to join our IT Operations organization. This role is responsible for supporting and enhancing SAP APO planning processes across business operations, participating in strategic projects, and delivering change requests and continuous improvements.
The ideal candidate brings deep SAP APO expertise, strong supply chain planning knowledge, and experience working in regulated industries such as Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, or other GxP-regulated environments.
The consultant will play a key role in supporting and optimizing the current SAP ECC and APO landscape while contributing to future supply chain planning initiatives and transformation programs.

Key Responsibilities

SAP APO Solution Ownership

• Act as senior functional expert for SAP APO and related supply chain planning processes.
• Support day-to-day operations, incident resolution, problem management, and root cause analysis.
• Ensure system stability, planning performance, and alignment with business requirements.
• Maintain and optimize planning master data, planning books, macros, heuristics, and integration processes.
• Provide expert guidance on APO best practices and process improvements.

Project Delivery

• Lead or contribute to SAP APO implementation and enhancement projects.
• Gather, analyze, and challenge business requirements and translate them into robust functional solutions.
• Drive solution design, testing, deployment, and hypercare activities.
• Collaborate effectively with business stakeholders, developers, SAP teams, and external partners.
• Support planning process improvement and digital transformation initiatives.

Change Requests & Continuous Improvement

• Analyze, estimate, design, and implement change requests.
• Identify opportunities to improve forecast accuracy, planning efficiency, inventory performance, and process automation.
• Ensure high-quality delivery through appropriate testing, documentation, and knowledge transfer.
• Drive standardization and simplification of planning processes where possible.

Supply Chain Planning Expertise

• Support and optimize planning processes across Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Production Planning, and Available-to-Promise functions.
• Ensure effective integration between APO and SAP ECC.
• Support business users in leveraging planning tools to improve decision-making and operational performance.
• Participate in roadmap discussions and future planning system initiatives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Planning, Manufacturing, Procurement, Logistics, Customer Service, and Commercial teams.
• Collaborate with SAP PP, MM, WM/EWM, SD, and FI/CO teams to support end-to-end business processes.
• Build strong relationships with business stakeholders and act as a trusted advisor within the planning domain.

Compliance & Quality

• Ensure solutions comply with internal governance standards and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Support validation and documentation activities where required.
• Maintain high standards for audit readiness, process documentation, and solution quality.

Skill Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business Administration, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 10 years of hands-on SAP APO consulting experience.
• Strong expertise in:
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• Proven experience delivering SAP projects and managing change requests in complex global environments.
• Strong SAP configuration and troubleshooting capabilities.
• Experience partnering with business stakeholders across multiple organizational levels.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Fluent English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, or other GxP-regulated industries.
• Experience with SAP IBP, SAP S/4HANA planning capabilities, or supply chain transformation initiatives.
• Knowledge of SAP PP, MM, EWM, TM, or Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).
• Experience working within global organizations and distributed support models.
• Familiarity with validation and compliance processes in regulated environments.

Key Competencies

• Strong business partnering mindset
• Deep understanding of end-to-end supply chain planning processes
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to challenge and improve existing processes
• Project leadership and execution capabilities
• Continuous improvement orientation
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Ability to balance operational support with strategic initiatives

Other Requirements