Technical Specialist

Job Summary

Role Overview We are seeking a hands-on SAP Ariba Consultant to serve as the Implementation Lead for our Indirect Procurement transformation. This role owns end-to-end design, configuration, and rollout of Ariba Sourcing, Buying, Invoicing, and Contracts modules, with deep integration expertise connecting SAP Ariba to SAP S/4HANA via CIG, as well as importing requisitions from external systems into Ariba. The ideal candidate is a strong individual contributor who can configure, customize, and troubleshoot the platform directly — not just oversee delivery — while also guiding business stakeholders through solution design and cutover.

Key Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Implementation Leadership: Lead end-to-end Ariba implementation for Indirect Purchasing, covering solution design, configuration, testing, cutover, and hypercare across Sourcing, Contracts, Buying, and Invoicing modules.
• Hands-On Configuration: Personally configure and customize Ariba modules — approval flows, forms/fields, templates, questionnaires, scoring, workspaces, and catalogs — rather than delegating core build activities.
• Sourcing & Contracts: Configure and support Sourcing events (RFI/RFP/RFQ/Auctions), bid management, and Contract Workspaces including clause libraries, templates, and contract compliance workflows.
• Buying & Invoicing: Design and configure Requisitioning, PO, Goods Receipt, and Invoicing workflows, including exception handling, tolerance settings, and approval hierarchies.
• External Requisition Imports: Design, configure, and troubleshoot inbound requisition import flows from external/non-Ariba systems into Ariba Buying, ensuring correct field mapping, validation, and error handling for failed/rejected imports.
• ERS / Non-ERS Processing: Configure and support Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) and Non-ERS invoicing flows, ensuring correct matching logic (2-way/3-way match) and reconciliation with S/4HANA.
• CIG & S/4HANA Integration: Own the integration design and troubleshooting between Ariba and S/4HANA via Cloud Integration Gateway (CIG), ensuring accurate master data sync (vendor, material, cost center) and transactional document flow (PR → PO → GR → Invoice).
• Customization & Extensibility: Act as subject matter expert on Ariba customization — custom fields, forms, business rules, groovy scripts/scripting, and configuration workarounds to meet business-specific requirements.
• Data & Master Data Management: Manage master data loads, mapping, and validation between Ariba and ERP/external systems to ensure data integrity across the procure-to-pay cycle.
• Stakeholder Management: Partner with procurement business teams, IT, and third-party vendors to gather requirements, conduct fit-gap analysis, and drive design decisions.
• Testing & Cutover Support: Support SIT/UAT cycles, defect triage, and production cutover activities, collaborating closely with automation/QA teams (e.g., Tosca) validating Ariba-S/4HANA and requisition import flows.
• Documentation & Governance: Maintain configuration documentation, process flows, and best-practice governance for ongoing platform administration post go-live.

Skill Requirements

Required Technical Skills

• SAP Ariba Expertise: 8+ years of hands-on functional/technical experience across Ariba Sourcing, Contracts, Buying, and Invoicing modules in an implementation capacity.
• Ariba Customization: Proven expertise in Ariba configuration and customization — custom forms, fields, approval flows, business rules, and templates.
• CIG Integration: Prior hands-on experience with Cloud Integration Gateway (CIG) for connecting SAP Ariba with SAP S/4HANA (or ECC), including realm setup, mapping, and troubleshooting integration errors.
• Requisition Import Expertise: Hands-on experience importing requisitions into Ariba from external systems — via cXML, CSV/Excel-based bulk requisition import, Ariba Open API, or middleware (e.g., CIG, SAP PI/PO, or third-party integration platforms) — including field/UOM/cost object mapping, error queue management, and reprocessing failed imports.
• ERS/Non-ERS Knowledge: Solid understanding of ERS and Non-ERS invoicing processes, including matching logic and downstream financial posting impacts.
• Procure-to-Pay Process Knowledge: Deep understanding of the full indirect procurement lifecycle: Sourcing → Contract → Requisition → PO → GR → Invoice → Payment.
• Integration Troubleshooting: Ability to independently diagnose and resolve data sync/integration failures between Ariba (cloud), external requisition sources, and S/4HANA (on-prem/cloud).
• Data Mapping & Validation: Ability to define and validate mapping rules between external source system data and Ariba requisition schema, ensuring compatibility with downstream PO/GR/Invoice processing.
• Master Data Management: Experience with vendor, material, and organizational master data setup and maintenance across Ariba and ERP.
• Multi-Environment Delivery: Experience managing configuration and testing across multiple environments (Dev/QA/Prod, sandbox/test realms).

Preferred Skills

• Experience with SAP Ariba Network setup and supplier enablement.
• Exposure to Ariba Guided Buying and catalog management (CIF/CCM).
• Familiarity with SAP Fiori/GUI for validating S/4HANA-side transactions.
• Experience with multiple inbound integration patterns (batch file, real-time API/cXML) for requisition creation, beyond native Ariba UI-based requisitioning.
• Familiarity with non-SAP source systems feeding requisitions into Ariba (e.g., facilities/maintenance systems, procurement portals, industry-specific planning tools).
• Experience collaborating with automation/QA teams for integration test validation.

Education & Certifications

• Required: SAP Ariba functional/technical certification in Sourcing, Buying, or Contracts (as applicable).
• Preferred: SAP Ariba Integration/CIG certification.
• Education: B.E./B.Tech/MBA or equivalent.

Other Requirements