SAP Transformation Lead

Job Description:

Your Impact

Join Leonardo UK as an SAP Transformation Lead and play a pivotal role in reshaping the digital backbone of a leading defence organisation.

The SAP Transformation Lead will be the strategic owner and technical authority for upgrading and modernising the company’s use of SAP since migration to S/4, with specific focus on the Operational transaction aspects. This role will lead a multi-year SAP transformation programme, ensuring the new solution is future-proof, secure, and fully integrated with the organisation’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).

The role is accountable for the SAP roadmap wrt Operations transactions, associated governance, and alignment with enterprise-wide digital initiatives in a highly regulated Aerospace & Defence environment.

In this role you will:

• •Own and drive the end-to-end upgrade of the legacy SAP system from an Operations viewpoint, with the understanding of the benefits / impacts to other Functions.
• •Ownership of end-end Operational business processes which impact on SAP, specifically focussing on modules PP, PE, MM. WM, QM – the first 3 being key.
• •Define and manage the upgrade strategy, including scope, deployment approach, risk mitigation, and resource planning.
• •Lead technical assessment, solution design, data migration strategy, and cutover planning.
• •Ensure all Operational processes, custom code, and integrations are mapped, rationalised, or redesigned to meet future business needs.
• •Develop and maintain a multi-year Operational SAP technology roadmap aligned with business objectives and defence-industry compliance requirements, which is to include the system management of secret (or higher) parts or products in an operational environment.
• •Identify opportunities for standardisation, process harmonisation, automation, and adoption of new SAP capabilities.
• •Define governance frameworks for enhancement requests, prioritisation, and change control.
• •Serve as the primary SAP interface with PLM and MES programme teams.
• •Design and own the integration strategy between SAP, PLM, and MES to ensure seamless engineering, manufacturing, and supply-chain workflows which will have an impact on Operational effectiveness.
• •Ensure data alignment, Bill of Materials (BOM) synchronisation, configuration management, and traceability across systems (including secret parts or products).
• •Champion end-to-end digital thread capability across the Operations spectrum.
• •Ensure all SAP solutions comply with defence-sector regulations, cybersecurity standards, export controls, and audit requirements.
• •Establish high-quality documentation, system standards, and configuration controls.

What you'll bring

• •SAP 4/HANA and Fiori Applications.
• •Proven experience leading major SAP upgrade or S/4HANA transformation programmes within an Operations environment, with specific expertise in delivering transactional benefits in the key SAP Operations modules.
• •Knowledge of core Operations SAP modules (PP, PE, MM. WM, QM) as well as an understanding of SD & FI/CO) and integration technologies (BAPIs, IDocs, APIs).
• •Background in SAP integration with PLM and MES environments.
• •Strong understanding of cybersecurity, configuration control, and compliance frameworks.

• Your Impact
• As a Trade Compliance Specialist you will work within our Trade Compliance department to support the management of aspects relating to UK Export Control and Trade Compliance. You will be part of a team which provides a business support service, including advice and guidance, to Leonardo's Southampton business operations and functions to ensure the business remains compliant with UK and other relevant trade control laws and regulations.
• The role may involve some national travel and possibly international travel.

This role is fixed term maternity cover for 1 year.

Hybrid working, the role will be a mixture of onsite working and home working.

What you'll do as a Trade Compliance Specialist

• •Ensure record keeping is in accordance with company procedures to comply with HMRC and BIST regulations.
• •Processing of re-exports of imported goods under Customs control to ensure financial liabilities can be discharged.
• •Work with Project Teams and functions to ensure that Export Control and Trade Compliance aspects of Equipment and Technology (including data) are properly managed by IPTs in compliance with UK and Foreign export authorisations.
• •Support preparations for internal/external audits relating to Export Control and Trade Compliance matters.
• •Provide advice and guidance to Project Teams to ensure compliance with UK Export Control regulations, as well as conforming with internal corporate policies and procedures. This will include advising the internal business of the most appropriate and valid UK export licences for their needs including any required authorisations, e.g. MOD Form 680s, End User Stockist Undertakings and other government permissions necessary for the export from the UK of tangibles and intangibles .
• •UK Export Licensing submission and management of Export Licence applications to the UK Export Control Joint Unit (“ECJU”) via SPIRE / LITE to ensure UK export licences meet company requirements.
• •Submission, where required, of MoD Form 680 (“F680”) applications to UK MoD via SPIRE/LITE and liaison with UK MoD in order to secure approvals consistent with the company requirements.
• •Undertake specialist work and provide professional advice and make recommendations to Project Teams (“IPTs”) to support their effectiveness to ensure Commodity List Classification (CLC)/ Export Control Ratings are in place to support compliance with UK Export regulations.
• •Ensure the IPTs achieve clear guidance on licensing and customs matters in order to secure outputs to time;
• •Contribute at all stages of the IPTs delivery to ensure that compliance is taken into account and adhered to at all stages;
• •Proactively contribute to planning and management through the application of technical expertise of export licensing and customs management;
• •Import Control. Ensure the correct processing of imported goods in accordance with the relevant Customs Authorisations, including associated record keeping and periodic reporting to HMRC. Provide import clearance instructions to freight agents in an efficient and timely manner to enable prompt customs clearance and delivery of goods to the business. Process internal reports and ensure record keeping is completed to ensure compliance with HMRC regulations.
• •Export Control and related customs procedures process export notifications and requests, providing the business with accurate export documentation in an efficient and timely manner, assigning appropriate Export licences and customs procedures within the company business systems (currently SAP). Provide export clearance documentation and instructions to the Shipping Agent
• •Support and prepare for internal and external audits.

What You'll Bring

• •Experienced export control/trade compliance practitioner with - Detailed knowledge of UK Export Licencing, including Trade Controls.
• •Good working knowledge of foreign import / export regulations, particularly EU Member States and the US ITAR and US EAR, including US ITAR Agreements and General Correspondence / Retransfer requests under US and other export control regulations - Good working knowledge of UK/EU Customs regulations
• •Presentation skills in order to deliver training
• •Good all round computer literacy including Microsoft Office applications

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please vi