Senior SAP Solution Architect (Senior Technologist)

The Position
The Senior SAP Solution Architect (Senior Technologist) will provide hands-on support across Finance, Procurement, Inventory, Warehouse Management, Funds Management, and related business processes. Responsibilities include coordinating and facilitating activities among IT, internal departments and divisions, and vendors to support the integration of Citywide technology systems. The position will also serve as a resource to internal departments in the planning, development, and management of enterprise systems and workplace automation. This Senior Technologist role may supervise lower-level IT staff.

Some key responsibilities include:

• Bridge organizational silos by designing and implementing integrated solutions across SAP FI/CO, MM, and PM modules.

• Optimize business processes by analyzing complex business requirements and translating them into SAP Functional Specification Designs (FSDs).

• Provide techno-functional leadership by delivering expert guidance on cross-functional business processes (e.g., Order-to-Cash and/or Procure-to-Pay).

• Collaborate with IT and business teams to ensure seamless integration and end-to-end process alignment across SAP modules.

• Resolve high-priority, cross-module issues and implement improvements to enhance system performance and reliability.

• Support S/4HANA migration initiatives and help stabilize the post-migration S/4HANA environment.

• Troubleshoot and debug SAP processes, related business applications, and system interfaces.

• Manage complex IT projects involving enterprise applications, including planning, coordination, and delivery.

• Develop end-user training materials and support the development of test scripts and test execution activities.

• Participate in on-call support, including availability for 24/7 weekend and holiday work when required

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will have extensive, progressively responsible experience in programming, business process requirements analysis, data processing, systems analysis, and IT project management. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential, given the need to interact with and report to professionals at all levels, both inside and outside the Department. A strong understanding of how Finance, Procurement, Inventory/Warehouse, and other business functions integrate with one another, as well as how SAP supports end-to-end business processes, is essential. This position will serve as a key bridge between business users, IT, and technical teams, translating business requirements into effective SAP solutions.

The successful candidate will be comfortable analyzing complex business issues, troubleshooting SAP processes, developing functional specifications, and coordinating testing and implementation activities. The role will support the City’s ongoing SAP S/4HANA transformation, including process improvement through the use of SAP Signavio, Fiori adoption, integrations, reporting, and emerging SAP AI capabilities. Strong collaboration, documentation, and training skills are essential, as this individual will work closely with multiple departments and divisions. This is an important enterprise-level role that combines deep functional expertise with a broad cross-functional perspective to help the City maximize the value of its SAP investment.

Compensation (MGMT): Comprehensive compensation plan. To learn more, click here. 

Benefits: The City offers a fantastic benefits package including:

• Schedule: Option of a 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off

• Professional development: Tuition reimbursement, leadership training, and career growth opportunities

• Education benefits: Potential enrollment for dependents in the Palo Alto Unified School District (pilot program, subject to change)

• Childcare support: $10,000 in childcare subsidies (pilot program, subject to change)

• Commute benefits: Incentives for walking, biking and taking transit to work. The City of Palo Alto participates in the Clipper Bay Pass program (Employee Cost: $5 per month).  

• Defined-Benefit Retirement Plan: with competitive pension benefits

Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provides project management leadership for specific automated systems projects, which includes: collecting and analyzing business requirements; proposing solutions and alternatives; defining application development scopes of work and tasks; project budget creation and tracking, assessing user needs; identifying appropriate tools to meet user needs; interviewing internal customers; preparing bid specifications; evaluating bids; coordinating activities with external vendors and internal customers; and/or, performing other related activities.
• Evaluates, designs, programs, implements, tests, tunes, and maintains Information Technology infrastructure, websites, GIS applications, software applications, back-end and front-end servers, hardware/network, database creation/administration, telecommunication systems, and/or other related items, day-to-day systems administration including data storage and system back-ups.
• Provides consulting assistance and services to application users; suggests, designs, tests, implements, troubleshoots, and evaluates technology and business process efficiencies and solutions.
• Provides advanced end-user support, including researching user complaints, researching issues, answering technical questions, and/or assisting with application revisions or problems.
• Maintains a variety of records and/or documentation for assigned area of responsibility. Operates and administers Information Technology or telecommunications management tools.
• Develops, prepares, and facilitates end-user training.

To review full job description, click here.

Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge and skills, which would typically be acquired through:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology or a related field; and, five years of progressively responsible, professional Information Technology experience; or,
• An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform a particular subset of the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.

Licensing Requirements:

Depending on area of assignment, some positions may require:

• Valid California Driver’s License;

The Selection Process:

• Recruitment status notifications will be sent via email or text (please enroll in text alerts when applying).
• Updates can also be found on your governmentjobs.com account.
• Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time.
• The screening process for this position may include a virtual recorded interview and/or panel interviews preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.
• More than one position may be filled through this posting.

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The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.