LEAD ANALYST - SAP

SAP Release Manager - Job Description
 

Job Title

SAP Release Manager

Experience

8-15 Years

Location : Hyderabad

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced SAP Release Manager to oversee and manage SAP application releases across multiple landscapes and business units. The ideal candidate will be responsible for planning, coordinating, governing, and executing SAP releases while ensuring minimal disruption to business operations. This role requires strong expertise in SAP Change & Release Management processes, transport management, deployment planning, stakeholder communication, and coordination with functional, technical, testing, and infrastructure teams.

Key Responsibilities

Release Planning & Governance
Define and manage SAP release schedules, deployment calendars, and release roadmaps.
Coordinate major, minor, emergency, and maintenance releases across SAP environments.
Establish and enforce release governance, processes, policies, and best practices.
Ensure compliance with ITIL-based Change and Release Management frameworks.
SAP Change & Transport Management
Manage SAP transport requests across Development, QA, UAT, Pre-Production, and Production environments.
Oversee transport sequencing, dependency analysis, and deployment approvals.
Monitor and control SAP ChaRM (Change Request Management) and release cycles.
Validate release readiness and ensure all approval gates are completed.
Stakeholder Coordination
Collaborate with SAP Functional Consultants, Technical Teams, Basis Administrators, Security Teams, Infrastructure Teams, and Business Stakeholders.
Conduct release planning meetings, CAB (Change Advisory Board) reviews, and deployment readiness assessments.
Communicate release scope, schedules, risks, and deployment status to leadership and stakeholders.
Risk & Quality Management
Identify release risks, dependencies, conflicts, and potential business impacts.
Develop rollback and contingency plans for critical releases.
Ensure all testing phases including SIT, UAT, Regression, and Performance Testing are completed successfully before production deployment.
Monitor release KPIs and continuous improvement initiatives.
Environment & Deployment Management
Coordinate deployment activities and production cutovers.
Work closely with SAP Basis teams for system refreshes, upgrades, and migrations.
Ensure environment stability and availability during release activities.
Manage post-deployment validation and hyper-care support.
Documentation & Reporting
Maintain release documentation, deployment plans, release notes, and audit records.
Track release metrics including success rates, incidents, change effectiveness, and deployment performance.
Prepare management dashboards and executive reports.

Required Skills

SAP Skills
SAP Release Management
SAP ChaRM (Solution Manager)
SAP Transport Management System (TMS)
SAP Basis Concepts
SAP Change Management
SAP S/4HANA Landscape Management
SAP Upgrade & Migration Projects
SAP Deployment and Cutover Planning
Tools & Technologies
SAP Solution Manager
SAP Cloud ALM
ServiceNow
Jira
Azure DevOps
HP ALM
Jenkins (preferred)
Git (preferred)
Process Knowledge
ITIL Change & Release Management
Incident & Problem Management
SDLC Methodologies
Agile & Waterfall Delivery Models
Risk & Compliance Management
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related discipline.
8+ years of IT experience with 3+ years in SAP Release Management.
Experience managing enterprise-wide SAP releases involving multiple modules.
Strong understanding of SAP landscapes and transport mechanisms.
Experience in SAP S/4HANA implementation, transformation, or support environments.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
ITIL Foundation/Intermediate Certification.
SAP Solution Manager or SAP Cloud ALM certification.
Experience in SAP S/4HANA transformation programs.
Experience working in global delivery environments.