IT Architect Advisor - SAP - KJ
Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first — developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72+ million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact.
A Day in the Life
At Medtronic, you can begin a life-long career of exploration and innovation, while helping champion healthcare access and equity for all. You’ll lead with purpose, breaking down barriers to innovation in a more connected, compassionate world.
The IT Advisor – SAP S/4HANA Transformation (Technical Architect & Project Lead) is a senior individual-contributor leadership role within the Global IT SAP Center of Expertise, accountable for architecting and delivering sub-projects within the SAP S/4HANA transformation roadmap—such as Master Data Governance, Data Migration & analytics solutions implementation and other enabling technology solutions across the SAP ecosystem. This role combines director-level delivery accountability with hands-on technical architecture leadership to ensure solutions are scalable, compliant, secure, and aligned to enterprise architecture standards in a regulated medical devices environment.
Reporting into SAP CoE leadership, this position partners closely with Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Quality/Validation, Data Platforms & Integration team, SAP functional owners, external system integrators and SAP to deliver outcomes with strong scope discipline, quality rigor, and predictable execution. In-person collaboration is an important part of how we work. This role follows Medtronic’s hybrid onsite model in support of collaboration and professional growth.
A Day in the Life – Role Overview
This role serves as a trusted technical advisor and delivery owner for SAP transformation sub-programs, translating business demand into solution architecture, delivery roadmaps, integrated plans, and measurable outcomes. The IT Advisor ensures disciplined execution across plan/build/test/deploy/hypercare, while actively managing vendor performance, scope, risks, and change controls.
As a technical architect, you will define end-to-end designs (data, integration, security, environments, extensions) and govern solution implementation. As a project lead, you will set expectations with system integrators, regulate delivery status, escalate quality/timeline concerns, manage contracts and invoices, and ensure deployment readiness and support transition.
Responsibilities
1) SAP Transformation Sub-Project Leadership (MDG and Enabling Solutions)
- Own delivery of assigned SAP transformation sub-projects (e.g., SAP MDG, data governance enablement, integration services, workflow automation, reporting enablement, and other SAP-adjacent technologies).
- Establish and maintain project charters, delivery plans, milestones, dependencies, RAID logs, and success metrics in partnership with business stakeholders and IT peers.
- Define, baseline, and manage scope, assumptions, and dependencies, ensuring clarity of commitments and outcomes.
- Drive cross-team execution across platforms, development, testing, release/cutover, deployment, and hypercare, holding every team accountable to commitments.
2) Technical Architecture & Solution Governance
- Serve as the technical architect for assigned initiatives—defining target architecture, integration patterns, security approach, environment strategy, non-functional requirements, and operational support model.
- Ensure designs align with:
- Enterprise architecture principles
- Integration, data, cloud, and security strategies
- Lead architecture reviews and govern technical decisions to ensure scalable, supportable, and compliant solutions across build and run.
- Ensure delivery artifacts meet required standards: architecture diagrams, interface specs, technical designs, validation evidence, runbooks, and support documentation.
3) Delivery Discipline, Status Governance, and Escalation Management
- Establish right-sized governance (cadence, templates, checkpoints) to receive and regulate system integrator status reporting, validate progress, and surface risks early.
- Proactively identify delays, capacity gaps, and quality concerns; escalate to system integrator leadership and Medtronic leadership with clear options, impacts, and recommendations.
- Ensure disciplined execution across build, test, deploy, and hypercare using standard delivery and release management practices.
- Drive continuous improvement in delivery predictability and quality through structured retrospectives, defect trend analysis, and process rigor.
4) Scope Control, Change Requests, Financial Alignment
- Define and defend scope to meet delivery commitments while balancing business priorities, risk, and regulatory requirements.
- Monitor, challenge, and resist unnecessary change requests; approve only after due diligence on value, risk, timeline, architecture fit, and funding.
- Maintain traceability of decisions and commitments; ensure stakeholder alignment on impacts to schedule, cost, and quality.
- Partner with finance/sourcing as needed to align funding, forecasting, and spend governance for assigned projects.
5) System Integrator, Contract, and Invoice Ownership
- Lead delivery through blended teams and hold system integrators accountable for quality, timelines, adherence to scope, and compliance requirements. Exhibit mastery in language on contracts to enforce accountability, validate estimates and negotiate optimized onsite / offshore working model with SIs, collaborate with sourcing on enforcing sourcing best practices.
- Own and manage key vendor deliverables and obligations including:
- Acceptance criteria and deliverable sign-offs
- Knowledge transfer and documentation expectations
- Contract execution and commercial governance (with sourcing support)
- Invoice review/approval tied to measurable progress and acceptance
- Actively manage vendor performance, risks, and dependencies—driving corrective actions when required.
6) Risk Management, Compliance, Validation, and Quality
- Evaluate and determine program/project risks proactively; define and drive mitigation plans with clear owners and due dates.
- Partner with Quality and Regulatory teams to ensure systems and changes meet applicable validation and compliance requirements.
- Ensure audit-ready delivery practices, including documentation completeness, traceability, controlled change management, and inspection readiness.
7) Deployment Readiness, Cutover, and Support Transition
- Ensure a complete deployment plan is created and validated, including cutover approach, rollback strategy, runbook readiness, operational monitoring, and hypercare model.
- Validate that documentation is created and that proper support transition occurs (KT to run teams, support model, SLAs, incident procedures).
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree and 20+ years of progressive IT experience in large, complex enterprise environments. (Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.)
- Demonstrated experience as a technical architect and delivery leader on SAP transformation initiatives (SAP S/4HANA and/or major SAP programs).
- Strong experience leading system integrators with measurable accountability for delivery outcomes, quality, and timelines.
- Proven ability to define scope, manage change control, and drive disciplined execution across build/test/deploy/hypercare.
- Experience with architecture alignment and governance across enterprise standards (integration, data, security, cloud).
- Strong communication and executive presence—able to escalate effectively with clear options, impacts, and recommendations.
Relevant domain experience (one or more):
- SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) strategy and implementation
- SAP integration patterns (APIs/IDocs/events), middleware, and data flows
- SAP security/authorizations and compliance-driven controls
- Release management, testing strategy, cutover planning, and support transition practices
Nice to Have
- Experience in medical devices, life sciences, or other regulated industries with validation expectations.
- Exposure to SAP BTP, SAP Integration Suite/CPI, Cloud ALM/Solution Manager, and SAP DevOps tooling.
- Experience partnering closely with Enterprise Architecture organizations and influencing roadmaps across a multi-team environment.
- Familiarity with master data operating models (governance, stewardship, data quality KPIs, data lifecycle controls).
Leadership Competencies
- Director-level accountability mindset (outcome ownership without direct line authority).
- Strong execution and delivery orientation with high rigor and predictable outcomes.
- Ability to balance scope discipline with business partnership and stakeholder management.
- Comfortable influencing across IT, business, vendors, and SAP ecosystem partners.
- Engineering rigor: quality-first thinking, risk management, and operational excellence.
- Clear communicator with strong governance instincts—drives transparency, accountability, and escalation when needed.
What Success Looks Like
- Assigned sub-projects (e.g., SAP MDG) deliver on time, on budget, and with expected quality—meeting architecture, compliance, and operational readiness standards.
- Scope and change are controlled; stakeholders understand tradeoffs and decisions are traceable and financially aligned.
- System integrators demonstrate strong performance with measurable accountability for deliverables, documentation, and knowledge transfer.
- Deployments are predictable: cutover plans are sound, hypercare is effective, and support transition is complete with minimal disruption.
- Risks are identified early, escalated appropriately, and mitigated proactively, resulting in stable, compliant solutions.
For Baccalaureate degrees earned outside of the United States, a degree that satisfies the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) is required.
Physical Job Requirements
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position.
The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role.
U.S. Work Authorization & Sponsorship
At Medtronic, we are committed to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and make a meaningful impact. In alignment with our enterprise-wide workforce planning approach, U.S. work authorization sponsorship (H-1B, TN, J, etc.) is offered exclusively for Principal-level roles and above, where specialized expertise aligns with long-term business needs. Roles below the Principal level require candidates to possess unrestricted U.S. work authorization at the time of hire and for the duration of employment.
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Apply only through official Medtronic channels. All legitimate Medtronic recruiting communications come from approved Medtronic platforms and official @medtronic.com email addresses.
Medtronic will never ask for payment or sensitive personal information (such as bank account or Social Security details) during early stages of the hiring process. Any such requests are not legitimate.
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If you have any questions, concerns regarding the authenticity of a communication alleged to have been made by or on behalf of Medtronic, please contact us immediately at AskHR@medtronic.com.
Benefits & Compensation
Medtronic offers a competitive Salary and flexible Benefits Package
A commitment to our employees lives at the core of our values. We recognize their contributions. They share in the success they help to create. We offer a wide range of benefits, resources, and competitive compensation plans designed to support you at every career and life stage.
This position is eligible for a short-term incentive called the Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP).This position is eligible for an annual long-term incentive plan.
The following benefits and additional compensation are available to those regular employees who work 20+ hours per week: Health, Dental and vision insurance, Health Savings Account, Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Life insurance, Long-term disability leave, Dependent daycare spending account, Tuition assistance/reimbursement, and Simple Steps (global well-being program).
The following benefits and additional compensation are available to all regular employees: Incentive plans, 401(k) plan plus employer contribution and match, Short-term disability, Paid time off, Paid holidays, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, Employee Assistance Program, Non-qualified Retirement Plan Supplement (subject to IRS earning minimums), and Capital Accumulation Plan (available to Vice Presidents and above, or subject to IRS earning minimums).
Regular employees are those who are not temporary, such as interns. Temporary employees are eligible for paid sick time, as required under applicable state law, and the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Please note some of the above benefits may not apply to workers in Puerto Rico.
Further details are available at the link below:
Medtronic benefits and compensation plans
It is the policy of Medtronic to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, Medtronic will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.
If you are applying to perform work for Medtronic, Inc. (“Medtronic”) in any position which will involve performing at least two (2) hours of work on average each week within the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, you can find here a list of all material job duties of the specific job position which Medtronic reasonably believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. Medtronic will consider for employment qualified job applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.