SAP PP / Manufacturing Functional Consultant

About the role

Sopra Steria is a European leader in consulting, digital services, and software development, supporting its clients in their digital transformation through innovative and collaborative solutions. With 50,000 employees in nearly 30 countries and a revenue of €5.1 billion in 2022, we are committed to achieving sustainable results and placing people at the heart of technology.

We are seeking a highly experienced SAP PP / Manufacturing Functional Consultant with 10+ years of SAP and manufacturing experience to work onsite with our client in Kinston, USA. The consultant will act as a key interface between manufacturing business teams and SAP/IT delivery teams, working directly with production, planning, shop-floor, quality, logistics, and IT stakeholders to understand operational challenges and translate them into effective SAP solutions. This is a strongly client-facing role requiring a consultant who can independently lead business discussions, facilitate workshops, challenge requirements when appropriate, recommend practical solutions, and drive topics through design, testing, deployment, and stabilization.

Responsibilities

SAP PP & Manufacturing Functional Expertise

• Lead functional activities related to SAP Production Planning (PP) and manufacturing processes.
• Analyze current manufacturing processes and define SAP solutions aligned with operational requirements.
• Configure and support key SAP PP capabilities including:
  • Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
  • Master Production Scheduling (MPS)
  • Production Orders
  • Planned Orders
  • Bills of Material (BOM)
  • Routings / Work Centers
  • Capacity Planning
  • Shop Floor Control
  • Production Execution
  • Manufacturing Master Data
• Support end-to-end manufacturing scenarios across planning, production execution, material consumption, confirmations, and finished goods receipt.
• Ensure effective integration between SAP PP and MM, QM, EWM/WM, PM, FI/CO and other manufacturing systems.

Client & Business Engagement

• Act as a trusted functional advisor to manufacturing and business stakeholders onsite.
• Build strong working relationships with production managers, planners, shop-floor users, process owners, IT teams, and project leadership.
• Lead business workshops, process walkthroughs, requirement-gathering sessions, fit-gap assessments, and solution design discussions.
• Understand business pain points and translate operational requirements into practical SAP solutions.
• Clearly communicate SAP capabilities, constraints, alternatives, and business impacts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Challenge requirements constructively and recommend solutions based on SAP standard capabilities and manufacturing best practices.
• Drive alignment and decisions between business, functional, technical, and integration teams.

Solution Design & Delivery

• Conduct AS-IS / TO-BE process analysis and identify functional gaps.
• Translate business requirements into functional specifications, process designs, configuration requirements, and user stories.
• Work closely with SAP technical/development teams on enhancements, interfaces, reports, forms, and workflows.
• Review proposed solutions with business stakeholders and obtain functional alignment.
• Support SAP implementation, transformation, rollout, enhancement, and stabilization activities.
• Identify functional dependencies, risks, and integration impacts early and drive resolution.

Testing, Deployment & Support

• Define functional test scenarios covering end-to-end manufacturing processes.
• Lead/support Unit Testing, SIT, regression testing and UAT.
• Coordinate closely with business users during UAT and support defect analysis and resolution.
• Support cutover preparation, data validation, deployment, go-live, and hypercare activities.
• Troubleshoot production issues and perform root-cause analysis across SAP and integrated manufacturing processes.
• Provide knowledge transfer, user guidance, and functional documentation.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of overall SAP functional experience, with strong specialization in SAP PP / Production Planning and Manufacturing.
• Strong hands-on functional and configuration experience in SAP PP.
• Strong understanding of discrete manufacturing and production execution processes.
• Proven experience with MRP, production orders, BOMs, routings, work centers, capacity planning, shop-floor control, and manufacturing master data.
• Experience participating in multiple end-to-end SAP implementation, rollout, transformation, or enhancement programs.
• Strong understanding of integration between PP and MM, QM, EWM/WM, PM and FI/CO.
• Experience with SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing strongly preferred.
• Strong experience leading requirements gathering, fit-gap analysis, process-design workshops, and functional solution discussions.
• Excellent client-facing, communication, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work directly with manufacturing business teams and senior business stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently onsite and take ownership of functional topics from requirement through deployment.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Information Technology, or related discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

• SAP S/4HANA implementation or migration experience.
• Experience in aerospace, aviation, automotive, or complex industrial manufacturing.
• Experience working directly with production and shop-floor organizations.
• Knowledge of MES integration with SAP PP, particularly production order and manufacturing execution flows.
• Exposure to SAP QM and manufacturing quality processes.
• Experience with SAP Fiori applications for manufacturing.
• SAP PP / S/4HANA certification is an advantage.
• Experience working in large, global manufacturing organizations and distributed delivery models.

Skills

• SAP PP / Manufacturing expertise
• Strong client and business engagement
• Manufacturing process understanding
• SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing
• MRP / MPS
• Production Orders
• BOM / Routing / Work Centers
• Capacity Planning
• Shop Floor Control
• SAP-MES integration
• Fit-Gap Analysis