SAP Chief Solution Architect - Chief

Requisition ID # 174151 

Job Category: Information Technology 

Job Level: Director/Chief

Business Unit: Technology & Security

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview

Technology & Security designs, develops, operates, and maintains PG&E’s technology, telecommunica-tions, and security capabilities that enable the company to meet its commitment to providing safe, reliable, and affordable service to customers.

Technology & Security partners with the business to strengthen capabilities through the development of new functionality, the implementation of modern and secure technologies, and the continuous improvement of systems and services. By reducing risk, increasing productivity, managing costs, and enabling organizational effectiveness, Technology & Security helps advance PG&E’s strategic priorities through trusted, innovative, and secure solutions.

Position Summary

The SAP Chief Technical Architect is the technology futurist and chief engineering authority for the Propel Program. This role defines what SAP capabilities PG&E should adopt, when to adopt them, how to govern them, and how to ensure the technical foundation is ready for future releases.

The role owns the long-term SAP technology strategy and future-state architecture across SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Technology Platform, Integration Suite, Datasphere, Business Data Cloud, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Build, HANA Cloud, SAP AI and Joule, security, development, data, integration, observability, and platform services. It aligns SAP strategy with enterprise strategy and ensures solutions are scalable, secure, operable, cost-conscious, upgrade-ready, and consistent with Clean Core principles.

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. This Chief will be assigned to PG&E’s headquarters in Oakland, California.

Reporting

This SAP Chief Technical Architect reports directly to the Senior Director, IT—SAP Technology Enablement & Operations.  This is an engineering executive, high-level individual contributor role that leads through technical authority, influence, standards, governance, and cross-functional coordination. The SAP Chief Technical Architect provides functional direction to architects and technical teams and acts as the escalation point and tie-breaker for high-impact technology decisions.

Job Responsibilities 

The SAP Chief Technical Architect addresses complex issues that span the enterprise. managing projects or initiatives that are high complexity and significant risk. The Chief works with Senior Management to guide strategies and decisions.  “Propel” is the enterprise-wide technical transformation project.

• Own Propel's 12-, 24-, and 36-month SAP technology roadmap, including target-state architecture, lifecycle transitions, sequencing, dependencies, investment needs, and retirement of legacy capabilities.
• Keep SAP strategy aligned with PG&E enterprise strategy, business priorities, security requirements, architecture standards, operating-model needs, financial objectives, and SAP product direction.
• Evaluate emerging SAP capabilities and recommend what to adopt, when to adopt it, and what not to adopt based on business value, maturity, risk, cost, security, operational readiness, and release timing.
• Own the SAP innovation backlog and governed POC pipeline for generative and agentic AI, Joule, SAP Knowledge Graph, SAP Build Code, Event Mesh, Business Data Cloud, SAP Graph, advanced observability, and Cloud ALM. Define success criteria and scale, defer, redesign, or stop recommendations.
• Own Propel's SAP technical governance framework and architecture decision process. Establish reference architectures, standards, reusable patterns, guardrails, decision records, architecture signoffs, and exception controls.
• Define and govern BTP platform architecture, account and subaccount principles, environments, entitlements, connectivity, security, service adoption, lifecycle management, observability, support readiness, capacity, and cost optimization.
• Guide adoption of Integration Suite, API Management, Event Mesh, Build Work Zone, Build Process Automation, Build Code, Business Application Studio, HANA Cloud, AI Core, AI Launchpad, and Joule Foundation.
• Own future-state integration architecture across SAP, MuleSoft, legacy platforms, cloud applications, GIS, OpenText, SailPoint, HR ecosystems, and enterprise services. Drive API-first, event-driven, reusable patterns and reduce point-to-point integrations.
• Set the direction for SAP data, reporting, and analytics, including the transition path for Datasphere and Business Data Cloud, HANA Cloud, enterprise data platforms, semantic models, data products, data quality, lineage, access, reuse, and lifecycle controls.
• Own the roadmap for SAP Cloud ALM, monitoring, observability, test management, change control, release management, business-process and integration monitoring, technology health dashboards, and operational readiness.
• Lead cross-domain readiness for Propel Release 2 and future releases, moving foundational work left across architecture, data, interfaces, environments, security, testing, monitoring, and operations.
• Lead data pull-forward, including discovery, profiling, cleansing, quality assessment, mapping dependencies, mock loads, conversion rehearsals, defect closure, and readiness reviews.
• Maintain program-level technical risk and debt registers. Identify lifecycle, scalability, resiliency, security, upgrade, and supportability risks early and drive remediation or retirement roadmaps.
• Advise Propel and PG&E Technology leadership, Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Operations, SAP, and system integrators on technology direction, investments, architecture trade-offs, innovation, release risk, and sustainability.
• Provide functional technical direction and mentoring across BTP, integration, data, development and extensibility, Basis and platform engineering, security, Cloud ALM, observability, governance, and innovation POCs.
• Hold delivery partners accountable for architecture quality, standards compliance, reusable assets, documentation, knowledge transfer, operational readiness, and sustainable engineering practices.

Background Qualifications

Minimum

• BA/BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business or related field or equivalent experience 
• 12 years in IT
• 10 years of solution architecture and project implementation experience.
• Demonstrated leadership across multiple SAP architecture domains, including S/4HANA, BTP, integration, data and analytics, development, security, platform engineering, application lifecycle management, and operations.
• Experience defining target-state architectures, multi-year roadmaps, transition plans, architecture standards, technology governance, and investment recommendations for large SAP transformations.
• Experience influencing architects, engineers, delivery teams, executives, vendors, and system integrators and communicating complex technology decisions, risk, cost, and trade-offs to senior leadership.
• Experience providing direction to a team of technology architects

Desired

• Master's degree in a related discipline.
• Deep expertise with SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP, with experience in Integration Suite and one or more of Datasphere, Business Data Cloud, Cloud ALM, SAP Build, HANA Cloud, SAP AI Core, AI Launchpad, or Joule.
• Experience with Clean Core, side-by-side extensibility, API-first integration, event-driven architecture, semantic modeling, data products, cloud operating models, and complementary enterprise platforms.
• Relevant architecture, SAP, cloud, security, or IT service management certifications; experience in a regulated, asset-intensive, or utility environment.

Leadership Qualities

PG&E expects its leaders to conduct themselves with the highest ethics and integrity and to embody specific leadership qualities.

Strategic Mindset

• Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
• Operates effectively, even when things are not certain, or the way forward is not clear.

A Leader in the Community and Industry

• Effectively builds formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization.
• Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.

Demonstrates Safety Leadership

• A safety champion in words and deeds with respect to both employee and public safety.
• Creating and maintaining a speak up culture free of retaliation.

Influences and Inspires

• Using various- communications that convey a clear understanding of the needs of different audiences.
• Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related dynamics.

Optimizes Team Performance

• Building teams with a strong identity that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Creating a climate where people are developed and motivated to do their best to help the organization.

Values Inclusion and Respects Individual Differences

• Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.

Fiscally Responsible

• Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.

Leads Ethically and in a Compliant Manner

• Sponsoring and sustaining a high integrity speak-up corporate culture which prioritizes safety, compliance, and ethics.
• Building on necessary level of industry, company, and subject-matter expertise, including laws and regulations.

Provides a High Level of Customer Service

• Building strong customer relationships and delivering hometown, customer-centric solutions.

Compensation

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job. The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, and internal equity. 

We estimate the successful candidate hired into this role will be placed within the reasonable compensation range of $195K to $264K.  The decision will be made on a case-by-case basis.  This leadership role is also eligible for an annual Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP) award, as well as the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) grant.