Ahold Delhaize USA is looking for a Director I, SAP Architect to serve as the solution architect for our SAP S/4HANA Retail Spine transformation program. You will be responsible for designing, implementing, and governing comprehensive, integrated enterprise solutions that leverage SAP technologies, best-of-breed applications, and custom-built capabilities to achieve our business transformation objectives. This strategic leadership role owns the end-to-end solution architecture spanning SAP S/4HANA core modules and integrating platforms.
What You'll Do
- Define and continuously evolve the end-to-end enterprise solution architecture for the Retail transformation, spanning SAP S/4HANA core modules, best-of-breed platforms, custom applications, integration layers, data and analytics platforms, and supporting cloud infrastructure.
- Establish architecture principles, standards, and patterns governing SAP vs. best-of-breed vs. custom solutions, integration approaches, data and master data strategy, cloud deployment models, security architecture, and performance, scalability, and resilience requirements.
- Lead major technology selection decisions, including vendor evaluations, proof-of-concepts, build vs. buy analysis, total cost of ownership, and risk assessment—presenting clear recommendations and trade-offs to executive leadership.
- Partner with Enterprise Architecture to ensure alignment with long-term technology strategy, compliance with governance frameworks, and adherence to architecture standards through review boards and continuous improvement practices.
- Architect end-to-end SAP S/4HANA Retail solutions across FI/CO, MM, SD, Retail, TM, and CAR, including detailed system design, configuration strategy, and extension patterns.
- Lead architectural trade-off decisions between embedded capabilities and external best-of-breed platforms, ensuring clean-core alignment and long-term maintainability.
- Define integration strategies between SAP and other key systems such as Manhattan WMS, RELEX, POS, eCommerce, and omnichannel platforms.
- Establish hybrid solution patterns that balance SAP standard capabilities with specialized retail platforms and ensure cohesive user experience and data consistency across systems.
- Ensure non-functional architecture standards are met across all solutions, including scalability, high availability, performance benchmarking, disaster recovery, observability/monitoring, and alignment with enterprise cloud and security frameworks.
- Establish and enforce architecture governance, including Architecture Review Board oversight, design authority, milestone-based technical reviews, exception management, and formal documentation of key architecture decisions and trade-offs.
- Develop and maintain core architecture artifacts, including current- and future-state blueprints, solution and interface design documents, architecture decision records, and operational runbooks to support implementation and production teams.
- Drive architecture quality and continuous improvement through compliance reviews, post-implementation retrospectives, technical debt management, performance and availability metrics, and reuse of proven patterns across deployment waves.
- Ensure ongoing technology currency and platform evolution by assessing SAP innovations, aligning with roadmaps of integrating applications, planning technology refresh cycles, evaluating emerging technologies through proofs-of-concept, and maintaining strategic vendor partnerships.
- Build and lead a high-performing team of domain solution architects across Finance, Merchandising, Supply Chain, and Store Operations, with clear ownership of SAP S/4HANA Retail and integrated best-of-breed platforms.
- Provide technical leadership, design oversight, and mentorship to ensure cohesive, standards-aligned solutions; establish career paths, performance management, and an architecture community of practice.
- Define clear operating models between architects, functional leads, and System Integrator teams—ensuring proper design authority, alignment to standards, and effective escalation of complex design decisions.
- Foster a culture of architectural excellence and innovation through design forums, targeted upskilling, proofs-of-concept, and external industry engagement.
- Partner with executive and business leadership to translate strategy into technology roadmaps, present architectural vision and trade-offs, and support investment decisions with business cases and risk assessments.
- Lead solution design discussions, fit-gap analysis, and trade-off decisions across SAP standard, best-of-breed, and custom solutions—ensuring alignment between business priorities, cost, and technical sustainability.
- Communicate architecture direction broadly across IT and business stakeholders through structured updates, design reviews, and governance forums.
- Manage strategic relationships with SAP, Manhattan, Relex, cloud providers, and System Integrators to ensure roadmap alignment, architectural compliance, and long-term value realization.
- Provide architecture leadership across the full implementation lifecycle—from high-level design through build, testing, deployment, and hypercare.
Technical Stack
- SAP S/4HANA
- SAP BTP
- Manhattan WMS
- Relex
- Blue Yonder
- o9
Team & Environment
You will build and lead a team of domain solution architects across Finance, Merchandising, Supply Chain, and Store Operations. This role reports directly into the Technology Transformation executive leadership structure.
Work Mode
This is a hybrid position based in Salisbury, North Carolina, at 2110 Executive Drive.
