Senior IT Manager - SAP Global Template & Integration Manager

Senior IT Manager - SAP Global Template & Integration Manager - NSK Americas

The Company

NSK is a global manufacturer of ball and roller bearings, linear motion technology, automotive components, and steering systems with both domestic and overseas manufacturing. NSK also offers a full range of services including reconditioning, ball screw repair, product integration, application engineering, and predictive & preventative maintenance and reliability services. NSK's products and solutions are everywhere where things are in motion - even under the toughest conditions. NSK's high-precision rolling bearings are used in wind turbines and machine tools, linear components are found in production lines, while our automotive components are installed in the vehicles of almost every well-known automaker. 

The Senior IT Manager - SAP Global Template & Integration Manager Role

The SAP Global Template & Integration Manager will serve as the primary integration point between NSK Americas, NSK Japan, and the external partners supporting NSK's global SAP S/4HANA implementation. This position will ensure that regional requirements, global-template standards, technical dependencies, and project decisions are clearly understood and coordinated across all parties. The role will help project leaders to evaluate alternatives, understand impacts and risks, and make timely, well-informed decisions. This is a senior leadership and integration position, not solely a traditional Project Management Office, functional consulting, or technical SAP role.

Responsibilities 

Global Template Alignment 

• Ensure that the Americas implementation remains aligned with NSK's global SAP template, standards, and design principles. 
• Build a strong understanding of the global template and communicate its requirements to regional business and IT teams. 
• Identify conflicts between global standards and regional business, operational, legal, or regulatory requirements. 
• Coordinate the evaluation and resolution of global-template deviations and local requirements. 
• Ensure approved decisions and changes are reflected in process designs, system configurations, project plans, and documentation. 

Program Integration 

• Serve as the central coordination point among NSK Americas, NSK Japan, implementation partners, project leadership, and workstream teams.
• Coordinate cross-functional dependencies involving business processes, system configuration, interfaces, data migration, testing, training, infrastructure, security, and change management.
• Ensure decisions within one workstream are evaluated for potential impacts on other workstreams, countries, and project deliverables.
• Identify communication, ownership, and coordination gaps before they affect project milestones.
• Promote consistent understanding of priorities, responsibilities, deliverables, and deadlines.

Decision Support

• Help project leaders define issues clearly and identify the decisions required. 
• Prepare decision materials summarizing options, benefits, risks, costs, dependencies, and business impacts. 
• Provide objective recommendations based on global-template alignment, business needs, project risk, and implementation feasibility. 
• Facilitate cross-functional discussions and decision-making meetings.
• Confirm decision ownership and ensure decisions are completed within the required timeframe. 
• Escalate unresolved or high-impact decisions through the appropriate governance structure. 

Governance & Risk Management 

• Support the implementation and continuous improvement of the SAP program governance model. 
• Maintain alignment among the RACI matrix, RAID log, Decision log, Action Tracker, and escalation process. 
• Monitor critical risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies, and decisions.
• Ensure decisions and approvals are documented, communicated, and incorporated into project execution. 
• Provide project leadership and the Steering Committee with clear summaries of major risks, decisions, and recommended actions.
• Support compliance with NSK project standards, internal controls, and approval requirements.

Partner & Stakeholder Management

• Build effective working relationships with NSK business teams, regional IT, NSK Japan, and implementation partners.
• Represent NSK's interests independently while maintaining constructive relationships with external partners.
• Challenge project assumptions, recommendations, estimates, and proposed solutions when necessary.
• Clarify responsibilities and resolve disagreements among internal teams and implementation partners.
• Reduce communication barriers associated with language, culture, time zones, and different organizational structures.
• Promote transparency, accountability, and collaboration throughout the program. 

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field.
• Significant experience supporting or leading large-scale SAP implementation programs.
• Experience with SAP S/4HANA and global-template-based implementations.
• Broad knowledge of integrated enterprise processes across finance, sales, logistics, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain planning, or data management. 
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams, implementation partners, and international stakeholders.
• Strong experience with program governance, decision management, risk management, and escalation processes.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex issues and present clear options and recommendations to senior leaders.
• Strong facilitation, negotiation, conflict-resolutions, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work effectively across cultures, organizations, countries, and time zones.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Japanese companies or Japan-based teams.
• Experience connecting regional implementations with global SAP programs.
• Experience working with multiple SAP implementation partners within the same program.
• Knowledge of SAP Activate or comparable enterprise implementation methodologies.
• Experience with organizational change management, business transformation, or process standardization.
• PMP, SAP, or similar professional certification. 

Work Environment

• Hybrid opportunity reporting to the Ann Arbor Headquarters or other company facilities.
• May require travel between facilities, sister companies, suppliers, and customers.
• On-call support may be required during critical periods. 

Featured Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability 
• Flexible Spending Account
• Matching 401(k)
• Bonus Plan
• Generous vacation and holidays 

NSK is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

VEVRAA Federal Contractor