Lead Engineer - SAP Data & Analytics

Role Title: Lead Engineer - SAP Data & Analytics

Location: Chennai

We are one purpose-led global organisation. The enablers and innovators, ensuring that we can fulfil our mission to push the boundaries of science and discover and develop life-changing medicines. We take pride in working close to the cause, opening the locks to save lives, ultimately making a massive difference to the outside world.

AstraZeneca (AZ) is in a period of strong growth and our employees have a united purpose to make a difference to patients around the world who need both our medicines and the ongoing developments from our science. In this journey AZ must continue to work across borders and with partners and new colleagues in a fast and seamless way. The ambition, size and complexity of the organisation, coupled with the opportunities afforded by new technology, has led the Board to approve a large-scale transformation programme – Axial.

The Axial Programme will be powered by S/4HANA a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system which will be implemented right across the organisation and will provide our business with standardised processes, improved financial management, common data and real time reporting, transforming the way we work through our entire supply chain - from bench to patient.

The new system will be used by more than 20,000 employees daily, is foundational to all AZ entities and is central to most core business processes. This is a once in a generation programme for AstraZeneca and will shape our ways of working globally for many years to come.

The Axial programme needs the best talent to work in it. Whether it’s the technical skills, business understanding or change leadership, we want to ensure we have the strongest team deployed throughout. We are aiming to deliver a world class change programme that leaves all employees with a fuller understanding of their role in the end-to-end nature of our global company. This programme will provide AZ with a competitive edge, to the benefit of our employees, customers and patients.

What you’ll do

The SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and SAP Datasphere Lead will be responsible for the end-to-end analytics and planning landscape, guiding solution strategy, architecture, and delivery across reporting, planning, and data integration. This role leads the design of governed data models in Datasphere and robust SAC solutions (stories, planning, and applications), ensures secure and performant integrations with SAP and non-SAP sources, and drives protocols, standards, and operational excellence. The Lead will partner with Finance and Operations teams to translate business needs into scalable solutions, supervise a small delivery team/vendors, and establish a roadmap aligned to enterprise data and analytics goals.

Essential for the role

• 12–15 years of relevant analytics/data experience, with at least 2–3 years in a SAP SAC/Datasphere-focused role leading solution delivery.
• Hands-on design of spaces, connections, semantic models, fact/dimension modelling, associations, hierarchies, measures, and governance; strong performance optimization and cost management.
• Validated, hands-on experience designing, building, and optimizing ABAP CDS Views in S/4HANA contexts, including annotations for analytics, exposure to OData, join strategies, and performance tuning.
• Live/acquired connectivity across S/4HANA, SAP Datasphere, and non-SAP sources; security/SSO, scheduling, data quality, and transport management.
• Building SAC models, dimensions, hierarchies, currencies, versions; developing data actions, sophisticated formulas, allocations, currency conversion, planning calendars, workflows, and driver-based planning.
• Designing high-quality stories, input templates, analytics designer apps, scripting, and guided workflows; focus on usability, governance, and performance.
• Role/team design, data access control (DAC), auditability, version management, and compliance with internal policies.
• Owning roadmaps, backlog, and release cycles; handling vendors and L2/L3 support; establishing standards, naming conventions, and guidelines; incident/problem/change management.
• Defining test strategies, UAT, performance tests, and defect management; producing architecture diagrams, solution design documents, runbooks, and user guides.
• Working with senior business partners to translate requirements, prioritize value, and drive adoption; good communication and influencing skills.
• Good interpersonal skills, strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, and ability to thrive in an agile, dynamic environment.
• Energetic, organized, and self-motivated approach to work.
• Fluency in business English.

Desirable for the role

• Exposure to FP&A processes (budgeting, forecasting, scenario planning), S/4HANA Finance, PAPM, or legacy BPC migrations.
• Query pushdown strategies, partitioning, caching, and optimization of data actions and story responsiveness.
• Experience with SQL scripting, data pipelines/ETL, CDC, and orchestration across hybrid landscapes; understanding of slowly changing dimensions and surrogate key management.
• Practical use of SAC Smart Predict, forecasting, and augmentation for analytics and planning.
• Building business models, publishing governed datasets, and catalog/lineage practices.
• Developing training, adoption plans, and coaching for planners/reporting users; establishing communities of practice.
• SAP SAC, SAP Datasphere certifications.
• Prior experience leading multi-functional teams and vendors, mentoring, and establishing a high-performing delivery culture.
• Advanced coding and scripting abilities in SQL, Python, and JavaScript for dashboard customization and data automation.

Why AstraZeneca?

At Astrazeneca we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work. Where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and unleash your ambitious spirit. There’s no better place to make a difference to medicine, patients and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration, and always committed to lifelong learning, growth and development. We’re on an exciting journey to pioneer the future of healthcare.

So, what’s next?

• Are you already imaging yourself joining our team? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you.
• Are you ready to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the table? Hard-working! We have one seat available and hope its yours
• If you’re curious to know more then we welcome your application no later than

Where can I find out more?

Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/

Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/

Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.