City of Palo Alto

  • Senior SAP Solution Architect (Senior Technologist)

  • City of Palo Alto
  • Palo Alto, California United States View Map

Job Description

Description

The Position
The Senior SAP Solution Architect (Senior Technologist) will provide hands-on support across Finance, Procurement, Inventory, Warehouse Management, Funds Management, and related business processes. Responsibilities include coordinating and facilitating activities among IT, internal departments and divisions, and vendors to support the integration of Citywide technology systems. The position will also serve as a resource to internal departments in the planning, development, and management of enterprise systems and workplace automation. This Senior Technologist role may supervise lower-level IT staff.

Some key responsibilities include:
  • Bridge organizational silos by designing and implementing integrated solutions across SAP FI/CO, MM, andPM modules.
  • Optimize business processes by analyzing complex business requirements and translating them into SAP Functional Specification Designs (FSDs).
  • Provide techno-functional leadership by delivering expert guidance on cross-functional business processes (e.g., Order-to-Cash and/or Procure-to-Pay).
  • Collaborate with IT and business teams to ensure seamless integration and end-to-end process alignment across SAP modules.
  • Resolve high-priority, cross-module issues and implement improvements to enhance system performance and reliability.
  • Support S/4HANA migration initiatives and help stabilize the post-migration S/4HANA environment.
  • Troubleshoot and debug SAP processes, related business applications, and system interfaces.
  • Manage complex IT projects involving enterprise applications, including planning, coordination, and delivery.
  • Develop end-user training materials and support the development of test scripts and test execution activities.
  • Participate in on-call support , including availability for 24/7 weekend and holiday work when required

Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate will have extensive, progressively responsible experience in programming, business process requirements analysis, data processing, systems analysis, and IT project management. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential, given the need to interact with and report to professionals at all levels, both inside and outside the Department. A strong understanding of how Finance, Procurement, Inventory/Warehouse, and other business functions integrate with one another, as well as how SAP supports end-to-end business processes, is essential. This position will serve as a key bridge between business users, IT, and technical teams, translating business requirements into effective SAP solutions.

The successful candidate will be comfortable analyzing complex business issues, troubleshooting SAP processes, developing functional specifications, and coordinating testing and implementation activities. The role will support the City’s ongoing SAP S/4HANA transformation, including process improvement through the use of SAP Signavio, Fiori adoption, integrations, reporting, and emerging SAP AI capabilities. Strong collaboration, documentation, and training skills are essential, as this individual will work closely with multiple departments and divisions. This is an important enterprise-level role that combines deep functional expertise with a broad cross-functional perspective to help the City maximize the value of its SAP investment.

Compensation (MGMT): Comprehensive compensation plan. To learn more, click here.

Benefits: The City offers a fantastic benefits package including:
  • Schedule: Option of a 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off
  • Professional development: Tuition reimbursement, leadership training, and career growth opportunities
  • Education benefits: Potential enrollment for dependents in the Palo Alto Unified School District (pilot program, subject to change)
  • Childcare support: $10,000 in childcare subsidies (pilot program, subject to change)
  • Commute benefits: Incentives for walking, biking and taking transit to work. The City of Palo Alto participates in the Clipper Bay Pass program (Employee Cost: $5 per month).
  • Defined-Benefit Retirement Plan: with competitive pension benefits


Essential Duties

Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Provides project management leadership for specific automated systems projects, which includes: collecting and analyzing business requirements; proposing solutions and alternatives; defining application development scopes of work and tasks; project budget creation and tracking, assessing user needs; identifying appropriate tools to meet user needs; interviewing internal customers; preparing bid specifications; evaluating bids; coordinating activities with external vendors and internal customers; and/or, performing other related activities.
  • Evaluates, designs, programs, implements, tests, tunes, and maintains Information Technology infrastructure, websites, GIS applications, software applications, back-end and front-end servers, hardware/network, database creation/administration, telecommunication systems, and/or other related items, day-to-day systems administration including data storage and system back-ups.
  • Provides consulting assistance and services to application users; suggests, designs, tests, implements, troubleshoots, and evaluates technology and business process efficiencies and solutions.
  • Provides advanced end-user support, including researching user complaints, researching issues, answering technical questions, and/or assisting with application revisions or problems.
  • Maintains a variety of records and/or documentation for assigned area of responsibility. Operates and administers Information Technology or telecommunications management tools.
  • Develops, prepares, and facilitates end-user training.

To review full job description, click here .

Minimum Qualifications

Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge and skills, which would typically be acquired through:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology or a related field; and, five years of progressively responsible, professional Information Technology experience; or,
  • An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform a particular subset of the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.


Licensing Requirements:

Depending on area of assignment, some positions may require:
  • Valid California Driver’s License;

  • One or more certifications related to specific technical discipline.


Supplemental Information

The Selection Process:
  • Recruitment status notifications will be sent via email or text (please enroll in text alerts when applying).
  • Updates can also be found on your governmentjobs.com account.
  • Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time.
  • The screening process for this position may include a virtual recorded interview and/or panel interviews preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.
  • More than one position may be filled through this posting.

Our online application system is provided by NeoGov. If you have problems while applying online, please contact NeoGov's Live Applicant Support at (855) 524-5627 between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday.

The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

See our Benefits at a Glance Bookletfor more details.
Learn more about our Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) between the City and its bargaining units, by clicking HERE.

Closing Date/Time: 9/13/2026 11:59 PM Pacific
City of Palo Alto

City of Palo Alto

650-329-2376

The Community


The birthplace of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, is a community of approximately 68,000 residents and nearly 100,000 jobs. Located on the mid-Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, Palo Alto is recognized worldwide as a leader in cutting-edge technology, medicine, and green innovation. The community's treelined streets and historic buildings reflect its California heritage, and, at the same time, many world-class businesses maintain or started offices here, such as Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Amazon, Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard, Houzz, Rivian, SAP and SAP Ariba, Tesla, and Varian Medical Systems. Numerous start-ups are also at home in Palo Alto, arguably making it the start-up capital of the world. Stanford University is foundational to the history and prestige of Palo Alto, reflected in the community's dedication to lifelong learning. Stanford's cultural and educational offerings are integral to the vibrancy and charm of Palo Alto, while the City's exceptional K-12 school district ranks among the top public-school systems in the country. With more than 50% of adult residents holding a graduate degree or higher, Palo Alto is frequently listed as one of the most educated cities in the nation. Palo Alto boasts a genuine sense of community and an active citizenry with strong environmental values. Beautiful neighborhoods are complemented by vibrant commercial corridors and a bustling economy featuring premium shopping and dining options. Excellent healthcare facilities, performing arts, and diverse recreational opportunities are some of the community's incredibly desirable and cherished amenities. To learn more, visit https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/City-Manager/Latest-News

City Government

Palo Alto is a full-service charter city with a council-manager form of government. The seven-member City Council is elected at large, and the City Council annually selects the Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its members. The Mayor and City Council appoint the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Auditor. The City Manager is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the City. Palo Alto is organized into 15 departments/offices with 1,093.10 authorized positions in FY 2025. There is also a FY 2025 capital budget of $316.2 million. Palo Alto owns and operates its own utilities, including electricity (carbon-neutral), gas, water, wastewater, and an expanding fiber network. This dynamic municipal environment ensures an ever-engaging platform for unique problem-solving and advances new initiatives, including sustainability, broadband, and effective service delivery. Community assets also include five libraries, 36 parks, five community centers, a museum and zoo, youth centers, a general aviation airport, an 18-hole golf course, a regional water treatment plant, and wildland open space preserves at the San Francisco Bay and in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains offering 41 miles of walking/biking trails in addition to its police, fire, and ambulance services. Palo Alto has long been a leader in sustainability, and the City's ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals are part of what sets it apart. Since the City's first Climate Protection Plan was passed in 2007, Palo Alto has set goals that exceed State and Federal targets. Today, the City's goal to reduce emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2030 (the "80x30" goal) and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 guides sustainability efforts. An award-winning City, Palo Alto is recognized nationally as innovative and well-managed. City services and performance also receive impressive marks from community members in the Palo Alto Community Survey.

Many of those ratings put City programs and services in the highest percentiles among the hundreds of benchmark cities. Palo Alto makes decisions through comprehensive processes and proactively seeks to involve its extremely informed, educated, and engaged residents. Projects are naturally a cooperative effort among the City Council, Boards, Commissions, Committees, engaged residents, neighborhoods, businesses, property owners, and staff.

Join an Award Winning Team 

Palo Alto is an award-winning City recognized nationwide as innovative and well-managed. Palo Alto is one of a small number of California cities with a AAA bond rating. Recently, Palo Alto became one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by Livability.com. It's the only city to receive the Platinum Beacon Award in sustainability best practices by California’s Institute for Local Government. We offer a variety of career paths that relate to building and improving communities. The City has fourteen departments employing 1,000 full-time staff. Police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and building inspectors keep us safe. Engineers and public works staff build and re-build the physical infrastructure. City planners help envision and shape future community growth. Recreation, arts and library professionals enhance community life. Utilities provides electric, gas, water, sewer and other services. Internal services departments help manage, staff, and protect the City.

Want to learn more about our benefits? Learn more by reviewing our "Benefits at a Glance Booklet."

Contact Us

Phone: 650-329-2376   

Email: [email protected]   

Location: City Hall, 1st Floor | 250 Hamilton Ave 94301 | View Map

 

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