Senior SAP Specialist - Payroll (People Tech)

Role Description

At Booking.com, data drives decisions, technology is at the core, and innovation is everywhere. Through its products, partners and people, Booking.com makes it easier for everyone to experience the world.

Role Overview

In People Tech, the Senior Technical Specialist SAP HR S4HANA works on multiple projects and configuration changes on SAP S4HANA. The Senior Technical Specialist researches, designs, documents, maintains and implements new functionality in People Tech, focusing on user experience, scalable design, legal requirements and best practices. The role is responsible for implementing scalable and secure configurations, fixing issues raised by business owners, and proactively monitoring new features to identify and promote changes that improve system design and user experience.

Key Job Responsibilities and Duties

• This role sits within People Tech and is responsible for leading, implementing enhancements and supporting SAP S4HANA Personnel Administration, Time Management and Payroll to configure the platform to achieve measurable benefits.
• Act as the technology expert to provide solutions to People Services, Financial Systems, Risk teams and other relevant stakeholders.
• Review project designs, perform impact assessments, and own accountability for solutions implemented for any cross-functional or delivery impact.
• Partner with stakeholders such as Financial Systems, IT Services, Security & Privacy teams, technology implementation partners and technical vendors to implement technology solutions.
• Participate in SAP S4HANA technology functional development by being an active member of the technology community, working closely with technical vendors, tapping into customer networks to bring in learnings and best practices, joining user groups, and collaborating in forums.
• Review and coordinate SAP S4HANA support packages, releases and release testing, working closely with Financial Systems, technical vendors and technology partners.
• Own end-to-end solutions for functional requirements after impact assessment for design, architecture and user experience.
• Perform unit testing, regression testing and support UAT for both projects and support.
• For incident management, perform root cause analysis for incidents and propose long-term scalable fixes. Ensure payroll processes are completed with no technical errors or inconsistencies.
• Ensure system stability, enhancement delivery and process optimization for SAP HR.
• Manage compliance activities such as SOx ITGC controls, data privacy and standards, and IT change management activities for SAP HR S4HANA.
• Maintain documentation for configuration designs for implemented modules and provide input for business manuals.
• Maintain the SAP HR tenant strategy, release management and system upgrades in close collaboration with Financial Systems.
• Coach and mentor technical specialists in the team by ensuring solutions are scalable, delivered on time and aligned with SAP S4HANA best practices.
• Collaborate with colleagues while demonstrating the Booking values “Think Customer First”, “Succeeding together”, “Own It”, “Learn Forever” and “Do the Right Thing”.

Role Qualifications and Requirements

• Strong technical background and a Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or similar.
• Minimum 5-8 years of experience in SAP S4HANA Personnel Administration, Time Management, Payroll (Netherlands or UK expert), Benefits, Authorization Management and Reporting.
• Experience translating complex business requirements into technical design, unit testing, UAT and regression testing for SAP HR system changes.
• Expertise in payroll schemas, PCRs, wage types, retroactive accounting, tax calculations, SAP HR patch updates and year-end tax updates.
• Basic understanding of the integration landscape in SAP S4HANA architecture, Workday, Payroll, Benefits and SAP Finance.
• Experience in HR reporting tools such as SAP Ad hoc query and SAP HR Reporting.
• Basic understanding of SAP HR security roles and authorizations, GDPR, SOx compliance and legal regulations for data security.
• SAP S4HANA Payroll certification is a bonus.
• Strong problem-solving skills and hands-on experience with SAP Notes and system debugging.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, escalation management, strong stakeholder management, coaching and mentoring.