Associate Director, SAP and Data Ops

Company Description

Santen is a specialized company with a proud 130-year heritage focused exclusively on eye health. As a Japan-originated, global company with our footprint in over 60 countries and regions, our mission is to provide essential and significant value to patients and society through our products and services created from our expertise in ophthalmology and from the patient's perspective.

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced Associate Director, SAP and Data Ops to lead and optimize SAP ERP and Data Operations across the EMEA and North America regions. This role will be instrumental in aligning IT services with business needs, ensuring operational excellence, and delivering data-driven value through SAP and master data management solutions.

What You Will Do

• Lead SAP ERP and Data Operations services across EMEA/NA, ensuring reliability, scalability, and business alignment.
• Oversee key SAP functional domains including Finance, Supply Chain, and Quality, in close collaboration with business stakeholders.
• Manage and coach a regional team of SAP functional experts and data operations professionals.
• Govern the application lifecycle, including system upgrades, enhancements, and roadmap execution in alignment with global IT strategy.
• Act as system owner for EMEA/NA SAP ERP and ensure compliance with governance, security, and regulatory standards.
• Align closely with the Global ERP Center of Excellence and other integrated IT teams for process harmonization and solution delivery.
• Lead strategic and operational planning for SAP/Data initiatives, managing the project portfolio and prioritizing based on business value.
• Drive improvements in master data management processes and tools, ensuring data quality and integrity across systems.
• Support business adoption of SAP and Data Ops solutions by promoting process maturity and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

What You Will Bring to the Role

• 10+ years of hands-on experience managing SAP ERP systems and projects, with deep expertise in at least one functional area (Finance or Supply Chain).
• 7+ years of leadership experience, including managing cross-functional and remote teams.
• Proven track record in Data Operations governance and Master Data Management processes.
• Strong understanding of SAP technologies (e.g., S/4HANA, BW/SAC, BTP, PIPO, SolMan); experience with Semarchy is a plus.
• Ability to balance cost, value, and technical fit in solution design and decision-making.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to translate business needs into IT solutions.
• Strategic mindset with hands-on execution capability, focused on results and continuous improvement.
• Fluent English communication skills; additional languages (e.g., Japanese) are an asset.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., SAP, PMP, Prince2) and a degree in IT or Business.

Additional Information

Grow your career at Santen

A career at Santen is an opportunity to make a difference. Through our long-term vision outlined in Santen 2030, we are committed to be a Social Innovator - addressing the social and economic needs of people with visual impairments. We have team members around the world using their diverse talents to unlock new modalities and drive innovations for patient outcomes, education and treatment. At Santen, we believe in empowering all our team members with flexible ways of working and a highly inclusive work environment.

The Santen Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building diverse teams and ensuring a safe and inclusive physical and virtual workplace for every one of our team members. All employment decisions are based on business needs, role requirements and individual qualifications regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/ expression, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you require any kind of accommodation during our recruitment process, please let the recruiter from our team know.