SAP Basis Lead Engineer E3

We’re looking for an experienced Senior SAP Basis Engineer to join the Core Banking Enablement value stream within Core Banking CIO and lead the evolution of Nationwide’s business-critical SAP platforms. You’ll combine deep hands-on SAP Basis and HANA expertise with technical and people leadership, shaping platform direction, driving transformation initiatives and developing a high-performing engineering team.

You’ll lead major initiatives across our SAP estate, including migrations, upgrades, platform modernisation and the transition from SAP ECC to S/4HANA. You’ll provide technical leadership across SAP Basis and HANA database engineering, ensuring our platforms remain secure, resilient, high-performing and able to support Nationwide’s critical Core Banking services.

As a trusted technical authority, you’ll influence architecture and engineering decisions, establish technical standards and improve how platform change is designed and delivered. You’ll champion automation, infrastructure as code, observability and standardised engineering practices, helping deliver change more safely, consistently and efficiently across multiple SAP landscapes.

Alongside your technical responsibilities, you’ll line manage and develop a team of SAP Basis/HANA engineers. Through a player-coach approach, you’ll provide direction, coaching and technical guidance while creating an environment focused on accountability, collaboration and engineering excellence.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, based at either our Swindon, Bournemouth, Northampton or London office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here. 

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll lead the technical direction and evolution of Nationwide’s SAP Basis and HANA platforms, providing hands-on leadership across complex migrations, upgrades, system conversions and S/4HANA implementations. You’ll act as the senior escalation point for significant technical challenges and ensure platform decisions support resilience, security, performance and long-term strategic goals.

You’ll drive the adoption of platform-engineering practices across the team, using Ansible to implement infrastructure as code, automate installations and configuration, and standardise deployments across multiple SAP landscapes. You’ll improve ways of working through reusable engineering patterns, technical standards, proactive monitoring, observability and greater automation across the platform lifecycle.

Working with architects, infrastructure teams, SAP Security, application specialists and delivery teams, you’ll shape technical solutions and lead major initiatives through design, build, testing and implementation. You’ll also line manage SAP Basis engineers, setting clear direction, prioritising work and supporting their technical and professional development.

About you

We’re looking for a senior engineer with deep technical expertise across SAP Basis, S/4HANA and HANA database technologies, together with a proven record of delivering complex platform transformation. You’ll understand how SAP applications, databases, operating systems, infrastructure, security and cloud services come together to form reliable, scalable and well-engineered platforms.

You’ll be passionate about improving how SAP platforms are engineered and managed. This will include increasing automation, simplifying processes, strengthening resilience and security, and developing the capability required to support Nationwide’s future SAP and S/4HANA roadmap. You will have experience of the below: 

• SAP Basis, HANA and S/4HANA leadership: Extensive hands-on experience engineering large, complex and business-critical SAP landscapes, with deep expertise across SAP Basis, S/4HANA and HANA database technologies. You’ll be able to set technical direction, establish engineering standards and act as the senior escalation point for technical challenges.
• SAP Implementations and migrations: Proven experience leading complex SAP installations, upgrades, migrations and system conversions, including ECC-to-S/4HANA transformation using Software Update Manager, Database Migration Option and related migration approaches.
• Platform engineering, automation and cloud: Experience applying platform-engineering principles within SAP environments, including Ansible, infrastructure as code, automated installations, configuration management and standardised deployments across multiple landscapes. You’ll also understand on-premises, cloud and hybrid SAP infrastructure models.
• Resilience, security and observability: Strong experience engineering secure, resilient and high-performing SAP platforms, including HANA System Replication, high availability, disaster recovery, backup and recovery, performance optimisation, monitoring and observability.
• People leadership and line management: Proven experience line managing and developing engineers through objective setting, workload prioritisation, coaching, mentoring, capability development and performance management.

• Stakeholder and delivery leadership: Ability to work confidently with senior stakeholders, architects and delivery teams to translate complex SAP platform change into clear plans, decisions and outcomes.

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind

• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand

• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development

• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 25 days holiday, pro rata

• Private medical insurance

• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement

• Access to an annual performance-related bonus

• Training and development to help you progress your career

• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme

• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death

• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness

• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us. 

We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

Please note that should you be successful in securing this role, the job title on our internal systems will be Engineer E3.