John Crane, a business of Smiths Group, is a global leader in mission-critical flow control solutions for energy and process industries that enable efficient and sustainable operations. Our products include mechanical seals and systems, couplings, bearings, filtration systems, and predictive digital monitoring technologies.
We have a global network of more than 200 sites in over 50 countries and employ more than 6,000 people worldwide. We partner with our customers to help them keep their operations safe, reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and meet the latest environmental standards.
John Crane is part of Smiths Group. For over 170 years, Smiths has been pioneering progress by engineering for a better future. We serve millions of people every year, helping to create a safer, more efficient, productive, and better-connected world across four global markets: energy, security & defence, space & aerospace, and general industrial. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Smiths employs approximately 16,000 colleagues in over 50 countries.
Job DescriptionWe are seeking a SAP Supply Chain Transformation Lead to provide enterprise-level leadership for the design, definition, and delivery of a global SAP-enabled supply chain planning transformation programme.
This role is accountable for shaping the future supply chain operating model, defining SAP planning design and governance, and ensuring delivery of measurable business outcomes and sustained operational performance.
Key Responsibilities
Transformation Strategy & Programme Leadership
- Lead the global transformation strategy and multi-year roadmap aligned to business growth objectives
- Own end-to-end programme delivery across all phases (design through to deployment)
- Ensure delivery to scope, time, budget, and quality, while achieving targeted business outcomes
- Monitor delivery progress against milestones and ensure value realisation
SAP Design & Operating Model
- Define and architect SAP supply chain planning solutions and operating model
- Translate business requirements into SAP design and system capabilities
- Ensure alignment between processes, systems, and business objectives
- Maintain design integrity and scalability across the organisation
Planning Excellence
- Define best practice planning and inventory management processes
- Drive standardisation across regions while ensuring practical application
- Implement a segmented, data-driven supply chain planning approach
- Improve planning stability and reduce manual interventions
Governance & Stakeholder Management
- Establish governance frameworks and decision-making structures
- Align executive stakeholders across functions (E2C)
- Manage programme risks, dependencies, and cross-functional alignment
- Engage effectively with Supply Chain, Finance, Commercial, IT (NIS), and external partners
Change Management & Adoption
- Lead change management strategy and execution across the programme
- Drive training initiatives and early user engagement
- Ensure successful adoption and post go-live compliance
- Define and manage hypercare and transition phases
Key Accountabilities
- Successful end-to-end delivery of the global SAP supply chain transformation programme
- Full accountability for programme budget, milestones, and value delivery
- Ownership of SAP planning design principles and operating model
- Ensure global consistency and standardisation across planning processes
- Deliver measurable operational improvements and business benefits
- Extensive experience leading global SAP transformation programmes (end-to-end delivery)
- Deep expertise in SAP Supply Chain planning modules
- Proven ability to define planning parameters and optimise system configurations
- Demonstrated track record of delivering measurable operational improvements
- Experience working in complex Engineer-to-Order (ETO) environments
- Strong programme and stakeholder management capabilities
- Experience translating business needs into SAP-enabled solutions
With colleagues stretching across the globe, we are proud of our diversity. To foster inclusivity, we run employee resource groups (ERGs) to provide a safe space for employees to connect and support each other. Our cross-business ERGs include Veterans, Pride Network, Black Employee Network, Women@Work Network, and Neurodiversity.
Across our company, we recognize excellence, culminating in the Smiths Excellence Awards, our annual celebration of the most extraordinary activities, people, and projects that best showcase our strengths and help drive our business forward. We announce these on our annual Smiths Day, a global celebration of Smiths around our network.
Join us for a great career with competitive compensation and benefits, while helping engineer a better future.
We believe that different perspectives and backgrounds are what make a company flourish. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment regardless of color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, economic status, disability, age, or any other legally protected characteristics. We are proud to be an inclusive company with values grounded in equality and ethics, where we celebrate, support, and embrace diversity.
At no time during the hiring process will Smiths Group, nor any of our recruitment partners ever request payment to enable participation – including, but not limited to, interviews or testing. Avoid fraudulent requests by applying jobs directly through our career’s website (Careers - Smiths Group plc)
Skills Required
- Extensive experience leading global SAP transformation programmes (end-to-end delivery).
- Deep expertise in SAP Supply Chain planning modules.
- Proven ability to define planning parameters and optimize system configurations.
- Demonstrated track record of delivering measurable operational improvements.
- Experience working in complex Engineer-to-Order (ETO) environments.
- Strong programme and stakeholder management capabilities.
- Experience translating business needs into SAP-enabled solutions.
What We Do
For over 170 years, Smiths Group has been pioneering progress by engineering a better future. We serve millions of people every year, to help make the world safer, more energy efficient and productive, and better connected, across four global markets: Energy, General Industrial, Safety & Security, and Aerospace & Defence. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Smiths employs more than 15,000 colleagues in over 50 countries. For more information visit www.smiths.com. We're looking for people with curious minds. Who want responsibility and relish a challenge. Whether you're an experienced professional or just starting out, our global scale and focus on growth means we have some great career opportunities for you. There's never been a better time to join Smiths.
