SAP Payroll (ECP) Manager - India based

AKT orchestrates the future of work. We bridge the gap between people, complex organizational needs and technology. Our expertise spans the customer journeys from Talent and Skills development to Experience Management and External Workforce solutions. At AKT, we are always becoming - a culture of continuous growth dedicated to helping global brands navigate their transformation journeys with precision and purpose. 

AKT is looking for an experienced SAP Payroll (ECP) Manager to oversee the delivery of end-to-end SAP payroll and Employee Central Payroll (ECP) implementations. This is a hands-on leadership position for a professional who is technically experienced in SAP Payroll and ECP who can lead and develop a team of consultants while remaining actively involved in solution design, configuration, troubleshooting, and serving as a trusted advisor to our customers.  

This is a client-facing, full-time position, and open to candidates located in India.  

Key Responsibilities: 

Team Leadership & People Management: 

• Lead, mentor, develop and provide guidance to a team of SAP Payroll and ECP consultants, including workload allocation, performance management, coaching, and career development. 

• Coordinate with AKT’s global delivery teams on resource planning and project execution. 

Hands-on SAP Payroll & ECP Delivery: 

• Act as the senior technical and functional escalation point for complex payroll issues, providing hands-on expertise in schemas, PCRs, wage types, payroll processing, configuration, and troubleshooting. 

• Support payroll integrations between SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, ECP, SAP HCM, and third-party systems. 

• Lead payroll testing, parallel payroll runs, reconciliation, and go-live activities. 

Customer Engagement & Delivery Management: 

• Lead customers throughout implementation and support engagements, leading customer workshops, requirements discussions, solution design sessions, project reviews. 

• Translate business and payroll requirements into practical, scalable SAP solutions. 

• Proactively manage expectations, mitigate risks, and resolve challenges to ensure timely, high-quality delivery within scope. 

Practice Development & Operational Excellence: 

• Establish and promote delivery standards, methodologies, and best practices for SAP Payroll and ECP. 

• Contribute to presales activities, including solution assessments, effort estimations, proposals, and customer presentations. 

Job Requirements: 

• Valid SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll (ECP) certification – a must 

• 8+ years of hands-on SAP Payroll experience, including significant experience implementing and supporting SAP Employee Central Payroll (ECP). 

• Strong functional and technical understanding of SAP Payroll configuration and processing, including Employee Central to ECP integration and payroll-related master data. 

• Proven expertise in payroll schemas, PCRs, wage types, payroll control, and troubleshooting. 

• Experience across the full payroll project lifecycle, including design, configuration, testing, parallel runs, cutover, go-live, and post-go-live support. 

• Experience managing multiple customer engagements, priorities, and delivery commitments. 

• Demonstrated experience leading customer discussions and engaging with senior stakeholders. 

• High proficiency in English – both verbal and written. 

Personal Skills: 

• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to take ownership of complex technical and functional challenges. 

• Demonstrated ability to balance people management responsibilities with hands-on project delivery. 

• Dynamic team player with strong commitment and drive to accomplish individual and team tasks and goals. 

• Promptly acclimate to company culture, values, processes, and expectations.    

• Strong customer orientation, commercial awareness, and stakeholder management skills 

• Take initiative, exercise sound judgment and result oriented. 

AKT Offers: 

• Realistic growth opportunities into either technical practices or business consulting environment   

• Flexible working hours   

• Stimulating and collaborative working environment   

• Internal knowledge transfer, training and coaching by our dynamic team of consultants and experts     

• International business environment (offices in the UK, Cyprus, DACH, India, North America, Israel, and Czech Republic)