File · SRX-2612 / Netherlands (EMEA) · Open

Senior SAP QM Consultant — SAP S/4HANA

Quality management architecture · SAP domain

A quality architect, not a documentation writer. This mandate is for the consultant who makes inspection, defect and certificate processes hold under real production volume — and under audit.

Discipline
Enterprise ERP
Seniority
Senior · 10+ years
Stage
Open
Work mode
Hybrid — Netherlands
Employment
Full-time · Contract or permanent
Listed
19 Aug 2026

How to approach this mandate

No application form. No CV portal. Read the position brief, then speak with Harald directly, under confidence.

The client is not named here. On an engaged mandate the client's hiring intent is commercially sensitive, so the organisation is identified to you under confidence in the first partner conversation — not published to their competitors.

The remit

Why this role exists now. And what it carries.

The Netherlands is mid-way through the largest ERP transition in a generation, and the ECC end-of-support deadline has made the window time-bounded rather than theoretical. Quality management, historically treated as a downstream module, now sits alongside finance and supply chain in the migration scope because product integrity, traceability and regulatory exposure are board-level concerns.

Quality is where those programmes quietly fail. Inspection planning, results recording, defect management and quality certificates touch procurement, production and delivery simultaneously; batch management and regulated-industry requirements do not tolerate approximation; and the audit trail has to survive external scrutiny, not just UAT. The scarce profile is the consultant who is genuinely hands-on in configuration and fluent in compliance.

The client is running an active S/4HANA programme and needs the QM authority that quality directors, plant managers and the project team defer to — through configuration, integration testing, cutover and hypercare.

What the role carries

  • Own the functional architecture for inspection planning, results recording, defect management and quality certificates, from requirements through blueprint sign-off.
  • Configure SAP QM hands-on in S/4HANA environments — cloud or on-premise — and lead unit, integration and UAT cycles.
  • Lead fit-gap and blueprint sessions with quality directors, plant managers and CFOs, translating Dutch business requirements into S/4HANA-aligned quality process design.
  • Design and configure inspection types across procurement (Q1), in-process (Q2) and customer complaint (Q3) scenarios, with sampling procedures and dynamic modification rules.
  • Configure cross-module interdependencies with MM goods receipt, PP in-process inspection, SD delivery inspection and batch management.
  • Map regulatory frameworks — ISO 9001, GMP, 21 CFR Part 11 — onto SAP QM configuration and the audit trail that has to stand up to inspection.
  • Drive cutover planning and hypercare, and guide medior and junior consultants through solution reviews and quality gates.

The brief

The challenge, the mandate, and the impact.

The challenge

The client's S/4HANA programme carries a regulated quality scope with no settled QM authority. Inspection design decisions are deferred, batch and certificate questions sit unresolved, and the compliance trail has no owner. The constraint is hands-on functional depth combined with regulatory fluency, not project governance.

The mandate

Reports into the lead SAP architect. Full functional ownership of the QM scope — blueprint, configuration, integration testing, cutover and hypercare — with specification authority over in-scope developments and quality-gate responsibility for medior and junior consultants. No line management; the authority is technical.

The impact

30–90 days
Client landscape and QM configuration baseline mapped, blueprint workshops run with quality and plant leadership, assigned scope configured and integration-tested with MM, PP and SD.
6 months
Go-live delivered or final testing advanced, hypercare underway, documented QM solution designs standing as the operational reference, and recognition as the go-to QM authority for the client.

35

Median days to shortlist

Category norm: 84–120 days

8 in 10

12-month retention

Category norm: ~60% at 18 months

90 days

Replacement guarantee

With backfill

1

Partner, start to close

Never delegated

Index reading

The market reading behind the brief.

This mandate is not written from a job description. It is written from our own quarterly reading of how these roles are being eliminated, redefined and created in this corridor.

Where this mandate sits in the market

Current Q3 displacement intensity in the sectors that frame this search. Higher intensity means more leadership turnover and sharper talent scarcity.

  • Tech ConsultingDisplaced · 9/9
  • SaaS & CloudDisplaced · 9/9
  • WorkforceExposed · 7/9

Read the full Displacement Index — 7 sectors across APAC, EMEA and the GCC.

The profile

Who closes this. And on what terms.

Critical

  • Hands-on QM configuration

    Full-module depth from inspection planning to results recording and certificates — in the system, not only in workshops.

  • S/4HANA delivery evidence

    Cloud or on-premise, with quality certificates and S/4HANA-specific QM behaviour in scope.

  • Cross-module fluency

    QM against MM goods receipt, PP in-process inspection, SD delivery and batch management.

  • Regulatory literacy

    ISO 9001, GMP and 21 CFR Part 11 mapped onto configuration and a defensible audit trail.

Differentiators

  • Delivery inside regulated sectors — pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, medical devices, chemicals.
  • Experience with quality notifications across Q1, Q2 and Q3 scenarios at production volume.
  • Existing relationships with SIs, SAP Nederland or Dutch end-user organisations.
  • Track record mentoring consultants through quality gates.

What the client offers

  • A senior seat on a live S/4HANA programme with real configuration ownership, not a coordination role.
  • Day rate or salary benchmarked to Netherlands market standards for senior SAP QM consultants.
  • Contract or permanent engagement — the model is set in the scope conversation, before commitment.
  • Direct access to quality, plant and finance decision-makers rather than a layer of programme management.
  • Hybrid working from the Netherlands.
Scope
Inspection planning, results recording, defect management, certificates
Landscape
S/4HANA (cloud or on-premise) · batch management in scope
Engagement
Contract or permanent · EUR day rate or salary
Reports to
Lead SAP Architect / programme lead

The approach

How this mandate runs. Partner-led, end to end.

01 · Day 0–1

Approach

You reach out — through this page, the partner's direct line, or a confidential booking. No application form, no CV upload to a portal. The first conversation is about fit, not paperwork.

02 · Days 2–7

Partner conversation

Harald Agterhuis, the partner who signed this mandate, speaks with you directly. The conversation establishes whether the role and your delivery record genuinely align before anyone invests further.

03 · Days 8–21

Client introduction

If the fit holds, Harald introduces you to the hiring client under confidence. The client sees a short, serious shortlist — not a pile of CVs. You meet the decision-makers and test the role against what you need.

04 · Days 22–35

Decision

The client decides. If it's a yes, Harald works the offer with you and the client to land it — including counter-offer defence. If it's a no, you get a direct debrief, not silence.

Your partner on this mandate

Harald H.R. Agterhuis
Harald H.R. Agterhuis

Founder · Amsterdam · Dubai

Works across all corridors. Thirty years placing technology executives across APAC and EMEA, personally, mandate by mandate.

Book a confidential call

Where this mandate connects

The full register