Guido
Nageldinger
Senior IT Project Manager | SAP Cut-over Lead | Remote Work Advocate
SAP Solutions. Global Leadership. Remote Precision.
Services
Who I am
As a Senior IT Project Manager fluent in German, English and Spanish, I bring 15+ years bridging cultures, fostering collaboration across continents and crafting innovative methodologies that drive faster, more predictable SAP S/4HANA transformations.
What I deliver
I specialize in end-to-end SAP S/4HANA cut-overs, data migrations and hypercare exits, leading global, remote-first teams. My tailor-made Activate® and Focused Build® frameworks compress rollouts by up to 30%, all while maintaining transparency through KPI-driven dashboards.
Why it matters
By combining language fluency with agile governance and data-driven decision-making, I eliminate communication barriers and accelerate project lifecycles. Stakeholders gain clarity, costs shrink and business-as-usual kicks in weeks ahead of schedule, no matter where your teams reside.
SAP S/4HANA Cut-Over Management
End-to-end cut-over planning, data migration & hypercare exit—2 weeks ahead of plan.
Remote IT Project Leadership
Governance, communication rhythms & KPI-driven sprints for globally distributed teams.
SAP Activate® & Focused Build® Implementation
Tailored Activate frameworks that embed best practices and speed up your rollout.
Post-Go-Live Support & Optimization
User training, process fine-tuning & cost-efficiency measures for lasting ROI.
Professional Summary
Senior IT Project Manager and SAP Cut-over Lead with over 15 years of cross-industry experience managing complex implementations, migrations, and integration projects in Europe and LATAM. Known for delivering mission-critical rollouts under pressure, coordinating distributed stakeholders, and navigating hybrid technical/business environments.
Proven record of remote project leadership, Cut-over orchestration across S/4HANA landscapes, and strong vendor/partner alignment. Passionate about optimizing digital business processes and cross-border team collaboration.
Experience
Program Manager Cognizant – Hamburg, Germany (mainly remote work) | 08/2019 – 05/2025
Core Responsibilities
- Management of complex international projects and programs in the area of SAP S/4HANA (brownfield and greenfield) as well as ServiceNow® over the whole project cycles (Discover, Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy, and Run) in EU and Saudi Arabia
- Developed and rolled out Cognizant’s SAP Activate® interpretation & FocusedBuild® methodology in the area of test management and rollout management
- Management of multi-vendor/offshore teams (India), driving 15% cost reduction via process & resource optimization
- management of complex system integration tests with test strategy and tool implementation
- business development and presales (initial assessments, pre-projects)
Selected Projects
- Refresco (Retail Industry) – UK (mainly remote work) | 12/2024 – 05/2025
Successful management of the realization phase for a GREENFIELD implementation with multi-vendor offshore teams - SEFE (Energy Industry) – Germany (mainly remote work) | 06/2024 – 11/2024
Successful Management of a ServiceNow® implementation project - Refresco (Retail Industry) – Rotterdam, Netherlands (mainly remote work) | 08/2022 – 05/2024
Overall delivery responsibility with successful rollout on behave of Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) for the Aspire BROWNFIELD Conversion program which covered a business and technical transformation with focus on business process harmonization, process improvement initiatives and standardization of master data objects supported by a new digital framework with one core S/4HANA.
Refresco is the world’s largest independent bottler of beverages for leading retailers and A-brands with production in Europe, North America and Mexico. Refresco has 6 Business Units including Europe Holding, Benelux, Poland, Germany, Spain and France configured in one single ERP instance 3 different clients. - Public Sector – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (remote work) | 01/2021 – 07/2022
Successful introduction, implementation and rollout of SAP Focused Build® as a test management solution for a SAP BROWNFIELD conversion project. Activities include negotiations related to the SOW, stakeholder management, creation of the test strategy, implementation and execution of training courses and workshops, planning, implementation and management of the integration test, definition and recording of KPIs. - Merck (Chemical & Pharmaceutical Industry) – Mannheim, Germany (on site) | 01/2020 – 06/2020
Implementation of a cut-over methodology for the joint commissioning of four larger SAP projects
- Orchestrated the turnaround of a derailed SAP implementation for a mechanical-engineering client by redefining the scope baseline, revising cost forecasts, and rebuilding the MS Project® schedule with earned-value tracking.
- Rebalanced cross-functional team workloads and standardized delivery tracking, restoring on-track progress within months.
- Transformed JIRA from a generic ticket system into a defect-centric integration-test management tool, boosting error traceability and resolution efficiency.
IT Project Manager OTTO GmbH & Co. KG (Retail Industry) – Hamburg, Germany | 02/2012 – 06/2018
- Cut-over Management: Built and executed a reusable cut-over framework across multiple SAP/non-SAP releases—from go-live strategy and dependency workshops to KPI-driven test cycles and hyper- care, culminating in a peer-reviewed methodology publication. Nageldinger G. (2015): A framework for cut-over management. PeerJ Computer Science: e29 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.29
- IT Service Transition & Improvement: Led end-to-end transition planning, change and release management, service validation/testing, and continuous improvement (PDCA) for critical IT services.
- Project Portfolio Oversight: Oversaw diverse internal initiatives, aligning cross-functional teams and ensuring on-time, on-budget delivery.
- Category Management Automation (Jan 2017–Jun 2018) – Conducted supplier evaluations, developed POC and ROI business cases, unlocking €7 M+ in cost savings.
- Logistics KPI Framework (Oct 2017–Dec 2017) – Designed and deployed automated KPI dashboards for a logistics system, cutting downtime by 20 % via real-time alerts.
- Product Data Model Optimization (Mar 2017–Sep 2017) – Architected a streamlined data model for product requirements, improving data consistency and cross-team collaboration.
Previous roles as Consultant/Senior Consultant for SAP AG | 06/2005 – 06/2009 | and SAP SI | 01/1999 – 06/2005 | for clients such as SAB Miller Beverage Industry in Colombia, ExxonMobile in USA, NIS in Serbia, TNK-BP in Russia, Pemex Gas in Mexico and Orbian in UK.
Competencies
- Project & Program Management (PRINCE2®, PMP®)
- IT Service & Strategy Consulting (ITIL® Expert, COBIT® 5)
- Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF® 9 Levels 1 & 2)
- SAP S/4HANA Technologies & Activate®
- Cut-over Planning & Execution
- Agile & SCRUM Methodologies
- Organizational Change & Conflict Management
- Offshore & Remote Team Leadership & Coaching
Technical Skills
- SAP S/4HANA, ECC, Solution Manager, FocusedBuild
- Microsoft 365 (Excel, Teams, SharePoint, Project)
- Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps
- ServiceNow, Remedy, Test Management Tools
Education
- PhD, Nuclear Physics – Kingston University, London (1999)
- Diplom Physiker (Dipl.-Phys.) – University of Bremen, Germany (1994)
Certifications
- PMP® (2016–2028)
- PRINCE2® Practitioner (2015)
- ITIL® Expert (2015)
- TOGAF® 9 (2015)
- SAP Activate® (2020)
- Cobit® 5 (2016)
Languages
- German (C2, native)
- English (C2, near native)
- Spanish (C1)
Impressum/ Get in touch
Here you can get in touch with Guido Nageldinger, who is responsible for this web page.
ADDRESS: Encarnación, Paraguay
EMAIL: guido@nageldinger.biz
WEBSITE: www.nageldinger.biz
PHONE: +595 9825 69227 Paraguay
PHONE: +1 814 3008318 USA
PHONE: +49 40 60779088 Germany
Delivery address in Paraguay:
Castilla de Correo No 50
Encarnación 070137, Paraguay
