A field guide to who does what on an ERP implementation — and how the team changes shape as projects get bigger.
Ask ten job adverts what an "ERP consultant" does and you'll get ten different answers. That's because ERP projects don't have one team shape. A £200k implementation at a 30-person manufacturer might be delivered by three people wearing eight hats. A multi-country SAP programme might have two hundred people in roles so specialised they barely overlap.
Small projects run lean, generalist, platform-agnostic teams; large programmes split the same work into specialists. Every role below exists on every ERP project — the only question is whether it's a full-time job title or one slice of somebody's week.
This post is your map. Each section covers what the role actually does, who thrives in it, and where it leads.
Project Manager / Programme Manager
The role that owns delivery: plan, budget, risks, decisions, and the uncomfortable conversations when scope and reality collide. On smaller projects the PM is often also the business analyst and the change manager. On large programmes, a programme manager sits above multiple workstream PMs.
ERP project management is its own discipline — it's less about Gantt charts and more about sequencing decisions, protecting the business's time, and knowing where implementations actually go wrong. It's consistently among the best-paid roles in the market: mid-2026 IT Jobs Watch data puts the median SAP project manager contract rate at £595/day, with programme managers at £675/day.
Deep dive: The ERP Project Manager role — what it really involves
Business Analyst
The translator. BAs sit between "what the business does" and "what the system can do" — documenting processes, gathering requirements, spotting the gaps, and challenging the classic trap of rebuilding the old system inside the new one. On lean teams this is folded into the functional consultant or PM role; on large programmes there are BAs per process area.
A great entry route into ERP for people who know a business domain (finance, supply chain, manufacturing) better than they know any particular system.
Functional / Solution Consultant
The largest single population in the ERP jobs market. Functional consultants configure the system to fit the business: chart of accounts, order-to-cash flows, procurement rules, manufacturing settings. They're usually specialised by module or process area — finance, supply chain, HR/payroll — and by platform.
Platform choice matters enormously to pay and demand, and the market moves: mid-2026 UK data shows Oracle consultants at a median £600/day with contract vacancy volume up 34% year on year (driven by Fusion Cloud migrations), Dynamics 365 consultants around £525/day, Workday consultants topping the medians at £625/day but with thinner volume, and the generic "ERP Consultant" title at £575/day.
Deep dives: What does an ERP consultant actually do? and Which ERP platform should you specialise in?
Solution Architect
Where functional consultants design within a module or function, the solution architect owns the whole design: how modules fit together, what's configured versus customised versus integrated, and whether the sum of a hundred sensible local decisions is still a coherent system. On small projects the senior functional consultant or project manager carries this; on programmes it's a distinct, senior, well-paid role — and a natural destination for experienced consultants who can think across the whole landscape.
Developer
Modern ERP projects try to minimise custom code, but "minimise" is not "eliminate": extensions, reports, forms, workflow logic and platform-specific development (ABAP for SAP, X++ for Dynamics, SuiteScript for NetSuite) all need building. Developers on ERP projects who understand the business context — not just the language — are noticeably more valuable than those who don't.
Integration Specialist
Almost no ERP system runs alone. Something has to connect it to the CRM, the warehouse system, the bank, the e-commerce platform, the payroll provider. Integration specialists design and build those connections and — crucially — own what happens when they fail. As cloud ERP has standardised configuration, integration has become one of the places where projects genuinely differ, and demand reflects that.
Data Migration Lead
The unglamorous role that sinks more go-lives than any other. Somebody has to decide what data moves, clean it, map it, load it, and reconcile it — usually through multiple trial runs. On small projects this is shared between the functional consultant and the client's own staff; on large programmes it's a workstream with its own team. If you're detail-obsessed and unflappable, this is a specialism where reputations are made.
Test Manager
Every project tests; larger projects appoint someone to own it. The test manager plans the cycles — system testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing — builds the scenarios, tracks the defects, and holds the evidence that says "we're ready" (or the nerve to say "we're not"). UAT in particular is where the project meets the real business, and running it well is a skill in itself.
Change Manager / OCM
ERP failures are rarely technical. The system works; the people were never brought along. Organisational change management covers stakeholder engagement, communications, impact assessment and readiness — the work that determines whether people actually use the thing on day one. Chronically underinvested on small projects (where it lands on the PM), properly resourced on programmes, and increasingly demanded by clients who've been burned before.
Training Lead
Related to change but distinct: someone has to turn the configured system into role-based training that real users can follow — materials, sessions, floor-walkers at go-live. On lean teams it's absorbed by functional consultants and superusers; at scale it's a dedicated role, often with its own team building content in dedicated tools.
How the team changes with project size
Both ends of the scale are hiring. The small end rewards range — people who can hold the whole project in their head. The large end rewards depth — people who are genuinely excellent at one slice. Neither is better; they're different careers, and knowing which suits you is half the battle.
Where to start — or where to go next
Whichever role fits, the projects are out there — browse the latest ERP project roles on the board, or join the list for ERP Market Pulse, our short fortnightly read on rates, demand and where the market's moving.
Rate data: IT Jobs Watch, mid-2026, UK market. Medians move — check the salary guide for the latest.