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Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

e2fdd8c4279a3d58dc6bd767cdb2bbfc 2 - Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is the backbone of SAP’s enterprise software, and its top developers are driving innovation in the SAP ecosystem worldwide.

This list highlights global ABAP experts who excel equally in open-source contributions, hands-on startup leadership, influential blogging and mentorship, senior engineering roles in SAP-related organizations, and even competitive programming accolades. They represent a diverse mix of geographies and talents, all pushing ABAP forward.

Here is the updated and ranked list of top ABAP developers globally:

  1. Wouter van Heddeghem
  2. Lars Hvam
  3. Leonardo De Araujo
  4. Rich Heilman
  5. Robert Eijpe
  6. Michael Keller
  7. Paul Hardy
  8. Dr. Jacques Nomssi Nzali
  9. Michelle Crapo
  10. Ivan Mans
  11. Mariano Nuñez
  12. Gregor Wolf
  13. Nabheet Madan
  14. Daniel Graversen
  15. Michał Krawczyk
  16. Phil Cooley
  17. Jerry (Zhihong) Wang
  18. Jocelyn Dart
  19. Murali Shanmugham

Now, let’s delve deeper into their qualifications and achievements:

Wouter van Heddeghem

YouTube Video

Free tools in S/4HANA Finance you should know about.

Nationality: Belgian

Wouter is a senior SAP S/4HANA Finance consultant who has become one of the most visible SAP personalities on LinkedIn, with over 700k followers.

Posting daily SAP tips, career advice, and motivational content, he has built an enormous community of SAP professionals online. While his influence comes via social media rather than code, he empowers thousands of consultants and developers globally by sharing knowledge and highlighting job opportunities. Wouter demonstrates the power of community building in the SAP world – mentoring at scale through LinkedIn and Instagram.

Lars Hvam

If you want clean code, version control, and automation in ABAP, start with abapGit. It’s the foundation for DevOps in SAP

Nationality: Danish

Lars is the creator of abapGit, which since 2014 has revolutionized ABAP development by bringing Git-based version control into the SAP world.

A senior ABAP consultant and SAP Mentor alumnus, he also built tools like abaplint, fostering a culture of open-source in the traditionally closed ABAP ecosystem. His work has empowered SAP teams to adopt modern DevOps and clean code practices, making him a pivotal figure in the community.

Leonardo De Araujo

Nationality: Brazilian/Canadian

Leonardo is the CTO at Synthace and co-founder of Beyond Technologies (a major SAP consultancy in Canada).

With 25+ years in SAP (especially in FI/CO), he’s an SAP Mentor known for advising on S/4HANA cloud strategy and finance transformation. Leonardo remains a hands-on coder even as a CTO – bridging C-level vision with technical execution. He speaks frequently at SAP conferences about cloud ERP and has been guiding enterprises on “clean core” ABAP extension approaches.

As both a business leader and a developer, his balanced perspective has helped many companies modernize their SAP landscapes.

Rich Heilman

Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

Nationality: American

Rich is an SAP Developer Advocate and was a co-author (with Thomas Jung) of Next Generation ABAP Development, which helped modernize ABAP practices.

Over his career at SAP (since 2007), he became a HANA Distinguished Engineer and has continually pushed ABAP into new realms like in-memory and cloud. Today, Rich produces developer tutorials and sample code for SAP BTP, ensuring that from classic ABAP to RESTful ABAP Cloud, developers have guidance at every step. He is a cornerstone of ABAP education in the community.

Robert Eijpe

Nationality: Dutch

Robert is a strategic enterprise architect and SAP Mentor who bridges classic ABAP with cloud-native development.

He was a co-founder of a consulting firm and is now a CTO-level advisor. Robert is an expert in the ABAP RESTful Application Programming (RAP) model and the SAP Cloud Application Programming (CAP) model, and he’s written and spoken extensively comparing the two approaches. He also earned one of the first ABAP Cloud certifications.

By mentoring developers on how to adapt ABAP skills to the cloud era, Robert is ensuring that the vast ABAP community stays relevant in the age of SAP BTP and S/4HANA Cloud.

Michael Keller

Nationality: German

Michael is an SAP Champion, developer, and trainer known for his active presence in the SAP community.

He frequently blogs and posts about improving ABAP code quality and best practices – for example, challenging fellow developers with thought experiments on whether they’d trust their own ABAP code to run a plane or car. Michael also co-hosts community podcasts and events to help upskill consultants in new SAP technologies. As a “chief entertainer” on the SAP community stage, he makes learning ABAP fun and accessible.

His advocacy for clean, reliable ABAP has inspired many to step up their coding standards.

Paul Hardy

Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

Nationality: Australian

Paul is a senior ABAP developer with 35+ years in SAP and author of the popular book ABAP to the Future.

Currently at Heidelberg Materials, he has led SAP implementations across multiple countries and decades. Paul is known for his playful yet practical teaching style, using humor and sci-fi themes to demystify advanced ABAP and clean code techniques. He has been a vocal advocate for continually modernizing ABAP, often collaborating with SAP’s own development teams to improve the language and keep it relevant for the next generation.

Dr. Jacques Nomssi Nzali

Nationality: Cameroonian

Jacques is an independent SAP consultant with over 20 years of experience and a Ph.D. in physics.

He gained recent fame for developing an open-source text adventure game in ABAP, which was showcased in SAP’s Developer News – highlighting that ABAP can be fun and creative. A former SAP Mentor, Jacques is committed to continuous learning (he runs multiple SAP systems at home for practice). He frequently shares insights on SAP Cloud and ABAP on his personal blog.

Jacques’s unique journey – from Cameroon to coding ABAP games in Germany – inspires others in the community to push ABAP beyond its “business” comfort zone into new, exciting use cases.

Michelle Crapo

Nationality: American

Michelle is a longtime SAP ABAP developer and an SAP Champion who actively mentors others in the community.

She has a broad skill set (from ABAP and workflows to functional configuration) and a passion for learning new SAP tech (she famously documented her journey learning CDS views and SAP HANA). Michelle’s blogs often encourage developers to step out of their comfort zones – she even co-hosted a “virtual tour” to help SAP professionals pick up new skills during the pandemic.

As one of the prominent women in ABAP development, she advocates for diversity and continuous learning in the SAP world.

Ivan Mans

Nationality: Belgian

Ivan is the CTO and co-founder of SecurityBridge, a company delivering SAP cybersecurity solutions.

A seasoned SAP development expert (known online as “@ABAP_Guru”), Ivan spent years as an ABAP consultant before building products that identify code vulnerabilities and secure SAP systems. He has contributed articles on topics like ABAP code vulnerabilities and SAP audit logging on LinkedIn, sharing his deep knowledge of SAP security internals.

Ivan’s work helps ABAP developers write more secure code and has been instrumental in bringing greater attention to application-level security in SAP.

Mariano Nunez

Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

 

Nationality: Argentine

Mariano is the CEO and co-founder of Onapsis, the leading firm in SAP cybersecurity.

A former SAP ABAP consultant turned entrepreneur, he pioneered the field of ERP security and helped reveal critical ABAP-level vulnerabilities in SAP systems. Onapsis’s platform now safeguards thousands of SAP applications worldwide. Mariano, an MIT “Innovators Under 35” honoree and EY Entrepreneur of the Year, remains hands-on in directing R&D at Onapsis.

He transformed a niche technical skill (ABAP security) into global impact, making SAP systems safer for all.

Gregor Wolf

Nationality: German

Gregor is an independent SAP solution architect who has been blending ABAP with other tech stacks for two decades.

One of the original SAP Mentors (appointed 2007), he’s published countless open-source tools – from enabling YubiKey logon to SAP to Node.js connectors for ABAP systems. Gregor’s expertise spans ABAP, JavaScript, APIs, and SAP Business Technology Platform, making him a full-stack SAP developer.

His relentless sharing of code and best practices has helped SAP developers around the globe tackle integration challenges with creative solutions.

Nabheet Madan

Nationality: Indian

Nabheet is co-founder and CTO of a startup (Infinite Locus) and an SAP Champion who proves that you can be both an entrepreneur and an active developer.

With 15+ years in SAP, he has contributed to open-source SAP community projects (like SAP Stammtisch event management tools) and runs a YouTube channel teaching SAP Cloud and ABAP concepts. Notably, his team won an SAP Hack2Build innovation hackathon in 2023. Nabheet’s energetic blogging and mentoring on topics like ABAP RESTful programming, Clean Core, and BTP have earned him a global following.

He embodies the new generation of ABAP leaders who blend startup agility with deep SAP know-how.

Daniel Graversen

Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

Nationality: Danish

Daniel is the founder/CEO of Figaf, a company specializing in SAP integration testing tools.

With 18+ years in SAP PI/PO/CPI (middleware), he created the Figaf tool to automate interface testing and migration, dramatically reducing effort for SAP integrations. He also hosts an SAP Integration Podcast and shares tips via blogs and YouTube, acting as a mentor for the integration developer community. By blending consulting with product development, Daniel has set standards for DevOps in the SAP integration space, showing ABAP and integration developers how to work smarter and deliver quality faster.

Michał Krawczyk

Nationality: Polish

Michał is co-CEO of Int4 AG and one of the world’s leading experts in SAP interface development and testing.

He has authored 7 books and 140+ articles on SAP PI/PO, Cloud Integration (CPI), and AIF (Application Interface Framework). Michał created Int4 IFTT, a popular tool for automated testing of integration scenarios. As an SAP Mentor since 2007, he frequently speaks at SAP TechEd and co-hosts the “Integration Black Belts” podcast, training many SAP developers in integration techniques.

His blend of deep technical knowledge and continuous knowledge-sharing has cemented his status as the go-to authority for SAP interfaces.

Phil Cooley

Nationality: Australian

Phil is an SAP Champion and CTO at Bourne Digital (an Accenture company), with 25+ years of SAP experience.

He is an expert in SAP Fiori and BTP (Business Technology Platform), often helping customers extend SAP with cloud apps. Phil is passionate about continuous learning – he’s completed numerous openSAP courses and shares insights on combining classic ABAP with new cloud services. He also co-leads the SAP Mentor Monday webinar series, guiding SAP professionals on emerging topics.

By straddling the old and new SAP worlds, Phil helps enterprise developers modernize their skill sets and deliver business value with the latest SAP technologies.

Jerry (Zhihong) Wang

Nationality: Chinese

Jerry is a principal developer at SAP Labs Chengdu and was SAP Community’s “Member of the Month” in Jan 2017 for his outstanding contributions.

He has answered thousands of questions on SAP forums, especially in ABAP and SAP CRM areas, earning a reputation as a go-to expert for problem-solving. Jerry also shares knowledge in Chinese on Zhihu (with over 2500 posts) to help SAP developers in China. Having transitioned to a frontend developer role at SAP in recent years, he uniquely combines ABAP backend knowledge with modern UI skills. Jerry’s dedication to community Q&A and bilingual knowledge-sharing makes him an invaluable connector between SAP’s global and local developer communities.

Jocelyn Dart

Top 19 ABAP Developers for Hire

Nationality: Australian

Jocelyn is a Solution Architect at SAP Australia and a globally respected expert in SAP user experience and extensibility.

With 25+ years in SAP (starting as an ABAP consultant), she has guided many customers on “clean core” approaches – using ABAP RESTful Application Programming (RAP), SAP Fiori Elements, and APIs to extend SAP without modifications. Jocelyn frequently publishes detailed how-to guides on the SAP Community (for example, on extending S/4HANA with custom ABAP Cloud projects) and is a regular speaker at SAP TechEd. An SAP Mentor alumna, she is also known for mentoring developers and functional consultants on bridging the gap between classic ABAP and modern UX.

Her approach helps ABAP developers transition into full-stack innovators for the Intelligent Enterprise.

Murali Shanmugham

Nationality: Indian

Murali is a SAP Technology Ambassador (Developer Advocate) focusing on SAP Business Technology Platform and cloud-native DevOps for SAP.

At SAP Australia, he’s specialized in helping developers apply CI/CD, Kubernetes, and modern cloud practices to ABAP and SAP extension projects. An SAP Press author and organizer of local SAP Inside Track events, Murali has trained thousands through workshops and blogs. He excels at breaking down complex multi-cloud scenarios into clear, hands-on tutorials.

By championing agile and DevOps culture in the ABAP world, Murali is shaping how SAP developers build in the cloud era.

Wrap Up

These legends represent exceptional talent, making them extremely challenging to headhunt. However, there are thousands of other highly skilled IT professionals available to hire with our help. Contact us, and we will be happy to discuss your hiring needs.

Note: We’ve dedicated significant time and effort to creating and verifying this curated list of top talent. If you intend to share or make use of it in any way, we kindly ask that you include a backlink to the original source – EchoGlobal.

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