AI Labs Engineering Manager

Job Description

We help the world run better
At SAP, we keep it simple: you bring your best to us, and we'll bring out the best in you. We're builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce, and we need your unique talents to help shape what's next. The work is challenging – but it matters. You'll find a place where you can be yourself, prioritize your wellbeing, and truly belong. What's in it for you? Constant learning, skill growth, great benefits, and a team that wants you to grow and succeed.

What You'll Do:

You will act as an Engineering Manager according to the Harmonized Product Operating Model (HPOM) and lead AI Labs, the innovation powerhouse of SAP Engagement Cloud. Your primary responsibility will be to lead and nurture a team of 10 world-class, senior engineers and data scientists, empowering them to transform our platform into an AI-first, agentic experience.

As the Engineering Manager, you are responsible for:

• Building and Leading a High-Performing Team: Your core focus is on the people. You will champion the growth and development of your team members, fostering a strong, collaborative, and resilient culture with a deep sense of ownership and psychological safety.
• People Leadership & Development: You will handle all aspects of team leadership, including setting clear goals, managing performance and career development, and acting as a dedicated coach and mentor to help your team thrive.
• Driving Strategic Impact: You will guide the team in its strategic initiatives, ensuring they can deliver measurable business value. You will represent the team's work and its needs to senior leadership.
• Ensuring Team Health and Operational Excellence: You will oversee the team's exceptional operational and delivery record, empowering them to manage their SLOs/SLAs, maintain a low operational burden, and ensure all services are secure, reliable, and cost-effective.
• Executing with Agility: You will partner closely with Product Management to steer the team's backlog and execute the development plan, removing roadblocks and ensuring the timely and high-quality delivery of features.

What You Bring:

• A passion for people management and a proven track record of building, leading, and retaining high-performing engineering or data science teams.
• 10+ years of experience in the software industry, with significant experience in a leadership capacity where you were responsible for the growth and performance of your team members.
• Exceptional leadership, coaching, and motivational skills, with the empathy and emotional intelligence required to build trust and support your team’s well-being and long-term career development.
• A strong ability to create alignment, facilitate complex discussions, and drive a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication skills in English, with the ability to articulate vision, strategy, and team needs to diverse audiences, including senior leadership.
• The ability to act as a role model, solve complex organizational problems, and provide expert guidance on team dynamics and project execution.

Even Better If You Have:

• Experience leading teams in a cloud environment (such as GCP) and familiarity with DevOps principles.
• A background in software development (e.g., Python, TypeScript/Node.js) or data science, which would help you to better understand and support the team's technical context.
• Leadership experience in the AI/ML domain and familiarity with concepts like Large Language Models (LLMs) or agentic frameworks.

Meet Your Team:

AI Labs develops and operates the AI products on the SAP Customer Engagement Platform. Our mission is to harness AI technologies, including cutting-edge Large Language Models, to enhance our customers' productivity by making marketing more automated and personalized. You will lead a diverse, highly-skilled team of senior software developers and data scientists who are passionate about solving challenging problems and building the future of customer engagement. We value collaboration, continuous learning, and a proactive, solution-oriented mindset.

Bring out your best
SAP innovations help more than four hundred thousand customers worldwide work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively. Originally known for leadership in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, SAP has evolved to become a market leader in end-to-end business application software and related services for database, analytics, intelligent technologies, and experience management. As a cloud company with two hundred million users and more than one hundred thousand employees worldwide, we are purpose-driven and future-focused, with a highly collaborative team ethic and commitment to personal development. Whether connecting global industries, people, or platforms, we help ensure every challenge gets the solution it deserves. At SAP, you can bring out your best.

We win with inclusion
SAP’s culture of inclusion, focus on health and well-being, and flexible working models help ensure that everyone – regardless of background – feels included and can run at their best. At SAP, we believe we are made stronger by the unique capabilities and qualities that each person brings to our company, and we invest in our employees to inspire confidence and help everyone realize their full potential. We ultimately believe in unleashing all talent and creating a better world.

SAP is committed to the values of Equal Employment Opportunity and provides accessibility accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment with SAP and are in need of accommodation or special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application, please send an e-mail with your request to Recruiting Operations Team: Careers@sap.com.

For SAP employees: Only permanent roles are eligible for the SAP Employee Referral Program, according to the eligibility rules set in the SAP Referral Policy. Specific conditions may apply for roles in Vocational Training.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their age, race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, et al), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status, or disability, in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local legal requirements.

Successful candidates might be required to undergo a background verification with an external vendor.

AI Usage in the Recruitment Process

For information on the responsible use of AI in our recruitment process, please refer to our Guidelines for Ethical Usage of AI in the Recruiting Process.

Please note that any violation of these guidelines may result in disqualification from the hiring process.

Requisition ID: 453540 | Work Area: Software-Design and Development | Expected Travel: 0 - 10% | Career Status: Management | Employment Type: Regular Full Time | Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid