Chief Development Expert, Unified Sovereign Cloud & Infrastructure Engineering

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:

We are seeking a highly experienced technical leader to serve as Chief Development Expert for our Unified Sovereign Cloud & Infrastructure Engineering team. This role is ideal for a seasoned architect who can drive strategic vision, hands-on execution in a fast-paced, multi-cloud environment. You will guide the design and delivery of scalable, secure, and automated infrastructure solutions across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OpenStack

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide technical and strategic leadership for cloud infrastructure architecture, automation, and operations.
• Lead and mentor a team of Senior DevOps Engineers, promoting a culture of excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Architect and implement modular, policy-driven infrastructure using Terraform, Crossplane, Helm, Kustomize, and Ansible.
• Design and maintain cloud-agnostic automation that scales globally and securely across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OpenStack.
• Oversee the development of CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI/CD, ArgoCD, Concourse) to enable continuous delivery and environment promotion.
• Build and manage resilient Kubernetes clusters and containerized workloads using Docker, with automation-first principles.
• Drive Kubernetes lifecycle automation using Cluster API, custom controllers, and GitOps reconciliation.
• Champion a GitOps-first approach with policy-enforced deployments, versioned environments, and continuous reconciliation.
• Implement centralized secret management and rotation using HashiCorp Vault and External Secrets Operator.
• Ensure secure software supply chains through image signing, attestation, and scanning (Cosign, Trivy, Grype).
• Collaborate cross-functionally with platform, development, and security teams to align architecture with business goals.
• Communicate architectural decisions clearly and empathetically to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Set and uphold high standards for infrastructure reliability, security, and performance.

What You Bring:

Required Skills & Experience:

• Expert-level technical proficiency in infrastructure automation, cloud platforms, and container orchestration.
• Proven experience leading DevOps or platform engineering teams in complex, multi-cloud environments.
• Extensive experience designing and implementing cloud datacenter architectures, integrating compute, storage, backup, and networking components to deliver scalable, secure, and resilient infrastructure solutions aligned with enterprise needs.
• Skilled at debugging across infrastructure, APIs, containers, and workloads.
• Excellent communication and decision-making skills with a focus on technical clarity and empathy.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver pragmatic solutions quickly and iterate for quality.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with GitOps workflows and Kubernetes Operators.
• Familiarity with security best practices in cloud-native environments.
• Contributions to open-source projects or technical communities.

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, age, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, et al), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status, or disability.

Compensation Range Transparency: SAP believes the value of pay transparency contributes towards an honest and supportive culture and is a significant step toward demonstrating SAP’s commitment to pay equity. SAP provides the annualized compensation range inclusive of base salary and variable incentive target for the career level applicable to the posted role. The targeted combined range for this position is $244,700 - $415,900 USD. The actual amount to be offered to the successful candidate will be within that range, dependent upon the key aspects of each case which may include education, skills, experience, scope of the role, location, etc. as determined through the selection process. Any SAP variable incentive includes a targeted dollar amount and any actual payout amount is dependent on company and personal performance. Please reference this link for a summary of SAP benefits and eligibility requirements: SAP North America Benefits.

AI Usage in the Recruitment Process

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

Requisition ID: 439787 | Work Area: Software-Development Operations | Expected Travel: 0 - 20% | Career Status: Executive | Employment Type: Regular Full Time | Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid