Development Architect - Product Processes & Solutions (PP&S)

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

About the Organization: The Corporate Processes & IT (CPIT) organization is responsible for evolving and executing SAP's IT strategy. We drive the internal adoption of standard applications that support end-users in the execution and re-engineering of their processes across all lines of business, with a strong focus on end-user centricity. Our objective is to accelerate co-innovation with development and extend the use of SAP standard products within SAP -- shifting focus from maintaining a heavily customized environment to optimizing processes on top of standard services. By combining technological understanding with business know-how, we act as the earliest adopter of our own solutions and the ultimate proof point in SAP's transition to a cloud company.

About PP&S: Product Processes & Solutions (PP&S) is an L2 unit within CPIT responsible for driving portfolio and process transformation across SAP's product organization. Our ambition is to give SAP the fastest, most AI-driven product lifecycle in the industry. We operate across three delivery areas -- Engineering & Technology, Solution Support, and Cloud Operations -- and we are accountable for translating strategic direction into operational reality at scale.

The Role:

The AI Architect is the technical backbone of PP&S's AI capability – defining how AI is built, governed, and scaled across SAP's Innovate-to-Operate lifecycle (engineering, support, cloud operations). PP&S is running dozens of AI initiatives across engineering, support, and cloud operations. Without the right technical spine, that becomes fragmentation – redundant solutions, inconsistent patterns, compounding technical debt. This role is that spine: the person who sets the architecture standards, controls the tooling decisions, and ensures AI investments stack rather than scatter across the portfolio.

The AI Architect sits in the I2O Cross Capabilities function and works in close partnership with the AI Engagement Lead, who owns stakeholder relationships and adoption. The AI Architect collaborates closely with architects embedded in PP&S’s delivery units, providing the end-to-end architecture guidance that unit-level architects build from.

Key activities:

• Define and govern the I2O AI reference architecture
• Own the end-to-end AI reference architecture across PP&S’s three delivery areas (Engineering & Technology, Solution Support, Cloud Operations)
• Set integration patterns, tooling evaluation standards, and reuse frameworks — preventing fragmentation across 600+ people and multiple concurrent AI initiatives
• Provide architectural input to tool and platform decisions; maintain the central tooling registry in partnership with Enterprise Architecture
• Produce architecture decision records and technical standards teams are expected to follow
• Lead PP&S data strategy for AI
• Identify, structure, and govern the data assets that underpin I2O AI use cases
• Resolve data access and quality issues across CPIT, Finance, HR, and PP&S delivery areas
• Ensure data architecture is fit for purpose: available, governed, and structured for AI workloads running on SAP BTP, AI Core, and BDC
• Anchor technical quality across the AI portfolio
• Evaluate new AI technologies and frameworks — including LLM orchestration patterns, agentic frameworks, and MCP-based integrations — for fit and viability within SAP’s environment
• Establish viability of new approaches through proof-of-concept work alongside engineering teams
• Provide architecture guidance to the AI analytics and reporting infrastructure that tracks adoption and efficiency gains across I2O

What you bring:

• University degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or Information Systems; master’s preferred.
• 8+ years in solution architecture, AI/ML engineering, or technical program delivery — with at least 3 years in an explicit architecture role in an enterprise context.
• Hands-on experience with SAP’s AI stack: SAP BTP, AI Core, Business Data Cloud (BDC), MCP Servers — you have built with these, not just advised on them.
• Strong command of modern AI/LLM patterns: RAG pipelines, prompt engineering, agentic frameworks (e.g., ReAct), and LLM orchestration — you can evaluate and challenge implementation decisions, not just describe them.
• Proficiency in Python for prototyping, evaluation, and hands-on PoC work alongside engineering teams.
• Proven experience defining and owning architecture in large-scale, multi-stakeholder environments. You can hold a standard under organizational and political pressure.
• Excellent documentation skills. architecture decision records are a core deliverable, not a side task.
• Comfortable engaging senior business and IT stakeholders; able to translate between technical depth and organizational complexity.
• Fluent English; German is a plus.

Work Experience
8+ years of experience in solution architecture, AI/ML engineering, or technical program delivery — with at least 3 years in an explicit architecture role.

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: 453745 | Work Area: Software-Design and Development | Expected Travel: 0 - 10% | Career Status: Professional | Employment Type: Regular Full Time | Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid