Development Manager (f/m/d) for ApeiroRA / EU AI Projects - SAP Cloud Infrastructure

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.

Location requirement: This position requires the candidate to be physically present in Bratislava or Kosice. Please ensure that you meet this location requirement before applying.

What You'll Do

Build Europe's sovereign cloud infrastructure through open source at SAP. You'll contribute to the Apeiro Reference Architecture within the EU's IPCEI-CIS initiative, solving complex distributed systems challenges that break Big Tech dependency and enable seamless workload portability across European cloud providers.

Your work at SAP involves architecting open-source solutions, implementing systems, and coordinating delivery of components that eliminate vendor lock-in. You'll tackle challenging problems that span multiple cloud environments and edge computing scenarios, building resilient systems that scale across diverse infrastructure using technologies like Kubernetes, Go, and Rust.

Working within the Linux Foundation's NeoNephos ecosystem, you'll collaborate with engineers from major European tech companies, contribute to widely adopted open-source projects, and see your work running in production environments across Europe. At SAP, you'll grow your expertise in cutting-edge cloud-native technologies while building infrastructure that ensures European organizations control their digital destiny.

In your role as Development Manager, you'll lead engineering teams building Europe's sovereign cloud infrastructure through the Apeiro Reference Architecture. You'll lead a development team building SAP Cloud Infrastructure in Slovakia, guiding technical strategy and team execution for enterprise cloud services that provide European data sovereignty and hyperscaler-grade capabilities, with focus on AI-related topics. Your team will act as extended development capacity across our workstreams working on Inference Service, Autonomous AI Operations and Lifecycle Development in open-source projects.

Your leadership will coordinate cross-functional teams working on complex distributed systems challenges, from multi-region container orchestration to edge computing scenarios. You'll balance technical excellence with delivery timelines, fostering innovation while ensuring robust, production-ready solutions that scale across diverse infrastructure environments.

Managing within the EU's IPCEI-CIS initiative, you'll collaborate with engineering leaders from major European tech companies, contributing to strategic decisions in the Linux Foundation's NeoNephos ecosystem. Your team's work will directly impact European digital sovereignty, building the foundation that breaks Big Tech dependency and empowers organizations to control their digital destiny.

What You Bring

• Technical Foundation: Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Gardener, KRM Operators, Go, Python, and OpenStack, with a deep understanding of microservices, distributed systems, and cloud-native architectures. Strong interest in AI/ML technologies and practical experience building, deploying, or operating AI-driven services and platforms at scale.
• Management Excellence: 8+ years in software development with 3+ years leading agile engineering teams of 5-15 developers in a multi-site, cross-time-zone organization.
• Strategic Leadership: Proven ability to align team goals with European cloud sovereignty objectives and drive architectural decisions for vendor lock-in elimination
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Experience working with product, design, and business stakeholders while managing team budgets and resource allocation

• People Development: Strong coaching skills with track record of developing talent in open-source technologies and distributed systems
• Change Management: Successfully leading teams through technical transformations and communicating with executives and European partners
• Security and Compliance: Awareness of industry standards related to security and compliance and experience integrating regulatory requirements into architectural patterns
• Cultural Adaptability: Experience working across cultures and languages with strong communication skills for diverse, distributed teams
• Soft skills: Excellent presentation, communication and problem-solving skills, have a thorough way of working with accuracy, take proactive initiatives, self-dependent and structured mode of working, high level of commitment and reliability, ready to work in a constantly changing, floating environment, fun working in a multinational team
• Language: English fluent.

Meet the Team

You'll join SAP Cloud Infrastructure, the foundation for SAP's enterprise, sovereign, and regulated workloads on a stack we own end-to-end (OpenStack, Kubernetes/Gardener, Ceph, Prometheus). Our engineering culture is grown-up but unmistakably hands-on: people stay because the problems are real, the bar is high, and we still believe a private cloud is something you build, not something you rent.

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.

Compensation Range Transparency

SAP believes pay transparency is essential for cultivating an honest, supportive, and inclusive culture, representing a significant step in our commitment to leading the way in achieving pay equity. SAP provides the annualized compensation range, which includes both base salary and variable incentive targets for the career level of the posted role. The target range for this position is 56300 - 111400(EUR). The actual amount offered to successful candidates will fall within this range and will depend on factors such as education, skills, experience, and role scope, as determined during the selection process. Any SAP variable incentive includes a target amount, with the actual payout depending on both company and individual performance. Please reference this link for a summary of SAP benefits and eligibility requirements on SAP's Benefits and Rewards site.

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: 441808 | Work Area: Software-Design and Development | Expected Travel: 0 - 10% | Career Status: Management | Employment Type: Regular Full Time | Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid