Forward Deployed Data Scientist Expert (f/m/d)

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 build

In this role, you design, develop, and apply advanced data science, statistical, and machine learning methods to solve complex, business critical problems. Embedded directly within customer environments and fast-moving delivery teams you translate strategic and operational challenges into rigorous analytical solutions to solve complex real world business problems at speed. You work closely with customers to deliver scalable, enterprise grade outcomes that drive measurable business value for customers and SAP. You are accountable for the quality, impact, and delivery of complex analytical initiatives. Acting as a subject-matter expert, you provide clear guidance, manage ambiguity, and ensure data-driven solutions are robust, reliable, and aligned with business objectives.

In this role, you will:

• Transform complex business challenges into data-driven intelligence by identifying high-value problems, framing them analytically, and engineering robust features and insights.
• Design, develop, train and implement mathematical models, algorithms, and data mining or machine learning solutions to solve complex business problems.
• Apply advanced techniques across exploratory analysis, statistical modeling, experimentation, forecasting, segmentation, anomaly detection, causal analysis, and machine learning.
• Integrate analytical and machine learning solutions into products, prototypes, or business processes, ensuring enterprise-grade scalability and robustness.
• Define success metrics, quantify business impact, and translate analytical results into clear, actionable recommendations for decision-makers.
• Lead or manage complex analytical workstreams or projects, including deliverables, milestones, risks, and escalations, as appropriate.
• Communicate insights, trade-offs, and recommendations effectively to cross-functional teams and customer stakeholders, influencing decisions through evidence and expertise.
• Work in an embedded, customer-facing setup, collaborating closely with customer teams on-site or in the customer environment to deeply understand their data, applications, and business context, and to co-develop and deliver impactful data- and AI-driven solutions.

What you bring

• Expert-level proficiency in data science and machine learning, with strong command of Python and SQL and the ability to design, validate, and optimize end-to-end analytical and ML solutions.
• Ability to operate effectively in an Agentic AI context, contributing to the design, application, and responsible use of AI agents within complex business processes.
• Deep applied knowledge of statistics and experimentation, including hypothesis testing, experimental design, causal inference, and uncertainty interpretation.
• Proven experience applying a wide range of machine learning techniques (e.g. classification, forecasting, clustering, recommendation systems, anomaly detection, balancing accuracy, robustness, interpretability, and usability at scale.
• Strong capability to translate ambiguous business questions into measurable analytical problems and connect model outputs to commercial, operational, or strategic decisions.
• Experience delivering production-ready analytics and ML systems using modern data platforms, with a strong focus on data quality, governance, and reusability.
• Advanced communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders through clear data narratives and executive-ready insights.
• Design and implement robust end-to-end data pipelines and ETL/ELT processes, leveraging big data frameworks (e.g., PySpark, Databricks), modern storage formats (Parquet, Delta Lake), and real-time streaming technologies (Kafka or similar).
• Apply strong expertise in data modelling, system integration, and orchestration (e.g., Airflow), with hands-on experience in enterprise platforms such as SAP HANA, ensuring scalable and efficient data architectures.
• Ensure high-quality, governed, and compliant data workflows by integrating CI/CD, Docker, and Git practices, while proactively leveraging AI in day-to-day processes to enhance productivity, context-aware design, and output quality.

Where you belong

You will be part of a growing AI and industry expert team dedicated to serving customers across the region (Americas, Europe, Asia). We are building a collaborative, high-impact environment that brings together deep AI expertise, strong industry knowledge, and regional understanding to help customers innovate, transform, and lead in their markets. This team thrives on working together to turn complex business challenges into practical, scalable solutions. You will find an environment that values curiosity, ownership, and continuous learning, where new ideas are encouraged and real-world impact matters. This is a place for people who enjoy building something new. You will thrive here if you are customer-centric, motivated by meaningful outcomes, and comfortable navigating ambiguity in a fast-evolving AI landscape. We work closely with decision-makers, challenge assumptions with data, and give data scientists room to influence strategy—not just produce analysis. We value sharp thinking, business curiosity, and clear communication.