Program Lead (f/m/d) - Industry Foundation Models, Knowledge Graph & Open Platform Program

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.

Summary & role information

At SAP Business AI, we are exploring the next frontier of AI on structured business data like graphs, tables and more. Foundation Models on structured data, like SAP-RPT-1, have ushered in the GenAI era for business relevant scenarios. Now, we are pushing further. We want to enable companies across all industries to collaboratively train foundation models and build knowledge graphs. As Program Lead (f/m/d), you orchestrate a hugely ambitious part of a publicly funded program end-to-end: own the interaction with the public-funding side (reporting, change management, deliverable tracking, audit readiness) and ensure alignment with the internal delivery side (cadence, dependencies, hiring, budget, risks) across a R&I program comprising multi-modal industry foundation models, industry knowledge graphs, and an open data & training platform. You own the program's operating system – the rhythms, artifacts and forums that make sure work lands on time, that public-funding obligations are met cleanly, and that leadership has a real picture of where the program stands. You are the single person an auditor, an SAP controller, and a workstream lead each call when they need a clean, trustworthy answer about the program. This is the ideal role for an experienced program leader with both, strong delivery instincts in research-heavy, multi-team environments and a deep operator's grasp of public-funding mechanics. It is your chance to run the operating system of one of the very few industry-AI programs of European origin – at a scale and complexity where program craft makes the difference between landing the deliverables and missing them.

What you'll do

• Own the public-funding reporting, change management and audit-readiness end-to-end – deliverable tracking against the work-package and activity structure, periodic reports, change requests, and the documentation trail that has to survive external audit
• Run the program operating cadence across the internal workstreams – leadership and team meetings, agendas, minutes, action-tracking, status rollups, risk and dependency logs that leadership actually trusts
• Track program budget, headcount and ramp – requisitions, contractor onboarding, expense and invoice flow through Concur and SAP HR / finance tools, and the alignment between publicly funded share and SAP-funded share of the program
• Partner with the CPO, the workstream leads, SAP Controlling, Legal, the main PMO and external public-funding counterparts – translate between the technical reality of the program and the reporting reality the funder expects, in both directions

What you bring

• 8+ years of related professional experience incl. 5+ years of program or PMO leadership in a multi-team, research-heavy R&D environment, ideally in AI, data platforms or another technology-intensive domain
• Hands-on experience running a publicly-funded program (IPCEI, EU Horizon, BMBF, national R&D funding, or comparable) – deliverable tracking against a funder structure, change requests, periodic reports, and audit readiness
• Track record of running the operating cadence of a complex multi-team program – meetings, status, action-tracking, dependency and risk management – at a quality bar where leadership actually relies on it
• Solid grasp of program economics – budget, headcount ramp, requisitions, contractor onboarding, and expense/invoice flow – ideally in SAP's tooling stack (Concur, S/4HANA HR/finance) or with the ability to come up to speed quickly
• Solid technical literacy in Foundation Models, Knowledge Graphs and AI/ML platforms – enough to chair a cross-team status review, follow a technical risk argument, and tell a real schedule slip from a noisy one
• Discretion and good judgement working with confidential strategy, hiring, commercial and public-funding information; calm and resourceful under shifting priorities and senior-management attention
• Strong written and verbal English – you can draft a periodic report, a leadership status deck, and a change request that survive external review with equal ease

Meet your team

SAP's AI organization is dedicated to seamlessly infusing AI into all enterprise applications, enabling customers, partners, and developers to enhance business processes and generate remarkable business value. Join our international AI team where innovation thrives, opportunities for personal development abound, and exceptional colleagues collaborate globally.