Senior Strategic AI Program & Release Manager

Senior Strategic AI Program & Release Manager

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.

Position Overview

We are seeking a talented Senior Strategic AI Program & Release Manager with 8 plus years of experience to drive planning, execution, and delivery of cross-functional AI initiatives within the SAP Application AI (CoE) Strategy team in the Product Engineering board area. The team focuses on execution of SAP's AI strategy and leads cross-P&E initiatives. In this role, you will manage complex, high-impact programs across multiple initiatives, partner closely with engineering and product teams to enable secure and scalable delivery, and drive continuous process improvements through strong program governance. This position is based in California and will play a critical role in supporting the Application AI Strategy team's key initiatives, including:

• Forward Deployed Engineering actively contributing to engineering programs and managing cross-functional processes related to cross-board and customer outcome KPIs
• Deep Research & Experience Generation AI product - supporting research programs and initiatives
• Shared AI Services partnering for services delivery and governance programs

You will contribute to these initiatives through collaboration with P&E development teams, program governance, and strategic initiatives execution. You will also work very closely with S&O and CS&D board areas.

Key Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end planning, execution, and delivery of cross-functional AI/ML and engineering programs (including release readiness), providing thought leadership and building trusted-advisor relationships with cross-functional teams

Develop and maintain work plans, schedules, resource plans, and governance cadences; establish and evolve operating models, program governance, and delivery best practices

Manage programs of high volume or high risk/complexity, ensuring goals and milestones are met, dependencies are actively managed, and approved budgets are tracked appropriately

Communicate program status, risks, dependencies, and outcomes to leadership and stakeholders; manage escalations appropriately and provide regular, crisp updates and reporting

Collaborate with engineering, product, and design teams to align delivery to standards and processes; drive CI/CD and release management best practices to support secure, scalable solution delivery

Ensure adherence to security, privacy, and compliance standards (e.g., GDPR, DPP, internal security standards); coordinate security validations, AI onboarding, AI ethics, and commercialization readiness processes

Support execution of AI strategy across research, engineering, and shared services initiatives (including Forward Deployed Engineering and Experience Generation programs); monitor progress, engage in technical solution delivery where needed, and manage interdependencies across teams

Build strong cross-functional partnerships across SAP (including Board and L1 Offices) to drive alignment, resolve cross-functional and cross-regional challenges, and enable high-impact AI use cases

Identify and resolve overlaps in scope and functionality across AI strategy initiatives; identify and implement process improvements to enhance delivery efficiency and quality

Represent SAP to customers and partners on AI strategy initiatives

Actively contribute to customer's usage and adoption of SAP's latest AI innovations across all Application AI Strategy initiatives

Qualifications

Over 8 years of experience leading and delivering complex programs, particularly in AI/ML, technology strategy, product development, engineering, or research domains

Prior management consulting or corporate strategy experience preferred but not required

Technical Skills

Familiarity with AI/ML, LLM frameworks, and modern AI technologies which would help drive project management across functional teams

Understanding of CI/CD, GITHUB, system architecture, SAST tools

Knowledge of AI Ethics assessment and AI commercialization processes

Knowledge of compliance topics DPP, GDPR and industry security standards

Overview of basics services of hyperscaler's like Azure, AWS

Overview of Sirius release management tool

Soft Skills

Strong communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills

Excellent problem-solving, organizational, and analytical abilities

Ability to work independently and manage priorities in a global environment