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OVERVIEW

SAP secures the digital core of the world's most complex organizations. As AI-industrialized cybercrime fundamentally reshapes the threat landscape, we are strengthening an already high-performing security organization to bring our capabilities together in ways that will make us faster, smarter, and more seamlessly integrated.

We are seeking

With Cyber-threats evolving at machine speed, SAP is seeking a strategic, operationally rigorous and technology-forward Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to lead core cybersecurity functions. The CISO will serve as the executive accountable for cyber defense, security engineering, identity protection, incident response, and operational resilience. The CISO will advance the secure adoption of AI across complex cloud environments while strengthening SAP’s protection against AI-specific threats and cloud vulnerabilities.

Under our federated governance model, the CISO operates as the executive leader accountable for SAP’s core cyber defense capabilities while maintaining close strategic alignment with dedicated enterprise leaders across Physical Security, Product Security, Cloud Compliance, Security Risk Management and Customer Assurance & Trust. This position demands an executive who can build resilient technical guardrails, advance AI-enabled and highly automated threat response, and protect enterprise assets without slowing business execution.

The role

As CISO, you will lead the capabilities that protect SAP from cyber threats, reduce exploitable exposure, govern access to critical systems and data, and strengthen the resilience of SAP's essential business services. Reporting directly to the Chief Security Officer, you will bring together deep operational expertise and sound executive judgment to protect SAP and enable the business to operate securely on a global scale.

This role carries significant external reach - you will interface regularly with customers, regulators, law enforcement, intelligence partners, and government authorities worldwide. At the forefront of your mandate: accelerating the responsible adoption of AI-driven security technologies while advancing SAP's ability to anticipate, detect, and respond to AI-enabled threats at speed and scale.

What you’ll build

You will drive the ongoing evolution and optimization of our enterprise-wide portfolio spanning:

• Global 24×7 security operations
• Cyber detection and threat defense
• Cyber incident response and crisis management
• Vulnerability and attack-surface reduction
• Identity and access management
• Enterprise security engineering, automation, and zero-trust architecture
• AI and agentic systems security, including AI-enabled cyber defense
• Business continuity, technology resilience, disaster recovery, and cyber recovery

Key Responsibilities

Global security operations and cyber defense

• Lead SAP’s global 24×7 Security Operations Center, including security monitoring, detection engineering, threat intelligence, threat hunting, investigation, containment, remediation, and operational recovery.
• Architect SAP’s machine-speed defense capabilities by driving the continued evolution of an intelligence-led, AI-enabled, and highly automated SOC capable of real-time detection, investigation, and response.
• Advance autonomous containment and remediation where appropriate, governed by defined decision criteria, technical guardrails, and human oversight.
• Establish measurable performance expectations for detection coverage, response effectiveness, service reliability, operational readiness, automation, and continuous improvement.

Incident response and threat intelligence

• Direct SAP’s global cyber-incident response capability, including crisis playbooks, escalation structures, technical coordination, executive communications, containment, remediation, and recovery.
• Lead preparedness exercises, simulations, and red-team scenarios addressing sophisticated criminal, state-sponsored, insider, cloud, supply-chain, and AI-enabled threats.
• Translate threat intelligence, incident findings, and lessons learned into measurable improvements across prevention, detection, response, remediation, and resilience.
• Maintain effective relationships with relevant customers, regulators, law enforcement, government authorities, intelligence partners, and industry stakeholders.

Enterprise security engineering, identity, and exposure management

• Define and enforce enterprise security architecture and zero-trust principles across SAP’s multi-cloud, corporate, identity, endpoint, network, infrastructure, API, and software supply-chain environments.
• Lead enterprise identity and access management, including identity governance, privileged access, authentication, authorization, lifecycle management, access assurance, and machine identities.
• Drive continuous threat-exposure management across on-premises and legacy systems, cloud platforms, SaaS environments, identities, externally accessible assets, and SAP’s enterprise AI landscape.
• Establish risk-based remediation priorities, escalation pathways, exception processes, and transparent accountability for reducing exploitable vulnerabilities, exposures, and attack paths.

AI and Agentic systems security

• Establish security controls, identity and access models, data protections, and runtime safeguards for AI models, autonomous agents, LLM pipelines, prompt and context interactions, APIs, microservices, and supporting cloud integrations.
• Advance AI-enabled detection, investigation, threat analysis, attack-path identification, and response automation to counter increasingly sophisticated and AI-accelerated threats.
• Partner with Product Security, development, architecture, and engineering leaders to address threats affecting AI models, agents, pipelines, interfaces, integrations, and runtime environments.
• Ensure AI and emerging-technology security requirements are incorporated into applicable enterprise architecture, engineering, operational, monitoring, and incident-response processes.

Continuity and resilience

• Lead SAP’s enterprise business-continuity, technology-resilience, disaster-recovery, and cyber-recovery capabilities.
• Establish critical-service and dependency mapping, recovery objectives, resilience standards, testing requirements, crisis-management integration, and executive reporting.
• Validate SAP’s ability to withstand and recover from severe cyber and operational disruption through scenario exercises, technical recovery testing, and disciplined remediation.
• Ensure incident response, business continuity, disaster recovery, and cyber recovery operate as an integrated resilience capability.

Cross-functional collaboration and governance alignment

• Align technical priorities and operational security measures with the enterprise risk tolerance and risk management framework established by the Head of Security Risk Management.
• Partner with Product Security, development and engineering leaders to integrate applicable security requirements, defensive telemetry, and operational readiness into software development and release lifecycles.
• Drive the automation of applicable Secure Software Development & Operations Lifecycle requirements while supporting development velocity and preserving Product Security’s accountability for secure product development.
• Work through SAP’s federated Business Information Security Officer community to strengthen adoption, accountability, business alignment, and consistent implementation across the enterprise.
• Partner systematically with the Head of Cloud Compliance to embed scalable and automated control requirements into security technologies and operational capabilities.
• Provide the CSO, C-suite, and Executive Board with timely, decision-oriented reporting on operational security performance, material threats, incidents, exposure, AI-related risks, and cyber resilience.

What You'll Bring

For internal candidates: A proven track record of operational excellence within SAP's security or engineering divisions, with demonstrated cross-functional influence and deep familiarity with our technical stack.

For external candidates: Proven experience as a CISO, Deputy CISO, or VP of Security in an enterprise environment, ideally spanning high-velocity cloud systems and AI/ML integrations.

Leadership & Organizational Experience

• Significant executive leadership experience within a large, complex, global technology, cloud, software, critical infrastructure, or highly regulated organization
• A proven record of directing major cyber incident responses and guiding executive stakeholders through high-pressure situations
• Experience leading global, mission-critical security operations, including a 24×7 Security Operations Center
• Experience managing large, geographically distributed organizations, senior leaders, strategic suppliers, managed services, and significant operating budgets
• Experience leading enterprise business continuity, disaster recovery, technology resilience, and cyber-recovery capabilities

Technical Expertise

• Deep knowledge of modern cyber detection and response, threat intelligence, threat hunting, digital forensics, security monitoring, zero-trust architecture, and machine-identity security
• Strong technical command in cloud security (AWS, Azure, GCP), zero-trust design, container/Kubernetes security, and API security
• Strong experience leading vulnerability, exposure, and attack-surface management programs with risk-based remediation
• Strong experience leading enterprise identity governance, privileged access management, authentication, authorization, and identity-lifecycle capabilities
• Solid understanding of AI-specific threat vectors, including prompt injection, model inversion, agent privilege escalation, and training-data poisoning

Communication & Influence

• The ability to collaborate with and influence peer executives while maintaining clear decision rights and organizational accountability
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with experience engaging executive leadership, boards or board committees, customers, regulators, and external stakeholders

Qualifications

• 10 or more years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, information technology, operational resilience, or a related discipline
• A bachelor's or advanced degree in cybersecurity, computer science, engineering, business, risk management, or a related field
• Professional credentials such as CISSP, CISM, or comparable executive-level qualifications are preferred
• Fluency in English is required; proficiency in German and experience working across international environments are an advantage

Meet your team
You will join SAP’s Global Security & Cloud Compliance organization as a member of the CSO’s executive leadership team, working alongside experienced leaders in operations, cyber risk, product security, physical security, compliance, and trust.

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 (ER