Principal Researcher (f/m/d) - Foundation and World Models on Structured Business Data

In this role you drive pioneering advances in foundation models for structured data and world models to solve business problems. You’ll shape a research agenda for a small, cross-disciplinary squad and collaborate with academia to publish benchmarks and models. You’ll translate breakthroughs into publications and contribute to thought leadership while aligning internal projects with community best practices. You join SAP’s AI organization to infuse AI into enterprise applications at scale, collaborating with experts worldwide.

• great benefits
• health and wellbeing
• flexible working models
• personal development
• inclusive culture
• team collaboration

• Define the research agenda for a small team of research scientists and engineers
• Develop and benchmark foundation models on structured data and world models
• Collaborate with academic partners and domain experts to create problem statements, datasets, and frameworks
• Publish research findings and contribute to top-tier conferences and open-source efforts
• Supervise PhD students during internships or collaborations
• Translate applied research into publications and maintain alignment with internal initiatives

• PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, physics, mathematics or related disciplines
• Strong publication record in foundation models, machine learning on structured data, or world models
• Extensive experience with ML on structured data and knowledge of causal AI (preferred)
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)
• Experience collaborating between industry and academia and leading projects with strategic impact
• Knowledge graphs and ERP domain experience (desirable)
• Strong organizational and leadership abilities

• academic collaboration
• strategic thinking
• leadership
• Python
• PyTorch
• TensorFlow