PhD Student Intern AI Research

We help the world run better
At SAP we keep it simple: you bring your best to us and well bring out the best in you. Were builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce and we need your unique talents to help shape whats next. The work is challenging but it matters. Youll find a place where you can be yourself prioritize your wellbeing and truly belong. Whats in it for you Constant learning skill growth great benefits and a team that wants you to grow and succeed.

We help the world run better At SAP we keep it simple: you bring your best to us and we will bring out the best in you. We are builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce and we need your unique talents to help shape what is next. The work is challenging but it matters. You will find a place where you can be yourself prioritise your wellbeing and truly belong. What is in it for you Constant learning skill growth great benefits and a team that wants you to grow and succeed.

What youll do

• As a PhD Intern you will work with a team of experienced researchers and applied scientists taking on challenges informed by scaling AI methods across and beyond the broad portfolio of SAPs business software.
• Conduct state-of-the-art research on AI agent improvement including reinforcement learning approaches that use structured feedback from recurring failures to enable continuous learning and adaptation across diverse enterprise environments.
• Learn about exciting research and applications within and outside your expertise contributing to SAP product development.
• Publish research results in top-tier conferences at the end of the internship and contribute to SAP product development.

What you bring

• PhD student (second year or beyond) with a first-author publication or preprint.
• Specialisation in Reinforcement Learning and LLM agent research.
• Excellent understanding of deep learning transformer architectures optimization methods supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning approaches.
• A strong publication record in top-tier ML/NLP conferences or journals (e.g. NeurIPS ICML ICLR ACL EMNLP CVPR) are preferred.
• Strong background in machine learning natural language processing computer vision or reinforcement learning.
• Strong algorithmic problem-solving skills.
• Proficient in PyTorch and Python with a good understanding of statistical analysis and shell programming.

The duration of the internship is 6 months and should take place in 2026.

Meet your teamSAPs 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. Leveraging the cutting-edge developments in AI research along with SAPs unparalleled enterprise data assets offers a distinctive opportunity to explore an uncharted domain within AI research. As a vital part of this organization our team is dedicated to pioneering an end-to-end framework for agent evaluation and improvement across a wide range of business processes.

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 (ERP) software SAP has evolved to become a market leader in end-to-end business application software and related services for database analytics intelligent technologies and experience management. As a cloud company with two hundred million users and more than one hundred thousand employees worldwide we are purpose-driven and future-focused with a highly collaborative team ethic and commitment to personal development. Whether connecting global industries people or platforms we help ensure every challenge gets the solution it deserves. At SAP you can bring out your best.

We win with inclusion
SAPs culture of inclusion focus on health and well-being and flexible working models help ensure that everyone regardless of background feels included and can run at their best. At SAP we believe we are made stronger by the unique capabilities and qualities that each person brings to our company and we invest in our employees to inspire confidence and help everyone realize their full potential. We ultimately believe in unleashing all talent and creating a better world.

SAP is committed to the values of Equal Employment Opportunity and provides accessibility accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment with SAP and are in need of accommodation or special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application please send an e-mail with your request to Recruiting Operations Team:

For SAP employees: Only permanent roles are eligible for the SAP Employee Referral Program according to the eligibility rules set in the SAP Referral Policy. Specific conditions may apply for roles in Vocational Training.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their age race religion national origin ethnicity gender (including pregnancy childbirth et al) sexual orientation gender identity or expression protected veteran status or disability in compliance with applicable federal state and local legal requirements.

Successful candidates might be required to undergo a background verification with an external vendor.

AI Usage in the Recruitment Process

For information on the responsible use of AI in our recruitment process please refer to our Guidelines for Ethical Usage of AI in the Recruiting Process.

Please note that any violation of these guidelines may result in disqualification from the hiring process.

Requisition ID: 450850 Work Area: Administration Expected Travel: 0 - 10% Career Status: Student Employment Type: Limited Full Time Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid