We help the world run better

At SAP, we enable you to bring out your best. Our company culture is focused on collaboration and a shared passion to help the world run better. How? We focus every day on building the foundation for tomorrow and creating a workplace that embraces differences, values flexibility, and is aligned to our purpose-driven and future-focused work. We offer a highly collaborative, caring team environment with a strong focus on learning and development, recognition for your individual contributions, and a variety of benefit options for you to choose from.

 

NOTE: This position will be based from Palo Alto following SAP's hybrid work model of in-office 3 days/ week. There is NO relocation assistance available for this position.

 

About the Role

 

We are seeking a seasoned and strategic Team Lead to guide the evolution of the SAP Design System Portal — a mission-critical role at the intersection of product design, engineering, and content. This is a foundational position responsible for driving continuity, innovation, and cohesion across SAP’s most business-critical design system efforts.

 

The Portal is more than a repository — it is the operational backbone and single source of truth that empowers designers and developers to deliver consistent, efficient, and brand-aligned experiences across SAP’s global product landscape. It underpins the scalability and integrity of the entire SAP Design System.

 

At its core, the Portal provides access to SAP’s design system guidelines — the essential playbook that ensures product teams build with clarity and coherence. The Team Lead will ensure that the portal will support teams in keeping the guidelines current, discoverable, and actionable. They will also help make sure the portal helps teams translating system thinking into product execution.

 

Reporting into the Design Systems organization, this role requires strong product thinking, design leadership, and cross-functional collaboration. You’ll lead a multidisciplinary team through the full product lifecycle — from roadmap execution and testing to iteration and release. Working closely with UX, content strategy, user research and engineering, you will coordinate the day-to-day delivery while influencing long-term strategy and growth.

 

This role is deeply collaborative. You’ll partner with multiple design system teams and stakeholders across the enterprise, advocating for user needs while maintaining strategic alignment. As a key connector and decision-maker, you will foster efficiency, clarity, and alignment across teams and disciplines.

 

At SAP, helping people work better is core to our mission. This role demands a thoughtful leader who brings empathy, structure, and momentum. You are a design advocate, a catalyst for continuous improvement, and a champion of team health — someone who thrives in a culture of ownership and creative problem-solving.

 

We'd love to hear from you if you have:

 

 

10+ years of experience leading cross-functional product or platform teams in a complex enterprise or B2B environment, ideally with exposure to design systems or developer platforms. A deep understanding of design systems, user interface guidelines, and how they are applied across product development lifecycles  Proven leadership in multidisciplinary collaboration, working closely with UX design, content strategy, engineering, and product stakeholders to drive outcomes. Strong product ownership mindset, with demonstrated ability to define and execute roadmaps, prioritize trade-offs, and deliver incremental value aligned to strategic goals. Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to guide conversations across technical and non-technical teams and influence without authority. High degree of systems thinking, with the ability to map dependencies, reduce friction, and evolve systems holistically rather than in isolation. Track record of continuous improvement, user advocacy, and building team rituals or governance practices that support quality, efficiency, and adoption at scale.

What you will do: 

 

 

Partner closely with design leaders and design teams throughout the design lifecycle with a focus on managing priorities, resolving issues and fostering collaboration. Lead a multi-disciplinary project in an enterprise environment with a proven ability to align UX, content and engineering toward an established vision. Exhibit a strong understanding of design systems, and manage the centralized documentation platform. Ability to think holistically about systems, workflows, and dependencies — ensuring clarity, efficiency, and sustainability. Experience shaping documentation architecture or design operations practices. Ability to prioritize and lead prioritization of work, and to own decisions on project direction in a complex and diverse environment with rapidly changing priorities. Skilled communicator who can facilitate cross-team conversations, influence decisions without authority, and serve as a trusted bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders. Other duties as assigned or requested.

Preferred Qualifications:

 

10+ years of experience in UX and Product Leadership, with a strong portfolio of cross-functional team collaboration and successful product launches. Proven experience working directly with Design and Development teams to translate conceptual thinking into usable, scalable solutions. Deep passion for innovation, operational excellence, team collaboration, and building harmonious, sustainable teams and tools. Figma at a professional (pro-level) mastery, with experience managing design systems and component libraries. Solid understanding of front-end technologies (CSS, HTML); familiarity with Java and AEM is a strong plus. Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, especially across large enterprise organizations. Strategic problem-solver with a bias for action and continuous improvement.

 

We win with inclusion

SAP’s 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: Careers@sap.com.

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.

 

Compensation Range Transparency: SAP believes the value of pay transparency contributes towards an honest and supportive culture and is a significant step toward demonstrating SAP’s commitment to pay equity. SAP provides the annualized compensation range inclusive of base salary and variable incentive target for the career level applicable to the posted role. The targeted combined range for this position is 192500 - 365600(USD) USD. The actual amount to be offered to the successful candidate will be within that range, dependent upon the key aspects of each case which may include education, skills, experience, scope of the role, location, etc. as determined through the selection process. Any SAP variable incentive includes a targeted dollar amount and any actual payout amount is dependent on company and personal performance. Please reference this link for a summary of SAP benefits and eligibility requirements: SAP North America Benefits.

 

Requisition ID: 425248 | Work Area:Software-User Experience  | Expected Travel: 0 - 10% | Career Status: Professional | Employment Type: Regular Full Time | Additional Locations: #LI-Hybrid