In the past, I've blogged about what SAP job offers can tell us about SAP's cloud plans. Based on the ever-increasing tight integration of cloud and HANA efforts, I wanted to expand my analysis beyond just cloud-related jobs.
I’ve recently revisited SAP’s career site and picked a few new jobs that I think are interesting. My main intention is to surface these descriptions and provide a short analysis of why I think they are important
What follows Fiori?
A new group of mobile apps – called “Fiori” was announced at the recent Sapphire.
SAP Fiori was developed by working closely with over 250 customers to understand the most commonly used business functions and ways in which the user experience for those functions could be improved and simplified. [SOURCE]
I found two job offers that sound very similar to the Fiori effort.
Scrum Master (F/M)
“Frontline applications” are the core of SAP Applications renewal. They are meant to leverage unique SAP In Memory technology (HANA) to deliver a new generation of enterprise or end-user mobile and web applications.
Our Front Line Application (FLA) group is also creating a new user experience for many of the long tested business scenarios that are offered by the SAP ERP platform. The challenge is not only to create beautiful and compelling consumer-grade designs, but to implement those designs and deliver well tested quality apps, in short timeframes. We believe the best way to achieve this goal is by following the Agile Software Development Principles and our chosen Agile framework is SCRUM. [SOURCE]
Intern, Software Engineer
The Design and Front Line Apps team at SAP Labs Palo Alto is looking for a software engineering intern who has strong programming knowledge and is eager to join a very dynamic environment and learn new technologies and contribute to the team effort.
EXPECTATIONS AND TASKS
Some of the key tasks for the internship include:
- Develop exciting apps in javascript/SAP UI5
- Work on SAP Gateway/oData technologies
- Test Automation for Mobile. Set up infrastructure for running automated tests on iPAD or Mac emulator. Write automated test scripts using Selenium/Fitnesse or other test automation tools
- Assist Development Team in building exciting new apps
- Participate in POC exercise with Development
- Work with the team to fulfill all quality requirements [SOURCE]
POV
Fiori isn’t mentioned directly in the job offers but the technology used is the same and the broader intention is very similar to that described at the Sapphire. I thought it was interesting that a new group is being created to focus on this type of application. Once the involved development / design process is established, I can imagine that we will be seeing many more of these FLA apps.
Sentinel: the next generation stock analytics and market insights platform
It looks like SAP is working on a new offering for the financial market called Sentinel. I found multiple job offers for Sentinel - here are two offerings
Senior Developer (Data mining, machine learning, NLP)
The TIP HANA P&D Business Applications Development team in Bangalore is building the next generation stock analytics and market insights platform called Sentinel. The goal is to be nothing less than the Amazon for Stocks and the Facebook for Investors. We take our metaphors seriously! Sentinel blends Algorithmic Trading with deep News Analytics into a disruptive synergy, powered by SAP’s revolutionary in-memory HANA platform and deep text analytics capabilities. We couple a fluid frontend (HTML 5/Javascript) with a super-scalable backend. Our sole purpose is simply this: to help millions of investors identify profitable trading opportunities with minimal cognitive overload. The end-goal is to build a system that is simple but not trivial; deeply quantitative but not confounding; advanced but not abstruse.
WORK EXPERIENCE
• Demonstrated hands-on leadership in conceptualizing and implementing large scale
algorithms and applications in data mining, machine learning, text analytics and natural language processing (NLP), sentiment analysis, search, semantics [SOURCE]
Senior Developer (Financial Engineering, Computational Finance)
EXPECTATIONS AND TASKS
The Main responsibilities of this job are:
- Acquire a deep knowledge of the HANA architecture and its fundamental paradigms
- Architect, design, lead, implement and deliver key text understanding components of Sentinel
- Build high-scale algorithms and components that will support millions of users and real-time news feeds
- Mentor younger members of the team and help build their domain skills and professional perspective
- Document, publish or patent all IP that is generated
- Work closely with researchers, members of the field team and customers to evolve the product [SOURCE]
POV
I found the job titles interesting in that they reflect a focus on more than just the usual standard technical skills but rather also include domain expertise – in this case, financial. I was reminded of a recent ASUG article by Courtney Bjorlin about HANA skills and how data scientists are becoming more important in such data-centric efforts.
Description language of in-database algorithms and Visualization
A student intern in Waldorf has the ability to work on two possible interesting topics:
Student (f/m): Statistical Data Analysis and Visualization on the HANA Platform
As an intern or working student you will focus on one of the following two areas:
The first option would be the design and implementation of statistical algorithms for the in-memory data store. We are developing a functional description language of in-database algorithms – mainly in the field of data mining and machine learning. This approach will allow us to develop new data analysis algorithms in very short iterations and visualize their results. You would use this framework to enhance our algorithmic library with some advanced data mining or machine learning algorithms. Depending on the duration of your placement, you will also be able to test your work on real business or sensory data.
The second option will be the design and implementation of an easy-to-use framework for next generation Business UI's using javascript, webbased visualization libraries like d3, CSS3 and new concepts, e.g. the "grammar of graphics" integrating our business data and process model. Your first step would be to build an interactive drill-down tool for business components. [SOURCE]
POV
I found the use of a new functional description language to quickly create new algorithms intriguing – in particular, the differences of such a language as compared to RDL which focuses more on making the design process more efficient. The new language described in the job description above is for the runtime environment and would be an excellent way for partners to provide complementary value to existing HANA functionality.
‘New Assets’ program to measure intangible assets
SAP already has an Enterprise Assets product:
Build a solid, standards-based foundation for managing your physical assets – whether your business relies on production equipment, power grids, machinery, vehicles, or facilities. Our enterprise asset management (EAM) software can help you increase operational efficiencies, improve asset usage, reduce costs, and better manage capital expenditures throughout the asset lifecycle. [SOURCE]
I was surprised to see a job offering for the New Assets Program:
Working Student (f/m) for New Assets Program: User Interface / Mobile Development
New Assets is a program within the TIP area. We believe that there is obviously more than just financial assets that enables a company to gain future economic benefits and is therefore mission critical to manage. Companies who are able to measure and manage their new / intangible assets like ability to innovate, brand, intellectual property or employee engagement will have significant business advantages over their competition. As a consequence, we want provide smart and beautiful solutions to our customers that support them in managing these new assets and contribute to the companies’ future growth and success. [SOURCE]
POV
I found the job description interesting in that it reflects such a broad area of coverage – social media for brand assessment, HCM for employee engagement, etc – and could possibly include a wide variety of existing products.
Is a new address data cleansing engine coming?
Based on the following job offering, it looks like there may be a new product regarding international address cleansing software in the works.
Data Analyst – Intern
Data Quality team in Information Management mission of SAP Shanghai Development Center is responsible for developing global geography address coding data and engine. This software application is part of a suite of address data cleansing engines used in our international address cleansing software product. The team is responsible for development and testing of geography address coding features, and on-going data analysis of reference data used by the engine. In this position you will work with a transnational team that includes staff in Freiberg Germany, and La Crosse Wisconsin, USA. The projects this team delivers have a globally oriented scope, and are part of the world-wide SAP product suite. [SOURCE]
POV
There are a few other competitors in this area but I didn’t find any current associated offering from SAP. I could imagine a HANA- and cloud-based offering from SAP that is part of a larger MDM offer that would offer similar services.
