Internship: Research Associate - Privacy-Aware Oversight for Enterprise AI Agents - M/F

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

What you'll build

Enterprise agents increasingly process personal data across documents, conversations, and business tools. In this context, personal data protection is difficult: an agent must respect the purpose, permissions, and recipient constraints governing each use. The internship will investigate how to detect privacy risks before information is released or an external action is executed, testing whether signals from a language model's internal representations provide measurable benefits beyond input/output filters and explicit policy enforcement.

The internship will be part of a project investigating on the following research questions.

Under which conditions do model-internal signals improve the detection and prevention of:

• unauthorized personal-data disclosure beyond external monitoring and policy enforcement, while preserving task performance and acceptable latency?
• misalignment against constraints set to personal data processing?

This central question can be broken down into:

• Detection: Can internal representations predict an impending violation beyond what is already observable from the input, policy context, and proposed action?
• Intervention: Does targeted steering improve the privacy–utility trade-off?
  
  

What you'll bring

• You are a university student in the last year of your Master's degree/ MSc in Computer Science or similar major

• You possess a passion for research activities (reading/identifying relevant scientific papers, scientific writing, etc.) 

• You have strong Python development skills

• You know about Natural Language Processing (NLP) practices

• You have some AI agentic development skills

• You demonstrate a fluent level in English (working language)

• You possess good oral and written communication skills and an ability to synthesize

Meet your team

Customers rely on SAP delivering trustworthy secure products. The “Secure Development Center of Excellence” is responsible for the SAP Secure Software Development and Operations Lifecycle and the respective Product Standard Security and Data Protection.

The team is driving an automation assisted approach in significantly reducing security risks emerging during software development

Duration: 6 months
Start date: From January-February 2027
In accordance with the French legislation, for any duration over 2 months, this internship is paid in line with the SAP gratification grid.

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
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.

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: 458128  | Work Area: Software-Research  | Expected Travel: 0 - 10%  | Career Status: Student  | Employment Type: Limited Full Time   | Additional Locations:  #LI-Hybrid

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