Director of Technology & Security

Hasso Plattner Foundation; Potsdam; On-site; EUR 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free lunch

Public transport ticket

Lakeside office Potsdam

Job summary

The Hasso Plattner Foundation seeks a Director of IT & Information Security to own strategy, architecture, and security across its charitable ecosystem. You will shape the IT & Security agenda for the Foundation and its affiliates, including the HPI, with a cloud-first, AI-enabled backbone.

Lead a lean, high-ownership leadership team, collaborating with Executive Management to drive cybersecurity, data governance, and digital enablement while maintaining strong vendor management and budget

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive IT and security leadership, ideally including scale-up or high-growth environments where you helped build and scale
• Proven end-to-end ownership of IT and information security in a cloud-first Microsoft environment (M365, Entra, Azure)
• Strong cybersecurity foundation: risk management, incident response, security operations; GDPR, ISO 27001, NIS2 awareness
• Experience shipping AI-enabled processes and tooling with governance
• Experience with SAP landscapes (S/4HANA, SuccessFactors) is a strong plus
• Commercial grasp of IT cost and multi-entity budgeting

Responsibilities

• Own IT & Security end-to-end: strategy, architecture, operations, and budget for the Foundation and wider ecosystem
• Be a trusted advisor to Executive Management on technology, security, and risk
• Develop and harden cybersecurity posture across a cloud-first landscape
• Position IT infrastructure and support as an AI-enabled service with user-centric experience
• Institutionalize the ecosystem governance model to scale innovation and standardization
• Drive AI enablement across all departments and automate core business processes end to end
• Lead and grow a capable team; govern external partners with clear accountability

Skills

IT leadership

Security leadership

Cloud architecture

SAP S/4HANA

SuccessFactors

Regulatory compliance

AI & automation

Budget management

Vendor management

Education

University degree in computer science or engineering

Commercial qualification

Tools

SAP S/4HANA

SuccessFactors

Job description

Director of Technology & Security (all genders)

The Hasso Plattner Foundation

Established by SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner, the Hasso Plattner Foundation builds and runs its own long-term philanthropic initiatives. It founds and funds institutions, shaping them over decades, such as the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering, Museum Barberini, and Sabine Plattner African Charities. An in-house Investment Office manages the endowment that makes it all possible.

In this role, you hold end-to-end ownership from strategy through execution, working with short decision paths and direct exposure to Executive Management in a lean, high-ownership environment.

From this position, you shape the technology agenda across a diverse ecosystem of charitable affiliates, relying on exceptional influencing skills and a genuine respect for each institution’s distinct mission, history, and responsibility.

Everything you design and build scales with purpose, serving science and education, art and culture, as well as social and conservation initiatives that are intended to endure.

This role is based in Potsdam, Germany. We work predominantly in-office, by design. It's how we keep decisions fast and collaboration real.

The Role

Join us as Director of IT & Information Security (all genders) in a high-impact leadership role: you own strategy, architecture, and security for the Hasso Plattner Foundation and shape the IT & Security agenda for our entire charitable ecosystem - including the renowned Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) - spanning across science & education, art & culture, and social & conservation.

This is a mandate to scale and build further, grounded in trust. Our ecosystem is growing, and it needs a secure, scalable, cloud-first backbone: unified standards, strong cybersecurity, a modern SAP core, and AI-enabled processes that scale through automation rather than headcount.

At the same time, you become the steward of what matters most: our data, assets both digital and physical, people, and reputation. You will shape several strategic decisions that come with this mandate: how we structure our infrastructure and tenants, how we govern AI across the ecosystem, and how we set up our CISO/security organization across our ecosystem. You define the target picture, make the calls, and deliver — as a strategic leader, a hands-on operator, and a trusted advisor to Executive Management.

You will also collaborate with the family’s private and investment office on selected technology and security topics.

If you want broad ownership, direct executive access, and the freedom to build things properly — with cybersecurity and AI innovation as your twin priorities — this is your platform.

Your Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Advisory

• Own IT & Security end-to-end: strategy, architecture, operations, and budget for the Foundation, and the agenda for the wider ecosystem.
• Be a trusted advisor to our Executive Management and senior ecosystem leadership on technology, security, and risk — with the discretion senior stakeholders expect.

Security

• Develop and harden our cybersecurity posture — security architecture, endpoint and identity management, incident response, and vendor security — keeping our data, assets, people, and associates safe across a cloud-first landscape.

Service & Governance

• Position IT infrastructure and support as a trusted, AI-enabled service: you optimize the service machine — satisfaction tracked, resolution fast, experience user-centric — with AI handling routine requests so your team can focus on what matters.
• Institutionalize the ecosystem governance model — standards, tier-based guidelines, and Centers of Expertise — to scale innovation across the ecosystem and drive cloud-first standardization and digitalization, including data governance and responsible data use across entities. The CoE approach starts with our established SAP CoE (S/4HANA, SuccessFactors, Concur); your role is to expand it to other areas.

AI & Digital Enablement

• Drive AI enablement across all departments and within our ecosystem: shared AI skills, approved tooling, responsible governance — and automate core business processes end to end.

People & Partners

• Lead and grow a capable team; govern external partners with clear accountability.

What You Bring

We don’t expect anyone to tick every box - if you bring most of this and are excited by the mandate, we’d like to hear from you.

• 15+ years of progressive IT and security leadership, ideally including scale-up or high-growth environments where you helped build and scale, not just maintain.
• Proven end-to-end ownership of IT and information security — architecture, operations, and budget — in a cloud-first Microsoft environment (predominantly M365, Entra, Azure), with hybrid and multi-cloud components.
• Strong cybersecurity foundation: risk management, incident response, security operations, and pragmatic application of frameworks (ISO 27001, BSI, GDPR, EU AI Act, NIS2).
• A practitioner’s record on AI and automation: you have shipped AI-enabled processes and tooling, with the governance to match.
• Experience with SAP landscapes (S/4HANA, SuccessFactors) is a strong plus.
• A commercial grasp of IT cost: you can assess whether IT spend is reasonable and value-justified, with a working grasp of cost allocation and recharging in a multi-entity setup.
• University degree in computer science, engineering, or comparable qualification; an additional commercial qualification is a plus.
• A track record of excellent feedback on your leadership from previous roles — teams, peers, and superiors who vouch for how you lead.

You Are...

• Decisive, calm under pressure, and absolutely discreet - you build trust with senior stakeholders and deliver on your commitments.
• A strategic IT and security leader who is comfortable owning architecture, operations, and budget end to end, and who thrives on turning complex mandates into clear, executable roadmaps.
• Well-connected in your peer group: an active member of senior, merit-based IT leadership communities and networks, so you bring in outside best practices and fresh perspectives - and keep our thinking current.
• Fluent in English; German a plus.
• Energized by working predominantly on-site in Potsdam in a lean, expert environment, where decisions are fast, expectations are high, and the impact of your work on science, education, art, and conservation is tangible.

What We Offer

• A lean team with short reporting lines and fast decisions: your work is visible to leadership from day one
• The entrepreneurial pace and ownership of a high-ambition organization, backed by the stability of a well-funded endowment
• AI tools in active use (n8n, Asana AI Studio); we’re early in the journey, building seriously; we see AI as a means to an end, not a headline
• Competitive compensation, state-of-the-art IT, public transport ticket, free lunch, excellent coffee, outdoor sports, and a beautiful lakeside office in Potsdam