A Bright Future For 100 Innovative Women In Tech

By Uta Spinger, SAP News

" Making the Future Visible: 100 Innovative Women in Tech " is a research project involving female scientists from the Institute for Research in Social Sciences (ISF) Munich and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg to determine whether the tech industry is creating opportunities for women. To get to the bottom of the query, researchers interviewed 100 women from various tech companies about their career paths, and the findings are clear: there is an impressive diversity of educational backgrounds – not limited to STEM fields – which has created many career opportunities in the IT industry.

The following key insights come from some of the female trailblazers who were interviewed as part of the project.

ISF Munich researcher Kira Marrs says, "Our key finding is optimistic: digital transformation is opening up new opportunities for women." She says it's important to think about how digitalization and gender equality fit together, and notes that we need to consider how to break with existing structures and look at what can be done to create even more opportunities.

Christine Regitz, global head of SAP Women in Tech, is the cofounder of the SAP Business Women's Network, head of SAP Women in Tech, and president of the German Informatics Society. She says that the number of women in tech has stagnated over the last 15 years, but the sector needs women who will shape its progress, especially given the skills shortage: "We need digital sovereignty to make conscious decisions. . . . It's about more than programming, we also need the skills and expertise to make digital technologies work for us."

Anja Bultemeier from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg agrees that it is no longer about the technology itself, but about how people interact with it, which is why new factors such as user experience are becoming increasingly important.

"Seeing technology through this new lens has created opportunities for women who do not have a technical background," she says. One study participant explained this change very neatly: "I don't sell technology, I sell solutions." Increasingly, non-tech women are heading up technical teams and shaping the strategies and visions that will produce the best-possible customer experience.

The researchers also found that taking a less traditional approach to hiring makes it easier for women to get a foot in the door – after all, when roles are flexibly defined, they are open to people who have an atypical background.

Take these women for example:

Eva Bacon's rather unconventional career path took her from studying literature to working for Google in New York – a perfect example of a non-tech woman at the center of the tech world. Bacon now oversees transformation projects as a senior program manager at Google. "Anything is possible in this job," she says.

Part of her work involves motivating and guiding her employees. At a workshop, she recalls, the participants were tasked with building houses out of spaghetti, and the instructor said to her, "You need to be the glue that holds everything together. We have enough people building houses. We now need someone who can make a city out of them." Being a born organizer, she found that an easy task. Abstract thinking, she says, is something that comes to her naturally.

What really helped her gain a foothold in the tech world, though, was the fact that she had taken the time to learn about HTML. Whenever she needed to know anything else, she would ask the computer geeks. But, she says that it is nevertheless important to have "a certain affinity for technology, and to have the confidence to tackle new topics and ask questions."

Back when Sarah Mang-Schaefer was in a high school art class, she set herself the ambitious goal of one day coming up with the advertising image of the century. These days, as head of a public cloud engineering team, she flexes her creative muscle in a more technical capacity. Although she went on to study computer science, she found that art and technology were not so different after all.

"To solve problems, you need to be creative," she says. She initially worked in neuroscience, which taught her the importance of networking. She then poured her energy into cancer research, teaming up with doctors to test software. In this role she realized what successful IT implementation was all about, namely understanding what customers want without them needing to ask for it.

At BSH, one of Europe's largest makers of home appliances, Fiona Taylor is the officer in charge of manufacturing strategy. A scientist by training, Taylor is on a mission to attract more women into manufacturing, because she firmly believes that gender diversity makes companies stronger.

With so few women in her industry, she knows all too well how it feels to be the lone woman in the room, which is one reason why she wants to see the situation change. Passionate about her work, she loves the variety her job brings "I work with so many different people across the company, from purchasing and manufacturing to logistics," Taylor says. "Being one of the people who determines where we invest and where we build new manufacturing plants, I can help ensure that we remain competitive as a German company. And it also means I can positively influence our corporate culture."

When she returned to work after having her second child, she was pleased to discover that the company's thinking had shifted. She was asked to head up manufacturing for the very reason that she thinks out of the box and asks the questions that need asking – and would be an ideal role model for combining a leadership position with working part-time. She urges women to "have the courage to start the conversation and drive change," and calls on other female leaders to mentor two other women to help them progress as well.

Stephanie Karger, head of Standard and Safety at BSH, is further proof that you don't have to work full time or have technical expertise to be an effective leader.

"We've adopted a new leadership style, one that is based on trust and equality," Karger says. "Whenever I need specialist technical knowledge, I simply ask my team." Women are more likely to see leadership roles in this way, which is something their team members also appreciate because it gives them the autonomy many of them desire.

At SAP, Anja Schneider has been global head of Premium Engagement & Advisory, Customer Services & Delivery since April 2024. Prior to that, she served for many years as Chief Operating Officer Technology & Innovation. "I enjoy creating impact – and being the person who is ultimately responsible when customers have a problem," she says. "Bringing together a whole network of experts to find a solution is rewarding."

Anja has never encountered anyone at SAP who doubted women's ability to lead. Her career has taken an unconventional path, too: she joined SAP from Germany's civil service.

Leaving the public sector for the private one was a leap into the unknown for her. But, as she puts it, challenges like this push us out of our comfort zone so that we can learn and grow. In her case, it took an open mindset and an interest in technology. Having a different perspective is also an advantage when it comes to being an advocate for the customer. According to Anja, a team of developers doesn't necessarily need another developer to lead it.

Eva Zauke, executive vice president of SAP Enterprise Adoption and engineering lead for SAP Labs Walldorf and St. Leon-Rot, is involved in examining how AI is changing the way we work and creating new careers for women. "AI is opening up opportunities to women who are ready to enhance their skills," she says. For instance, AI is leading to new roles in IT beyond traditional programming ones.

According to Eva, some of the careers emerging in the field of AI include data scientist, prompt engineer, ethics expert, interface designer, model engineer, and user experience designer. They also appeal to a wider spectrum of applicants, including graphic designers, people with a humanities background, and psychologists.

However, while AI can unlock opportunities for women, it can also perpetuate gender disparities because, as Eva says, data is biased: "AI inherits bias from the humans who program it." Having more women working on AI would, Eva believes, not only reduce data bias but also help fill the talent gap in Europe's tech sector.