"We assume that we will have more employees at the end of the year than we have now," Cawa Younosi, head of human resources (HR) told business daily Handelsblatt.

SAP announced in January that around 4,400 staff are to leave but that its overall headcount would rise.

The company needs experts in growth areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and the internet of things, Younosi said, adding competitors were also looking for new staff.

SAP is set to a take a restructuring charge of 800-950 million euros ($906.80-1.08 billion), mainly in the first quarter, to reshape its business.

The supervisory board is to meet on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by Jason Neely)