Bill McDermott is stepping down as chief executive at SAP after a decade building it into the world’s leading enterprise software company. The task of completing a transition to cloud computing will be left to two new co-chief executives, Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein.

SAP announced the management overhaul, to take effect immediately, after rushing out third-quarter results on Thursday that showed it gaining traction in its drive to offer a more streamlined range of services and improve profitability.

During his tenure, Mr. McDermott struck a string of multibillion-dollar deals that established SAP as Europe’s pre-eminent technology group but also created complexity that frustrated many clients.

“SAP would not be what it is today without Bill McDermott,” said Hasso Plattner, a co-founder of SAP and chairman of the company’s supervisory board. “Bill made invaluable contributions to this company, and he was a main driver of SAP’s transition to the cloud, which will fuel our growth for many years to come.”