Director of Applied AI

webAI•Austin, TX

31d

About The Position

The Director of Applied AI will play a pivotal leadership role in designing, developing, and deploying advanced AI solutions for public sector and enterprise customers. You will lead a cross-functional team of engineers and applied scientists to deliver mission-critical AI capabilities, architect novel approaches leveraging distributed AI infrastructure, and partner closely with customers to understand their needs and translate them into scalable, impactful solutions. This role requires deep technical expertise, strong communication and leadership skills, and the ability to drive execution in high-stakes, rapidly evolving environments. You will help shape webAI’s applied research strategy, mentor teams, and ensure we deliver world-class AI technologies that align with customer missions and business goals.

Requirements

You need to code! Every leader in this company is hands-on.
8+ years of experience in applied machine learning, AI engineering, or related fields, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
Proven track record designing and deploying an AI product.
Strong expertise with LLMs, generative AI, machine learning workflows.
Hands-on experience building or integrating AI systems for customer-facing applications.
Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, etc.).
Experience leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple high-impact projects simultaneously.
Ability to communicate complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.

Nice To Haves

Master's or PhD in a technical discipline such as Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, or Applied Mathematics.
Background in distributed systems, edge computing, or privacy-preserving ML.
Experience deploying AI models on-device or in constrained compute environments.
Familiarity with MLOps, data pipelines, and scalable inference architectures.
Strong understanding of security, compliance, and data governance considerations in enterprise or public sector contexts.
Ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced, high-growth startup environments.

Responsibilities

Lead the design, development, and deployment of applied AI systems built on webAI’s distributed AI platform.
Engage directly with public sector and commercial customers to translate mission needs into technical requirements and scalable solutions.
Guide teams in training, fine-tuning, optimizing, and evaluating large language models and multimodal models for domain-specific applications.
Oversee technical execution across multiple parallel projects, ensuring high-quality delivery under tight deadlines.
Collaborate with Infrastructure, Platform Engineering, and Product teams to align applied AI initiatives with overall product strategy.
Build and mentor a high-performing applied AI team, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and hands-on problem solving.
Drive architectural decisions related to edge inference, distributed processing, privacy-preserving AI, and real-time performance.
Establish rigorous evaluation methodologies, benchmarks, and validation frameworks for AI model performance and system reliability.
Identify emerging trends, technologies, and research areas that can accelerate mission impact and product differentiation.
Present complex technical concepts to leaders, customers, and stakeholders in a clear and compelling manner.