Sr. Manager, AI & Machine Learning

Zapier • San Francisco, CA

1d • Remote

About The Position

Are you ready to lead a dynamic and innovative team at the forefront of AI and Machine Learning? We’re thrilled to invite you to join the Data team at Zapier as a Senior Manager, Machine Learning & AI.
You’ll play a critical role in shaping our AI & ML strategy, guiding the development and deployment of cutting-edge models, platforms, and tools, and empowering teams across Zapier to leverage AI & ML effectively. Your leadership will be instrumental in scaling our AI/ML capabilities and outcomes—balancing platform enablement work (that helps product teams build with AI/ML faster and more safely) with applied delivery work (that ships high-impact AI/ML solutions directly and through reusable AI/ML data products). You’ll partner closely with senior leaders across Product and Engineering to ensure our AI/ML investments deliver tangible business value and align with our overall company goals.

Requirements

• You have 8+ years of experience in Machine Learning and AI with a track record of leading teams and projects that deliver high-impact solutions. You have experience leading the end-to-end lifecycle of ML projects, from ideation to deployment and monitoring, and are familiar with the challenges and opportunities in scaling ML/AI systems.
• You possess strong leadership and strategic planning skills. You’ve successfully led technical teams - both engineers and managers - through ambiguity, set clear goals, and driven your organization to meet them. You have a knack for aligning AI/ML strategies with business objectives and can effectively communicate the value of these technologies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• You have deep technical expertise in ML/AI, including a strong understanding of model development, evaluation, data pipeline optimization, and deployment strategies. You’re well-versed in AI/ML frameworks and tools, and you can guide teams in selecting the right technologies and methodologies for each project—especially when balancing speed, safety, reliability, and cost.
• You have a solid foundation in data and software engineering. You understand the importance of clean, reproducible code and are familiar with best practices in data engineering, MLOps/LLMOps, and CI/CD pipelines.
• You operate at a portfolio level with strong product and business thinking: you proactively identify high-leverage opportunities for AI/ML (not just respond to known problems), translate them into a clear roadmap with measurable user and business outcomes, and build the cross-functional alignment and operating mechanisms needed to deliver impact at scale—communicating effectively with stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and beyond.
• You understand that perfect is the enemy of good. You will default to action by initially shipping solutions that simply work and work simply while iterating as needed.
• You are a coach at heart: You understand that leading a team is about coaching and mentoring people on stakeholder management, communication and other soft skills and you’re comfortable redirecting people gracefully when they could be on a better path.
• You have helped people develop their career plans: You understand how to help people find their strengths and give them opportunities to grow and develop them.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage teams of AI & Machine Learning Engineers to deliver high-impact AI/ML initiatives that drive business value and align with company goals.
• Own, execute, and iteratively evolve Zapier’s AI/ML strategy—ensuring our models, platforms, and tooling are scalable, reliable, and aligned with business needs, and continuously refining direction based on learnings, stakeholder input, and measurable outcomes.
• Coach and guide your teams in the development and deployment of machine learning models and AI-enabled systems, providing technical expertise and strategic direction while maintaining a high bar for safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities for AI/ML to enhance our products and services, and to drive the integration of AI capabilities across the organization—whether through direct engagements with product teams or by enabling product teams via shared platforms and tools.
• Foster a culture of innovation within the AI/ML org, encouraging experimentation and the adoption of new technologies and methodologies while keeping delivery pragmatic and value-focused.
• Communicate AI/ML strategy, tradeoffs, and results with clarity—aligning stakeholders, accelerating decisions, and making measurable progress visible across the company.
• Design and continuously run the operating rhythms that keep AI/ML execution predictable - regular prioritization and roadmap alignment, clear quality and launch bars, and tight cross-team coordination - so we consistently ship near-term wins while compounding long-term leverage through reuse and enablement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed