Sr Mgr - E&O Automation & AI

United Airlines•Chicago, IL

7d•$140,600 - $183,108

About The Position

United's Digital Technology team is comprised of many talented individuals all working together with cutting-edge technology to build the best airline in the history of aviation. Our team designs, develops and maintains massively scaling technology solutions brought to life with innovative architectures, data analytics, and digital solutions. The Manager of Automation & AI is responsible for leading the strategy, governance, development, and adoption of industry leading automation and Artificial Intelligence capabilities across the Engineering and Operations, and Digital Technology services. This role focuses on identifying, prioritizing, designing, implementing and measuring success of solutions that improve service reliability, operational efficiency, employee productivity, and customer outcomes. The position serves as a key transformation leader, partnering with engineering, AI COE, operations, platform, service management, and business teams to create and execute an enterprise automation and AI roadmap. The role drives the adoption of modern technologies including workflow automation, orchestration, agentic AI, generative AI, self-healing operations, and intelligent service delivery capabilities. This leader is accountable for building scalable delivery models, establishing governance standards, developing workforce capabilities, and ensuring that automation and AI investments generate measurable business value with the appropriate metrics. The role balances strategic planning with hands-on execution leadership to accelerate technology modernization and operational transformation initiatives

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business Administration, Data Analytics, or related field
5+ years progressive technology leadership experience
3+ years leading automation, AI, platform engineering, operational excellence, or transformation initiatives
Ability to manage and coordinate all aspects of department operation including tactical & strategic planning, budgeting, staffing, resource allocation, coaching, mentoring, providing direction, delivering reviews, setting objectives, etc
Ability to directly manage one or more department cost centers
Ability to manage capital and operational budgets for department/projects including forecasting needs, appropriation requests, tracking costs, investigating variances, making corrections, etc
Strong subject matter expertise in the fields of IT automation and AI
Expert knowledge of IT infrastructure best practices, procedures and standards
Prior IT infrastructure leadership experience
Project management skills
Working knowledge and/or hands on experience with as many as possible of the following areas:
Leadership experience and the ability to guide and inspire a team
A mindset for continuous learning and staying updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices
Experience in common architecture frameworks such as Microservices, API management
Experience in Robotic Process automation
Experience in designing and building applications using AWS (or other hyperscalers) cloud architecture & services and support of highly available and resilient multi-region platforms
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business Administration, Data Analytics, or related field
8+ years progressive technology leadership experience
A proven track record managing departmental teams in large, multi-platform mission critical IT environments that are complex, diverse and fast paced

Responsibilities

Define and execute the Engineering and Operations Automation & AI implementation plan and strategy
Develop and maintain a prioritized automation and AI roadmap aligned to organizational goals
Establish governance processes, intake models, prioritization frameworks, and value realization methodologies
Lead identification and evaluation of automation and AI opportunities across infrastructure, operations, engineering, service management, and platform teams
Create executive-level metrics and reporting that demonstrate business value, efficiency gains, and operational improvements
Partner with senior technology leaders to align investments and priorities
Define standards, methodologies, reusable patterns, development practices, and guardrails
Drive consistency across automation, workflow orchestration, agentic AI, generative AI, and intelligent operations initiatives across Engineering and Operations
Create governance structures for use case intake, backlog management, delivery execution, and operational support
Promote enterprise adoption through community engagement, communications, coaching, and best practice sharing
Manage staffing models and capability development plans
Lead matrixed teams responsible for development and deployment of automation and AI solutions
Manage end-to-end lifecycle activities including ideation, design, development, testing, deployment, adoption, measurement, and continuous improvement
Facilitate sprint planning, backlog prioritization, release management, and delivery reviews as appropriate
Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, measurable, and aligned with enterprise architecture standards
Partner with service owners and operational teams to identify manual, repetitive, and high-volume activities suitable for automation
Drive implementation of self-service capabilities, workflow automation, intelligent ticket routing, predictive operations, and self-healing solutions
Reduce operational toil and increase efficiency through automation-first practices
Build Engineering and Operations organizational Automation & AI capabilities through training, coaching, and workforce enablement programs
Partner with service owners, AI COE, and engineering teams to identify, prioritize, and implement high-value AI and automation opportunities
Lead adoption of automation-first and AI-enabled ways of working across technology teams
Develop talent pipelines, career paths, and skill development plans supporting future-state technology capabilities
Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, collaboration, and accountability
Develop business cases, funding strategies, and investment plans for Automation & AI initiatives for Engineering and Operations
Manage budgets, resource allocations, vendor engagements, and financial forecasts supporting the Automation & AI portfolio
Measure and communicate realized value through productivity gains, cost avoidance, capacity creation, and operational efficiency improvements
Provide executive reporting and performance metrics to ensure investments align with strategic business outcomes