Staff AI Enablement, Manufacturing Lead

Illumina • San Diego, CA

1d

About The Position

The Staff AI Enablement, Manufacturing Lead at Illumina is a pivotal role driving the adoption, scale, and real-world impact of AI and intelligent automation across Instrument and Consumables Manufacturing. This position is at the forefront of Illumina’s AI transformation, translating cutting-edge AI innovation into operational advantage. The role involves enabling teams to understand AI possibilities, generating high-value demand, and delivering prioritized solutions. Serving as a catalyst for change, this individual champions training, enablement, and adoption to seamlessly embed AI into daily operations. Blending strong business influence, operational expertise, and AI fluency with a solid technical foundation, the Lead partners closely with AI and automation developers to bring Generative AI applications, intelligent workflows, agentic AI, and automation services to life. This is a unique opportunity to shape how AI scales across manufacturing at a company dedicated to advancing human health globally.

Requirements

• Typically requires 10+ years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 8+ years with a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 6+ years of experience; or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience in Global Operations, Manufacturing, Quality, or related environments.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross functional transformation.
• Strong understanding of life sciences manufacturing processes and systems, including LIMS, EAM, Industry 4.0, Digital Twin, and OT environments.
• Solid understanding of applied AI, agentic AI, and automation capabilities (e.g., LLMs, workflow automation, predictive models).
• Technical fluency to lead and partner across AI engineering, automation development, and low code platforms.
• Experience with RPA, LLMs, orchestration tools, or process mining (e.g., UiPath, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Anthropic).
• Experience managing global project portfolios, agile teams, and end to end solution delivery lifecycles.

Nice To Haves

• Hands on experience deploying AI and automation solutions in complex operational environments.
• Familiarity with enterprise AI governance, risk management, and compliance frameworks.
• Exposure to MES, QMS, ERP, planning systems, or related manufacturing technologies.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or operational excellence certification.

Responsibilities

• Partner with manufacturing sites and value streams to identify high value AI and automation opportunities and shape an actionable demand pipeline.
• Facilitate discovery sessions, process reviews, and value assessments to align opportunities with operational priorities.
• Translate operational challenges into well defined AI and automation use cases, solution concepts, and ROI projections.
• Partner with IT and business stakeholders to execute RPA, Generative AI, and Agentic AI solutions.
• Lead intake, scoping, sprint planning, and delivery to ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with enterprise AI governance and emerging AI CoE practices.
• Collaborate closely with IT Automation & AI teams and platform owners to ensure technology readiness, security, and compliance.
• Assess and drive adoption of AI capabilities integrated with SAP EAM, Industry 4.0, Digital Twin, and other OT and manufacturing technologies.
• Design and deploy comprehensive training programs to accelerate AI literacy and adoption across manufacturing operations.
• Develop enablement assets including playbooks, FAQs, demos, usage guidelines, and citizen developer guardrails.
• Establish feedback loops to continuously improve training, tooling, and solution usability across functions.
• Upskill manufacturing teams to effectively leverage AI in their day to day work.
• Drive change management strategies that support new AI solutions, ensuring strong stakeholder engagement, communication, and user readiness.
• Track adoption and performance metrics, measure business impact, and report value realization to senior leadership.
• Support cultural transformation toward data driven, AI enabled manufacturing operations.
• Contribute to Global Operations’ AI roadmap, aligning AI capabilities with long term operational excellence and innovation goals.
• Stay current on AI, LLM, and automation trends and apply insights to guide technology evolution and solution design.
• Serve as a visible champion for responsible, secure, and value driven AI adoption across the enterprise.

Benefits

• access to genomics sequencing
• family planning
• health/dental/vision
• retirement benefits
• paid time off
• variable cash programs (bonus or commission)
• equity as part of the compensation package
• inclusive environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute to our mission
• zero-net gap in pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race
• Employee Resource Groups (ERG) that deliver career development experiences, increase cultural awareness, and offer opportunities to engage in social responsibility

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior