Technical Lead, Enterprise Data & AI (Director)

Radiant•El Segundo, CA

11h

About The Position

We're building a new team to own Radiant's internal data infrastructure, executive analytics, and AI capabilities. As the Technical Lead (Director), you'll set the technical direction for the team—architecting the data platform, owning the AI strategy, and ensuring we make the right build-vs-buy decisions. This is a player-coach role. You'll lead technical direction and mentor engineers, but you'll also go hands-on when needed. You'll own the AI vendor evaluation process, which is critical given our ITAR/EAR security requirements—standard AI tools don't work out of the box, and we need someone who can navigate the landscape and find compliant solutions.

Requirements

10+ years of software or data engineering experience, including hands-on AI/ML work
Deep understanding of the AI landscape—you can evaluate vendor tools, understand RAG architectures, and advise on build-vs-buy tradeoffs
Data platform architecture experience—you've designed and built systems on Databricks, Snowflake, or similar
Strong technical leadership—you can set direction, mentor engineers, and interface effectively with non-technical stakeholders
Hands-on ability—you're a player-coach who can write code when needed, not just draw diagrams

Nice To Haves

Background in hardware, aerospace, or defense—you understand manufacturing data, supply chain systems, and the complexity of physical product development
Experience shipping AI products or building AI capabilities at a company (not just research)
Experience with data integration tools (Fivetran, Airbyte, dbt)
Experience in regulated environments (SOC 2, FedRAMP, ITAR)
Familiarity with BI/analytics tools (Looker, Tableau, Power BI, Databricks dashboards)

Responsibilities

Set technical direction: Define the architecture for our data platform (Databricks, Fivetran, dbt) and AI tooling; make build-vs-buy decisions
Own AI strategy: Evaluate and select AI platforms (chatbot, enterprise search, specialized tools) that meet security requirements; lead RAG evaluation in H2
Lead technical delivery: Ensure the ION-Ramp integration, dashboards, and AI tools are built correctly; hands-on when needed
Mentor engineers: Set the technical bar for hiring; develop the DevOps and Data Platform Engineers on the team
Interface with SWE: Coordinate with the Software Engineering team on shared Databricks infrastructure; ensure operational and engineering workloads coexist
Navigate security: Work with IT/Security to ensure all technical decisions meet ITAR/EAR compliance requirements

Benefits

Health/dental/vision
401(k)
Flexible PTO
Stock: Substantial incentive stock plan for all full-time employees.
Medical: 100% premium coverage for base Silver level plan for employee + 50% premium coverage for dependents. Platinum plans available.
One Medical: Sponsored memberships for eligible employees and their dependents.
Vision: 100% premium coverage for top tier plan + 50% for dependents.
Dental: 100% premium coverage for top tier plan (including orthodontia) + 50% for dependents.
Voluntary life, accident, hospital, critical illness, commuter and FSA/HSA are offered as employee contributed benefits.
8-weeks of paid parental leave for all parents. Additional paid pregnancy leave for CA employees.
Daily catered lunch. Free snacks and drinks.
Flexible PTO policy. Remote workday allocation.
Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and in-person camaraderie.
Beautiful El Segundo headquarters close to the Pacific Ocean.