Director – AI Project Management

Job description The Director of AI Project Management is a critical leadership role responsible for bridging the gap between our AI strategy and concrete execution. You will be the engine of delivery within our AI organization, leading a dedicated AI team. This role combines strategic program oversight with hands-on product ownership principles. You will own the end-to-end delivery of a complex portfolio of AI initiatives, from initial concept to deployment and iteration. You will ensure that business needs are clearly translated into actionable technical requirements and that our AI development teams are focused on solving the right problems. You will champion Agile best practices, tailored for the unique lifecycle of AI and machine learning projects, to foster a culture of rapid innovation, accountability, and results.Responsibilities1.Develop and execute a long-range AI research vision and roadmap that aligns with the company's strategic objectives and the CAIO's vision.2.Identify and prioritize research areas with the highest potential for transformative impact on retail, including but not limited to: demand forecasting, supply chain optimization, dynamic pricing, customer personalization, generative AI for marketing, and computer vision for in-store analytics.3.Lead, mentor, and cultivate a world-class team of PhD-level AI research scientists. Foster their professional growth and empower them to produce breakthrough research.4.Stay at the forefront of academic and industry research in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision (CV), and Generative AI (including LLMs and diffusion models).5.Direct research initiatives that aim to create novel algorithms and models.6.Bridge the gap between fundamental research and applied science. Oversee the transition of promising research prototypes into scalable, production-ready solutions in partnership with engineering and product teams.7.Collaborate closely with business leaders in Commercial , Store Operations , E-commerce , etc. to understand their core challenges and translate them into well-defined research problems.8.Effectively communicate complex research concepts and results to a wide range of audiences, from the C-suite to technical teams.9.Manage the research budget, high-performance computing (HPC) resources, and strategic academic partnerships.Key skills1.A PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.2.10+ years of experience in AI/ML research, with at least 5+ years in a leadership or management capacity, guiding a team of researchers.3.Direct experience applying AI in the retail or e-commerce is a plus4.A strong publication record in top-tier, peer-reviewed AI/ML conferences and journals.5.Deep technical expertise in at least two of the following areas: Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, NLP/LLMs, or Computer Vision.6.Proven experience in applying theoretical research to solve complex, real-world problems.7.Proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.8.Familiarity with MLOps principles and deploying models in a cloud environment (GCP, AWS, Azure).9.Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to inspire and motivate a team.