Associate Director of AI Infrastructure

Associate Director of AI Infrastructure

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At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 22 offices worldwide.

Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

Are you energized by building secure, scalable AI platforms that turn bold ideas into enterprise-ready solutions? As AI Infrastructure Lead, you’ll design, manage, and continuously optimize the firm’s end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure—powering innovation initiatives and production‑grade AI systems alike. This role sits at the intersection of Innovation and Information Technology (IT), serving as the primary bridge between structured governance and fast‑moving experimentation.

You’ll oversee all AI environments, from on‑premise graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters to Microsoft Azure artificial intelligence and machine learning services (Azure AI/ML), while leading high‑performing teams responsible for engineering, architecture, and operations. Your work will directly enable secure experimentation, reliable delivery, and long‑term scalability aligned with the firm’s strategic objectives.

• AI Infrastructure Ownership: Lead and manage all AI environments—including on‑premises GPU clusters, Azure AI/ML services, and custom AI platforms—ensuring performance, reliability, and compliance.
• Innovation Enablement: Create guardrails that allow Innovation teams to rapidly experiment, develop, and deploy AI solutions with confidence.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Guide and develop AI Engineering, AI Architecture, and Azure AI Operations teams through hands‑on leadership and technical direction.
• Custom Platform Delivery: Coordinate the design and rollout of custom‑built AI platforms that support innovation initiatives and practice‑specific needs.
• Enterprise Integration & Scale: Ensure AI infrastructure integrates seamlessly with enterprise systems and scales to meet future workloads.
• Security & Responsible AI Governance: Partner with Risk and Responsible AI teams to uphold security, governance, and compliance standards across all AI environments.
• Performance Optimization: Monitor system performance, manage capacity planning, and implement continuous improvements for AI workloads.
• Strategic Road mapping: Collaborate with Innovation leadership to define and execute a long‑term AI infrastructure strategy.
• Vendor & Cloud Management: Manage relationships with cloud providers and hardware vendors to optimize procurement, cost, and performance.

• Education: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience: 8+ years in cloud architecture or high‑performance computing environments, including 5+ years managing AI or machine learning (ML) platforms.
• AI Infrastructure Expertise: Deep knowledge of Azure AI/ML services, on‑premise GPU clusters, and enterprise‑scale AI deployments.
• Engineering & Operations Practices: Strong understanding of AI engineering, machine learning operations (MLOps), and containerization tools such as Kubernetes and Docker.
• People Leadership: Proven experience leading technical or engineering teams and delivering complex infrastructure initiatives.
• Developer Enablement: Background designing infrastructure that supports data scientists and developers through rapid iteration workflows.
• Security & Governance Awareness: Familiarity with security, compliance, and governance frameworks for AI systems.
• Influence & Communication: Ability to clearly communicate across technical and business teams and influence decision‑makers in complex environments.
• Change Leadership: Experie…