Senior Manager, Applied AI​/ML

In UDX’s Digital & Technology team, we support our global parks by providing the data, advanced analytics, and technology needed to create extraordinary experiences. By knowing our guests’ hearts and minds, we deliver relevant, bespoke moments throughout the Universal journey ensuring a vacation experience like no other.

The Senior Manager of Applied AI/ML will lead a multidisciplinary team of data scientists, AI/ML engineers, data engineers, and developers to design and deploy enterprise‑scale AI solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. This role combines strategic vision with hands‑on leadership, guiding teams to deliver production‑ready systems that enhance business performance and customer experiences. Key responsibilities include managing a portfolio of applied AI/ML initiatives, translating strategy into execution, embedding responsible AI practices, and fostering a culture of innovation.

The ideal candidate will be a collaborative leader, committed to developing talent, championing technical rigor, and enabling innovation at scale across the organization.

• Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary team of data scientists, data engineers and AI/ML practitioners, promoting collaboration, continuous learning, and high‑impact delivery.
• Recruit, develop, and retain a high‑performing AI development team by setting clear goals, providing regular coaching and feedback, and fostering a culture of innovation and experimentation.
• Create individualized growth plans to advance team members’ technical depth and leadership capabilities.
• Oversee team performance, ensuring alignment with business goals and timely execution of key initiatives.
• Manage project timelines, prioritize resources effectively, and ensure delivery within scope and schedule.
• Facilitate monthly, quarterly, and annual planning to align team objectives with broader enterprise strategies.

• Help define the strategy for AI products, balancing near‑term deliverables with long‑term platform evolution.
• Stay abreast of the rapidly evolving GenAI ecosystem. Systematically compare open‑source and commercial large‑language‑model families across benchmarks, licensing terms, latency/cost profiles, and safety features; generate data‑driven recommendations on which models to adopt, fine‑tune, or replace.
• Translate enterprise AI strategy into a prioritized backlog of initiatives with clear business cases, resource plans, and success metrics.
• Partner with Product, Infrastructure, Architecture, Security, and Legal teams to align on scope, timelines, and responsible‑AI requirements.
• Communicate complex technical concepts and program status to senior leadership, championing the value of AI initiatives.

• Oversee AI/ML development, architecture, code quality, and product‑lifecycle best practices in AI/ML to ensure scalable, maintainable, and secure solutions in production.
• Engage with internal/external partners to gather requirements and collaborate with technology engineers, architects and business stakeholders to design a robust solution.
• Remove roadblocks, manage sprint ceremonies, and track velocity, quality, and reliability KPIs.
• Establish governance for product monitoring, drift detection, and incident response.
• Understand and actively participate in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established UO policy, procedures, training and team member involvement activities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science or a relevant applied quantitative field is required.

• 9+ years’ experience in applied‑AI, data science or software‑engineering roles, with 3+ years managing technical teams delivering end‑to‑end AI/ML products in production; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Deep expertise in modern ML/AI frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Tensor Flow, Lang Chain) and cloud AI services (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• GenAI Model Fluency:
  Demonstrated expertise with the current landscape of foundation models (instruction‑tuned, code, vision, speech, multi‑modal) and…