Principal AI Product Manager Job Rockford area,Illinois USA,IT/Tech

Principal AI Product Manager

Define and drive the long‑term product strategy for AI‑powered agents and intelligent workflows across IFS Nexus Black, shaping vision, platform strategy, and high‑impact investments.

Key Responsibilities

Define AI Product Strategy

Own the multi‑year roadmap for AI agents, orchestration systems, and AI‑enabled workflows.
Identify platform‑level opportunities across verticals and prioritize investments.
Define product principles for responsible, scalable, enterprise‑grade AI.
Partner with executive leadership to align AI strategy with company goals.

Lead AI Platform & Capability Development

Define core AI capabilities (retrieval, agent frameworks, evaluation systems, safety layers) as reusable platform primitives.
Balance experimentation velocity with enterprise reliability and compliance.
Establish success metrics for AI quality, safety, adoption, and ROI.
Guide build‑vs‑buy decisions for models, infrastructure, and tooling.

Translate AI Potential into Market Impact

Identify cross‑industry AI use cases with scalable product potential.
Develop monetization and packaging strategies for AI features.
Partner with GTM teams to define positioning and competitive differentiation.
Drive enterprise adoption and value realization.

Drive Cross‑Functional Execution

Lead cross‑functional initiatives spanning engineering, data, design, and sales.
Ensure product discovery, experimentation, and validation are structured and measurable.
Oversee product lifecycle from concept to scaled deployment.
Set standards for AI experimentation, evaluation, and iteration.

Elevate Product Discipline Across the Organization

Mentor senior PMs and establish AI product best practices.
Introduce frameworks for evaluating AI product opportunities.
Shape hiring and team structure for AI product capability.
Act as a thought partner to Principal Engineers and AI leadership.

What We’re Offering

Salary Range: $175,000 – $190,000, plus bonus
Flexible paid time off, including sick and holiday
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
401(k) with company contribution
Flexible spending accounts
Life insurance and disability benefits
Tuition assistance
Community involvement and volunteering events

Experience & Qualifications

10+ years in product management, with significant experience in AI/ML‑driven products.
Track record of leading 0→1 and 1→scale AI products.
Experience defining platform strategy across multiple product lines.
Demonstrated impact at company or portfolio level.

AI & Technical Fluency

Strong understanding of LLMs and agent systems, retrieval‑augmented generation, evaluation methodologies (offline/online testing), model tradeoffs (cost, latency, quality).
Ability to engage deeply with engineering on architecture and tradeoffs.

Leadership & Business Impact

Proven executive influence and strategic thinking.
Experience owning revenue‑impacting product lines.
Strong commercial acumen and enterprise pricing strategy experience.
Ability to operate at ambiguity and define structure for others.

EEO Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. VEVRAA Federal Contractor, Equal Opportunity Employer.

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