Director of AI

Our client, an AI-driven startup within the manufacturing industry, is hiring a hands‑on Director of AI to join their team in San Jose, CA. The successful candidate will play a key role in shaping the company’s AI vision, developing the knowledge graph, agentic systems and machine learning infrastructure that drive intelligent decision‑making across global manufacturing operations.

• Lead the design, development and evolution of the company's AI and machine learning architecture.
• Build, deploy and scale production‑grade knowledge graph systems that power intelligent decision‑making.
• Develop advanced AI agents capable of reasoning across complex manufacturing, supply chain and operational datasets.
• Create intelligent planning, forecasting and decision‑support solutions using real‑time data.
• Collaborate closely with founders, engineers and customers to transform industry challenges into practical AI‑powered products.
• Establish and maintain best practices for model development, deployment, evaluation, monitoring and governance.
• Support the growth of the AI function by helping to recruit, mentor and develop future AI and machine learning team members.

• At least 6 years of experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning or applied research, with a strong record of delivering real‑world impact.
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning or similar.
• Demonstrate a proven ability to build, deploy and scale AI and machine learning systems in production environments.
• Have hands‑on experience designing, implementing and managing knowledge graph solutions at scale.
• Possess deep expertise in agentic AI, reasoning frameworks, retrieval systems or multi‑agent architectures.
• Show a strong understanding of modern machine learning infrastructure, MLOps practices and model lifecycle management.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Track record of building and scaling enterprise SaaS products and platforms is a plus.
• Exposure to manufacturing, supply chain or industrial technology environments is a bonus.

• Salary: $160,000-$180,000
• Meaningful Equity.
• Flexible hybrid working.