Director, AI & Automation

About TEGNA

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) helps people thrive in their local communities by providing the trusted local news and services that matter most. With 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA reaches more than 100 million people monthly across the web, mobile apps, streaming, and linear television. Together, we are building a sustainable future for local news.

TEGNA is seeking an enterprise-focused technology leader to spearhead the development and implementation of advanced AI solutions. This individual will be responsible for incubating ideas, rapid prototyping and validation of emerging technologies, ensuring concepts are effectively transformed into functional solutions. This position centers on enterprise-wide automation through Agentic AI, aiming to enhance operations across all business and media workflows.

The ideal candidate will possess substantial technical expertise in AI orchestration, distributed systems, and cloud platforms, along with the ability to lead a small, high-performing team within a dynamic, innovation-driven environment.

• Lead the "innovation lab" for AI. Design modular AI architectures and execute rapid POCs and pilots to validate technical feasibility.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a specialized team of AI engineers. Provide technical guidance, and champion best practices in a matrixed onshore-offshore model.
• Partner with business stakeholders to translate business needs into technical specifications. Evaluate and recommend new technologies—such as LLMs, orchestration frameworks, and vector databases—ensuring alignment with TEGNA’s enterprise architecture and security policies.
• Oversee the design and maintenance of scalable AI pipelines and shared services (prompt libraries, RAG pipelines). Drive automation in AI ops. Oversee the building of efficient, reusable code and APIs for AI model integration and user interfaces for AI-powered features.

• 12‑15 years in technology leadership, with 2 years specifically focused on AI/automation strategy, architecture, or platform enablement. Proven track record of delivering impactful AI solutions and managing high‑performing engineering teams.
• Deep understanding of Generative AI (LLMs, RAG) and Agentic AI (multi‑agent systems, autonomous workflows). Proficiency in AI/ML frameworks such as Tensor Flow, PyTorch, or scikit‑learn.
• Expertise in cloud‑native AI platforms (Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, or Google Vertex AI). Advanced SQL and strong Python skills (Pandas, PySpark) for data manipulation and pipeline development.
• Strong understanding of Agile methodologies, Jira, and version control (Git). Experience managing the end‑to‑end lifecycle of multiple AI projects from planning to monitoring.
• Exceptional communication and "storytelling" skills to articulate complex AI concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field.

$175,000 - $200,000 USD

TEGNA offers comprehensive benefits designed to safeguard the physical, mental and financial health of our employees and their families. TEGNA offers two medical plan options for full and part‑time employees through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, as well as access to dental and eye care coverage; fertility, surrogacy and adoption assistance; disability and life insurance. Our 401(k) program offers full, part‑time and temporary employees the opportunity to contribute 1% - 80% of their pay on a pre‑tax basis to TEGNA’s 401(k).

Contributions made up to the first 4% of pay are eligible for a 100% match from the company and are 100% vested from day one. Regardless of participation in TEGNA medical plans, all employees and their eligible family members receive nine free virtual doctor’s appointments with a physician through Teladoc, and 12 free annual therapy sessions with a licensed clinician through Spring Health.

TEGNA offers a generous Paid Time Off (PTO) benefit as well as nine paid holidays per year.

* Some jobs are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and thus some or all of the benefits described herein may…