Senior Director, Enterprise AI & Automation

About the role

Applied Materials is seeking a visionary engineering leader to drive enterprise‑wide strategy and execution of AI, Generative AI, agentic automation, MLOps, and robotic process automation. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, the role owns the full AI/GenAI lifecycle from ideation and proof‑of‑concept to production deployment and enablement.

Key responsibilities

• Define and execute the Enterprise AI/GenAI strategy across domains such as contract analytics, quality, finance, and supply chain.
• Architect and govern multi‑agent AI frameworks, deploying LLM‑powered tools at scale and ensuring responsible AI use.
• Lead end‑to‑end MLOps programs, including training pipelines, CI/CD for ML, feature stores, and production monitoring.
• Build and operate the RPA Center of Excellence, delivering cost‑avoidance and efficiency gains through modern RPA platforms.
• Collaborate with security, legal, and infrastructure teams to streamline PoC cycles, standardize sizing, and ensure compliant AI deployment.

Required profile

• 15+ years in software engineering, data science, or AI/ML with at least 7 years leading large engineering or AI teams.
• Proven track record delivering enterprise‑scale AI/GenAI programs and scaling production MLOps platforms.
• Experience deploying RPA at scale (UiPath, Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere) and hands‑on work with agentic AI frameworks.
• Experience leading AI governance, legal, and security review processes in regulated or enterprise environments.

Required skills

• Python with modern AI/ML libraries (PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain).
• Deep LLM expertise: fine‑tuning, prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation, domain adaptation.
• Multi‑cloud AI platforms: Azure AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI.
• MLOps tooling: Databricks/MLflow, Kubeflow, SageMaker.
• RPA development and platform management: UiPath AutoPilot.
• Agentic AI frameworks: LangChain, AutoGen, CrewAI, Model Context Protocol (MCP).

What we offer

• Competitive salary range of $224,000 – $308,000 per year.
• Location in Santa Clara, CA with a supportive work culture that encourages learning and growth.
• Comprehensive benefits package, bonus eligibility, and stock award program.
• Opportunities to influence enterprise AI strategy and represent the company at industry conferences.