Director, Applied AI Engineering- Enterprise

Following a record-breaking Q4 2025—our strongest revenue quarter to date, with Enterprise delivering our largest bookings ever—we are accelerating enterprise adoption of frontier data and models through complex, production-grade AI agents.

The Applied AI team works on the front lines of the AI revolution, partnering deeply with customers to identify high-impact business problems and build cutting-edge AI systems using Scale’s proprietary research, data, and infrastructure—unlocking domain expertise through high-quality data and expert feedback.

As Director of Applied AI, you will own the strategy, execution, and growth of a high-impact organization, working directly with some of the world’s most sophisticated enterprises to translate generative AI breakthroughs into measurable business outcomes through team building, technical leadership, and deep customer partnerships.

This role is ideal for a leader who thrives in ambiguity, understands both frontier GenAI capabilities and their limitations, and is motivated by turning research into durable, production-ready systems.

What You’ll Do

• Drive enterprise impact with GenAI: Partner directly with customers to identify high-leverage opportunities for generative AI, design solutions, and deliver production systems that create clear business value.
• Lead and scale a GenAI-native Applied AI organization: Build, mentor, and manage multiple teams of Applied AI Engineers and ML Engineers who are native to modern GenAI technologies, agentic systems, and multimodal models.
• Set technical and strategic direction: Define best practices for agent development, evaluation, deployment, and iteration across customer engagements and internal product efforts.
• Bridge frontier research to real-world applications: Translate advances in LLMs, multimodal models, and agentic workflows into practical, scalable solutions across industries.
• Discover model limitations and inspire innovation: Identify failure modes, inefficiencies, and gaps in current models; use these insights to influence internal research, product roadmaps, and customer strategy.
• Partner cross-functionally: Work closely with Product, Research, Sales, and Leadership to shape Applied AI offerings, prioritize investments, and guide long-term platform evolution.
• Influence the broader AI ecosystem: Represent Scale’s Applied AI capabilities with customers and partners, and help position Scale as a trusted leader in enterprise GenAI deployment.

What We’re Looking For

Core Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience building, deploying, and scaling ML systems in production, including Enterprise-grade Gen AI and agentic applications
• 6+ years of people leadership experience, including managing managers and leading multi-team organizations delivering customer-facing AI products
• Deep applied expertise in Gen AI, including LLM-based systems, agent orchestration, evaluation and reliability frameworks, and production system design
• Experience owning end-to-end AI product delivery—from problem definition and technical architecture to deployment, iteration, and scaling
• Strong technical judgment across software engineering, system design, and applied ML fundamentals
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence executives, customers, and cross-functional partners
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s or PhD in Computer Science or a related field strongly preferred

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience building and deploying agent-based, tool-augmented, or workflow-driven LLM systems in enterprise environments
• Prior ownership of enterprise AI platforms, internal ML products, or customer-facing AI services at scale
• Proven track record of partnering directly with enterprises to identify high-impact use cases and deliver measurable business outcomes

Why This Role Matters

As Director of Applied AI, you will play a critical role in shaping how enterprises adopt, deploy, and trust generative AI at scale. You will build and lead teams that set the standard for applied GenAI and agentic systems, translate frontier capabilities into reliable, production-ready solutions, and deliver measurable business impact for customers. By uncovering model limitations and guiding how AI is applied in real-world environments, you will influence both product direction and the next wave of enterprise AI innovation.

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity in compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You’ll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is:

$285,200—$356,500 USD

PLEASE NOTE:Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us:

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Cisco, DLA Piper, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.

_We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision._

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