Senior Director, AI Engineering

SeniorDirector,AIEngineering:

Experience: 15+yearsinsoftwareengineering,including7+yearsleadingengineeringleadersandteams,and4+yearsdeliveringproductionAI/MLorGenerativeAIsystems
Reportsto: [VP/SVP,AIEngineering]
Scope: 2-3engineeringteams(~15-30engineers)inHyderabad,ledthroughEngineeringManagersandTechLeads,withamandatetogrow
Shift: Generalshift,withregulareveningoverlapwithUSEasternandPacifictimezones.

AboutCornerstoneOnDemand:

CornerstoneOnDemandhelpsorganizationsofeverysizedevelop,engage,andretaintheirpeoplethroughaunifiedtalentexperienceplatform.Oursoftwaresupportsmorethan7,000customersandtensofmillionsoflearnersworldwide.TheIndiaengineeringorganizationisacorepartofCornerstone’sglobalproductengineering,andourAIEngineeringorganizationbuildstheWorkforceAIcapabilitiesandsharedplatformthatpowerskillsintelligence,contentintelligence,personalization,andagenticexperiencesacrossCornerstone’sproducts.

Abouttherole:

WearehiringaSeniorDirector,AIEngineeringtoleadCornerstone’sAIEngineeringorganizationinHyderabad.Youwillownthepeople,thetechnicaldirection,andthedeliveryoutcomesformultipleAIengineeringteamsbuildingtheWorkforceAImodels,services,andplatformthatmakeCornerstone’sproductsintelligent-skillsinference,recommendations,contentunderstanding,retrieval-augmentedgeneration,evaluation,andtheagenticworkflowslayeredontop.

Thisisadeeplytechnicalleadershiprole.Youwillleadthroughmanagersandtechleads,butyouareexpectedtobecredibleintheroom:shapingAIarchitecture,pressure-testingretrievalandevaluationstrategy,questioninginferencecostandlatencytrade-offs,andreadingadesigndocumentorapullrequestwithrealjudgment.Youwillnotbewritingproductionfeaturesdaytoday,butthequalityofyourtechnicalinstinctswillsettheceilingfortheorganization.

YouwillalsobeoneofCornerstone’smostseniorAIvoicesinIndia-agenuinepeertoAIEngineeringleadershipintheUS,accountableforgloballydistributedownershipofrealproductsurfacesratherthandelegatedexecution.BuildingtheAItalentbenchinHyderabad,anddoingitresponsiblywithsensitiveworkforcedata,iscentraltothejob.

Inthisroleyouwill…

LeadandgrowtheIndiaAIEngineeringorganization

• Lead2-3AIengineeringteams(~15-30engineers)throughEngineeringManagersandTechLeads-settingdirection,clarifyingownership,andholdingahighbarforbothdeliveryandcraft.
• Developtheleaderswhoreporttoyou:coachmanagersonhiring,performance,feedback,andtechnicaljudgment,andbuildasuccessionbenchsotheorganizationisnotdependentonanysingleperson.
• Designtheteamtopology-howAIproduct,platform,andappliedresearchresponsibilitiesaresplitsoteamshaveclear,durableownershipandminimalhand-offfriction.
• Createanenvironmentwherestrongengineersdotheirbestwork:focusedroadmaps,lowprocessoverhead,honestretrospectives,andvisiblecareergrowth.

OwnthetechnicaldirectionforWorkforceAIinIndia

• SetanddefendtheAIarchitectureandtechnicalstrategyforthesystemsyourteamsown-modelselectionandhosting,retrievalandRAGdesign,vectorandfeaturestores,agentorchestration,andinferencepatterns.
• EstablishrigorousevaluationandqualitypracticesforAIsystems:offlineandonlineevalharnesses,goldendatasets,regressiongates,human-in-the-loopreview,andqualitymetricstiedtocustomeroutcomes.
• Drivebuild-vs-buydecisionsacrossfoundationmodels,AWS-nativeAIservices(Bedrock,SageMaker),andthird-partytooling-withaclear-eyedviewofcost,lock-in,latency,anddifferentiation.
• OwncloudandcostaccountabilityforAIworkloadsonAWS:inferencecostperrequest,GPUandtokenspend,cachingandmodel-routingstrategy,rightsizing,andFinOpsdiscipline.
• Leadarchitectureanddesignreviewspersonally,andraisethestandardforhowtheorganizationwritesdesigndocuments,reasonsabouttrade-offs,andvalidatesassumptionsbeforebuilding.
• Keeptheplatformandproductlayershealthytogether-sharedservices,SDKs,observability,andCI/CDthatletAIproductteamsshipquicklyandsafely.

DeliverAIproductsatscale

• Ownend-to-enddeliveryforyourteams’commitments:multi-quarterroadmap,dependencymanagement,realisticsequencing,andpredictableshippingwithoutheroics.
• PartnerwithProductManagement,Design,Data,Security,andSREtoturnambiguousproblemstatementsintoshipped,measurableAIcapabilities.
• MoveAIworkfrompromisingprototypetodurableproductionsystem-reliabilitytargets,monitoring,gracefuldegradation,rollback,andon-callownership.
• Makedisciplinedtrade-offsbetweencustomer-visiblequality,deliveryspeed,andlong-termplatforminvestment,andexplainthosetrade-offscrediblytoexecutives.

PartnergloballywithUSteams

• OperateasapeertoAIEngineering,product,and…