AI Team Lead

HUNKEMOLLER; Hilversum; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 25 days

Hybrid work

Work abroad up to 2 weeks/year

International teams

Travel allowance

Hunkemöller Academy

Employee discount 25%

Job summary

Hunkemöller is seeking an AI/ML Platform Leader who thrives in a fast-moving fashion retailer. You will report to the Head of Data, Analytics and AI and work in a hybrid setup in Hilversum, Netherlands. You will drive AI priorities, choose internal vs external delivery, and shape platform strategy.

You will own a small team, coordinate with cloud, data and business stakeholders, and track realized savings and adoption. Dutch is a plus, English essential.

Qualifications

• Experience in technical product ownership or engineering leadership with small teams.
• Hands-on understanding of cloud platforms, APIs and language-model applications (Google Cloud a plus).
• Proven track record managing agencies or freelancers on fixed-scope work.
• Comfortable deciding deliverables with partial information as priorities shift.
• Ability to explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Turn AI priorities into scoped deliverables with clear acceptance criteria and owners.
• Decide Build vs Partner and manage external partners to standard.
• Define AI platform criteria, data access, cost and maintenance across use cases.
• Own monitoring, cost, and incident handling for AI production.
• Be the go-to AI contact, triage requests and balance workload across teams.
• Build and support AI champions network across departments.
• Plan team work, coach engineers, ensure cross-coverage.
• Track savings and adoption, report progress to leadership.

Skills

Technical product ownership

Cloud platforms & APIs

Agencies/ freelancers management

Decision making with incomplete info

Cross‑department communication

AI value & business case

English communication

Dutch language advantage

Tools

Google Cloud

Job description

Hunkemöller is a fast-moving fashion retailer, so priorities shift and structure is light. The right candidate is energized by that, makes sound calls quickly, and brings people along. You will report to the Head of Data, Analytics and AI. This is a hybrid role, partly from home and partly at our office in Hilversum, the Netherlands, so we are only considering applicants who live within commuting distance of Hilversum. We value demonstrated skill over a traditional career path, and the selection process includes a short practical exercise.

Responsibilities:

• Deliver Leadership Priorities: Turn the AI priorities set by leadership and the AI Board into scoped deliverables with clear acceptance criteria, estimates and a named business owner.
• Decide Build or Partner: Decide whether work is delivered by the team or by an external partner, set fixed-scope agreements, and hold partners to Hunkemöller standards.
• Own AI Standards and Platform Choices: Set the criteria for choosing AI platforms and tools per use case, covering data access, cost, integration and maintenance, define the rules partners and vendors work within, and manage the Google Cloud agent platform and its generative capabilities together with our cloud team.
• Run What the Team Delivers: Own monitoring, maintenance, running cost and incident handling for the AI solutions the team puts into production.
• Be the Go-To Point for AI: Act as first point of contact for AI questions across the business, triage each request to a champion, the team, the cloud owner or a partner, and keep support to about a fifth of team capacity.
• Build the AI Champions Network: Recruit, train and support AI champions in each department who handle first-line questions and bring new opportunities to the team.
• Lead and Develop the Team: Plan the team's work, coach two engineers, and make sure each can cover the other's basic work.
• Report Value: Track realized savings and adoption per deliverable and report progress to leadership and the AI Board.

Requirements:

• Experience in technical product ownership, delivery leadership or engineering leadership, including leading a small team that both delivered solutions and supported internal users. Recent hands-on experience delivering AI solutions matters more than years in a role.
• Hands-on experience & understanding in cloud platforms, APIs and language-model applications to review a partner's architecture and estimates, and to understand platform issues well enough to resolve or route them. Experience with Google Cloud is a plus.
• Proven experience managing agencies, system integrators or freelancers on fixed-scope work.
• Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information as priorities change, and deciding what becomes a deliverable and what stays a quick answer.
• You excel at building trust across departments, explaining complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences, and saying no when a request does not hold up.
• Understanding of how AI work translates into cost avoided, time saved and adoption, and you can build and defend a business case. Retail, fashion or ecommerce experience is a strong plus.
• Deep understanding of data access and privacy, and the risks of AI tools that can read or change business data.
• Written and verbal English communication skills. Dutch is a plus.

What we offer

• 25 days of annual leave, with the option to buy or sell up to 4 additional days
• Hybrid work model, combining office and remote working
• Possibility to work from abroad for up to 2 weeks per year
• An international work environment, working with teams across different countries
• Travel allowance to support commuting costs
• Access to the Hunkemöller Academy for professional development
• 25% employee discount on all Hunkemöller products