AI Team Lead

Hunkemöller; Deerfield (IL); Hybrid; USD 101,000 - 134,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days of annual leave

Hybrid work model

Work from abroad for up to 2 weeks per

International work environment

Travel allowance

Hunkemöller Academy access

25% employee discount

Job summary

Hunkemöller is seeking an AI Team Lead to build and run a hands-on AI group that turns leadership priorities into production AI solutions. You will supervise two engineers, collaborate with external partners, and define the standards and tools used by other teams and vendors.

You will be the primary AI advisor across the business and manage our Google Cloud agent platform and its generative capabilities, ensuring cost effectiveness and adoption.

Qualifications

• Experience in technical product ownership or engineering leadership; led a small team delivering AI solutions.
• Hands-on cloud platforms, API and language-model applications; Google Cloud experience a plus.
• Proven ability to manage agencies, system integrators or freelancers on fixed-scope work.
• Comfortable deciding with incomplete information and prioritizing deliverables.
• Build trust across departments and explain complex concepts to varied audiences.
• Understanding AI impact on cost, time savings and adoption; retail/fashion/ecommerce experience a strong plus.
• Strong written and verbal English skills; Dutch is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Turn AI priorities into scoped deliverables with clear acceptance criteria, estimates and a business owner.
• Decide whether work is delivered by the team or by an external partner and set fixed-scope agreements.
• Set criteria for AI platform/tool choices, covering data access, cost, integration and maintenance.
• Own monitoring, maintenance, running cost and incident handling for AI solutions in production.
• Be the go-to point for AI; triage requests to champions, team, cloud owner or partners, keeping support around 20% of capacity.
• Build and lead the AI champions network across departments to surface opportunities.
• Plan the team’s work, coach two engineers, ensuring cover of basic work by each.
• Track savings and adoption per deliverable and report progress to leadership and the AI Board.

Skills

Product ownership leadership

Delivery leadership

Engineering leadership

Stakeholder communication

Cost and business case understanding

AI experience application

Retail/fashion/ecommerce context

Cross-department collaboration

Cloud/LLM basics

Tools

Google Cloud

APIs & Lang‑Model apps review

Vendor/agency management

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

This position is for an AI Team Lead to build and run Hunkemöller’s AI Team, a growing hands‑on team that turns the priorities set by leadership into AI solutions that run in production. You will lead two engineers, work alongside external partners, and own the standards and platform choices that other teams and vendors work within. You will also be the go‑to person for AI across the business, from advising teams on which tools to use to managing our Google Cloud agent platform and its generative capabilities.