AVP, Applied AI and Engineering

Travelers Companies, Inc.; Hartford Township (OH); On-site; USD 174,000 - 287,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

401(k) Matching

Pension Plan

Paid Time Off

Wellness Program

Diversity Networks

Job summary

Travelers Companies, Inc. is seeking an AVP, Applied AI & Engineering to lead a hands‑on engineering lab re‑engineering delivery workflows with AI. You will partner with EDDA leadership to drive adoption of AI engineering patterns and measure productivity gains across platforms.

You will codify work into reusable assets, drive AI‑enabled SDLC standards, and shape a rotational program to spread AI fluency across teams, delivering measurable outcomes and higher delivery quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, related STEM field, or its equivalent in education and/or work experience.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• 3 years of technical leadership experience.
• Excellent delivery skills; measure software effectiveness and quality.
• Experience applying AI to SDLC and engineering workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead a lean Applied AI & Engineering lab that re‑engineers EDDA's software and data delivery workflows with AI.
• Partner with enterprise groups to align EDDA priorities and collaborate across teams.
• Codify lab work into reusable patterns, assets, scripts and playbooks across EDDA’s projects.
• Develop AI‑assisted engineering patterns for SaaS and enterprise platforms and accelerate testing and configuration.
• Own the AI‑Enabled SDLC experimentation agenda and governance; decide which use cases to try and scale.
• Set and drive EDDA standards and productivity practices across architecture, coding, testing and DevSecOps.
• Lead the rotational program to staff the lab and nurture AI capability across EDDA.
• Build relationships with engineering leaders and executives to advocate AI applications.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Problem solving

AI/ML engineering

Education

Bachelors in CS or STEM

Tools

Cloud-based solutions

Microservices

Job description

Who Are We? Taking care of our customers, our communities and each other. That's the Travelers Promise. By honoring this commitment, we have maintained our reputation as one of the best property casualty insurers in the industry for over 170 years. Join us to discover a culture that is rooted in innovation and thrives on collaboration. Imagine loving what you do and where you do it.

Job Category Technology Compensation Overview

The annual base salary range provided for this position is a nationwide market range and represents a broad range of salaries for this role across the country. The actual salary for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including the scope, complexity and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; and other conditions of employment. As part of our comprehensive compensation and benefits program, employees are also eligible for performance-based cash incentive awards.

Salary Range $173,700.00 - $286,600.00

Target Openings 1

What Is the Opportunity?

AVP, Applied AI & Engineering is accountable for applying AI to how the Enterprise Digital, Data & Analytics (EDDA) organization plans, builds, tests and delivers its platforms, products, solutions and services and is accountable for measurably accelerating engineering productivity and quality across the development lifecycle. The AVP leads a lean, hands‑on engineering lab that re‑engineers EDDA's delivery workflows, producing proven engineering patterns, code assets and practices that EDDA's teams adopt in their own delivery. Working in close partnership with EDDA leadership, the role drives adoption of AI engineering best practices, measures the productivity and savings it delivers, and runs a rotational program that brings engineering talent from across EDDA into the lab and returns them to their teams as AI‑fluent practitioners.

What Will You Do?

Leads a hands‑on engineering lab that re‑engineers EDDA's software and data delivery workflows with AI (e.g., data pipeline engineering, application development, testing, release and site reliability), proving each pattern end to end before it scales.

Partners with enterprise groups to align EDDA priorities and work with broader direction, priorities and strong 2‑way collaboration.

Codifies the lab's work into reusable patterns, code assets, scripts and playbooks, and partners with EDDA’s teams to embed them in their delivery so efficiencies land in the teams that build and run EDDA's products rather than accumulating in one place.

Develops AI‑assisted engineering patterns for EDDA's SaaS and enterprise platforms such as Salesforce and Genesys, accelerating configuration, customization, extension and testing in partnership with the teams that own each platform.

Owns the AI‑Enabled SDLC experimentation agenda for EDDA, deciding which engineering use cases get tried, how results are judged, and what scales versus what stops, so investment decisions rest on evidence rather than advocacy.

Owns AI‑Enabled SDLC standards and engineering productivity practices across EDDA, using AI to transform requirements, architecture, coding, testing and DevSecOps, setting the practices that raise delivery throughput and quality within EDDA's teams.

Sets the annual Applied AI agenda with EDDA leadership, selecting a focused set of high‑value engineering use cases across data and digital and aligning them to team’s priorities, so the lab's work complements rather than duplicates delivery in flight.

Redesigns EDDA's engineering workflows around AI and agents rather than automating steps inside existing processes, tying each pattern to a measurable outcome such as cycle time, throughput, quality or cost to deliver, so AI‑Enabled SDLC savings are tracked and reported.

Establishes and runs the rotational program that staffs the lab, partnering with data and digital team leads to release engineers into ring‑fenced rotations with their own goals and OKRs, and with Learning & Development on a certification path, seeding AI capability across EDDA rather than concentrating it in one place.

Builds and fosters collaborative relationships with EDDA's teams and engineering leaders, with the ability to influence executive‑level leadership on how EDDA applies AI to the way it engineers and delivers.

Provides leadership, direction and execution focus to a lean Applied AI & Engineering team, leading with a diverse and inclusive mindset and engaging team members so they reach their full potential.

Manages technical resource allocation, partnering with the PMO on capacity planning across the rotational model and delivery and financial tracking, alongside on‑boarding, performance management and offshore approach/structure.

Partners with the PMO to run the operating cadence for the lab's work in flight (e.g., setting consistent success criteria, regular review, measurement against expected outcomes, and the escalation and decision‑making protocols that keep stakeholders aware of status) with patterns handed to EDDA’s teams rather than retained as a standing portfolio.

Perform other duties as assigned.

What Will Our Ideal Candidate Have?

Ten years of related experience; including insurance / financial services industry experience.

Demonstrated experience implementing current technology trends and techniques (e.g., cloud‑based solutions leveraging microservices).

Interprets internal/ external business challenges and recommends best practices to improve SDLC processes.

Excellent delivery skills with the ability to examine and assess the effectiveness of software design strategies and methodologies, devise, apply, and share ways to ensure the quality of complex computer systems, incorporate awareness and understanding of work happening outside of the team, and develop widely used technical metrics that enable engineers to better understand and deliver their work.

Demonstrated track record of domain expertise including the ability to consult on business priorities and optimize value by identifying business aligned solutions and improve company capabilities by thoughtfully introducing concepts and technologies from the industry.

Strong problem solving skills with the ability to create architecture that is particularly robust against single points of failure and turn future areas of need into action.

Excellent communication skills with the ability to describe technology concepts in ways the business can understand, document effectively, and collaborate across disparate groups.

Strong leadership skills with the ability to engage with other leaders and networks to solve problems as well as work to improve the entire engineering organization by sharing knowledge while creating opportunities for others to develop skills.

What is a Must Have?

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, related STEM field, or its equivalent in education and/or work experience.

8 additional years of software engineering experience.

3 years of technical leadership experience.

What Is in It for You?

• Health Insurance: Employees and their eligible family members – including spouses, domestic partners, and children – are eligible for coverage from the first day of employment.
• Retirement: Travelers matches your 401(k) contributions dollar‑for‑dollar up to your first 5% of eligible pay, subject to an annual maximum.
• If you have student loan debt, you can enroll in the Paying it Forward Savings Program.
• When you make a payment toward your student loan, Travelers will make an annual contribution into your 401(k) account.
• You are also eligible for a Pension Plan that is 100% funded by Travelers.
• Paid Time Off: Start your career at Travelers with a minimum of 20 days Paid Time Off annually, plus nine paid company Holidays.
• Wellness Program: The Travelers wellness program is comprised of tools, discounts and resources that empower you to achieve your wellness goals and caregiving needs.
• In addition, our mental health program provides access to free professional counseling services, health coaching and other resources to support your daily life needs.
• Volunteer Encouragement: We have a deep commitment to the communities we serve and encourage our employees to get involved.
• Travelers has a Matching Gift and Volunteer Rewards program that enables you to give back to the charity of your choice.

Employment Practices

Travelers is an equal opportunity employer. We value the unique abilities and talents each individual brings to our organization and recognize that we benefit in numerous ways from our differences.

In accordance with local law, candidates seeking employment in Colorado are not required to disclose dates of attendance at or graduation from educational institutions.

If you are a candidate and have specific questions regarding the physical requirements of this role, please send us an email so we may assist you.

Travelers reserves the right to fill this position at a level above or below the level included in this posting.

To learn more about our comprehensive benefit programs please visit http://careers.travelers.com/life-at-travelers/benefits/.

Travelers has more than 30,000 employees in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Open to all employees, our 10 Diversity Networks celebrate culture and communities and create spaces for all employees through powerful forums for dialogue and support.

Employees and their eligible family members – including spouses, domestic partners and children – are eligible for coverage from the first day of employment.

Travelers has been recognized by organizations such as G.I. Jobs and Military Times.

Our employees are valuable assets to their hometowns, volunteering for important causes each year.

Imagine other opportunities here.