Director, AI Enablement

Zebra; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 178,000 - 267,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Adaptive hours

Summer Flex Fridays

Focus Fridays

Annual well-being day

Job summary

Zebra is seeking a Director, AI Enablement to lead scalable, responsible AI adoption across Product & Solutions. You will establish the operating model, governance, and measurement framework while partnering with PMO, Engineering, and Product leaders to drive AI-enabled improvements.

You will translate complex technical topics into clear guidance for senior leadership, manage an internal BI team, and ensure alignment with enterprise requirements across geographies. Hybrid work in US.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, CS, Data Science or related quantitative field.
• 10+ years leading product development, digital transformation or AI initiatives.
• 5+ years operating within product development teams.
• Experience delivering multi-unit/global transformation with measurable metrics.
• Direct people management of analytics/BI/engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Establish a repeatable operating model for internal AI adoption across P&S.
• Provide portfolio visibility and align AI initiatives with enterprise requirements.
• Lead a BI team and guide data readiness for predictive analytics.
• Translate governance, security, and regulatory needs into actionable expectations.
• Partner with PMO, Engineering, and Product leaders to drive AI-enabled improvements.

Skills

Leadership

AI strategy

Product development

Cross-functional collaboration

Data analytics

Governance & compliance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, CS, or Data Science

Master’s degree preferable

Tools

BI tools

Data visualization

Job description

Overview: At Zebra, we are a community of innovators who come together to create new ways of working. United by curiosity and a culture of caring, we develop smart solutions that anticipate our customer’s and partner’s needs and solve their challenges. Being part of Zebra Nation means you are seen, heard, valued, and respected. Drawing from our unique perspectives, we collaborate to deliver on our purpose. Here you are part of a team pushing boundaries today to redefine the work of tomorrow for organizations, their employees, and those they serve. You’ll have opportunities to learn and lead in a forward-thinking environment, defining your path to a fulfilling career while channeling your skills toward causes you care about—locally and globally. Come make an impact every day at Zebra.

What We're Looking For:

The Director, AI Enablement is responsible for enabling consistent, scalable, and responsible internal AI adoption across Product & Solutions (P&S). This role establishes the operating model, alignment mechanisms, and practical guardrails that allow P&S organizations to independently drive AI enabled improvements while ensuring those efforts align with enterprise requirements and P&S priorities. The role requires deep understanding of product development and delivery lifecycles and the ability to engage credibly with engineering and technical teams to evaluate approaches, challenge assumptions, and shape how AI is applied, measured and scaled. Success in this role requires the ability to translate complex technical and operational topics into clear, data-driven recommendations for senior leaders and drive alignment across business units and functions. This role requires a minimum of 3-days per week in our Holtsville, NY office, 2 days remote (US).

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain a clear, repeatable operating model for internal AI adoption across P&S, ensuring AI initiatives consistently address workflow design, risk considerations, reuse opportunities, adoption planning, and outcome measurement.
• Provide portfolio level visibility into AI initiatives across P&S, actively engaging with execution teams to identify duplication, conflicting approaches, and opportunities to scale effective solutions.
• Maintain a reuse register capturing AI patterns, workflows, agents, vendors, and lessons learned, and actively guide teams toward reuse where it improves scale, cost, or consistency.
• Translate enterprise AI governance, security, legal, and regulatory requirements into practical, actionable expectations for P&S teams, working directly with execution leaders to integrate requirements into existing workflows.
• Serve as an active thought partner to PMO, Engineering, and Product leaders, helping teams evaluate approaches, challenge assumptions, and determine how AI should be applied, where it adds value, and how success should be measured in the context of their workflows.
• Establish a common measurement framework for AI adoption across P&S and work with execution teams and analytics partners to enable consistent visibility into adoption, productivity, and business outcomes.
• Lead and develop an internal business intelligence team, guiding their evolution toward predictive analytics and improved data readiness to support the broader AI operating model.
• Capture successful AI practices emerging from execution teams and enable reuse through shared guidance, reference examples, and cross-team knowledge sharing.
• Drive alignment and outcomes across P&S through influence, partnership, and guidance, enabling teams to independently execute AI-enabled improvements within shared standards.
• Act as a trusted advisor to P&S leadership by synthesizing AI adoption trends, outcomes, and maturity to support executive decision-making and cross-functional alignment.
• Identify and elevate alignment issues, at both the team and organizational level, that create material risk, cost, or scalability concerns for AI adoption across P&S.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, or a highly quantitative related field.
• Minimum 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in product development, digital transformation, data science/analytics or related domains with significant exposure to AI enabled initiatives.
• Minimum of 5+ years’ operating as part of a product development team.
• Must have experience delivering transformation initiatives spanning multiple business units or global geographies, supported by verifiable metrics, such as number users impacted, and percent efficiency gains.
• Must have direct people management experience leading and developing data analytics, business intelligence (BI), engineering, data science, or technical program/product management teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree (MBA or equivalent).
• Direct leadership of at least one significant cross-functional GenAI or automation initiative focused on modernizing operational workflows.
• Deep understanding of product development and delivery lifecycles, with the ability to engage credibly with Engineering, Product, and PMO leaders.
• Proven ability to translate cross functional initiatives into measurable business impact and productivity improvements.
• Strong understanding of data architecture principles and what constitutes “AI data readiness” at enterprise scale.
• Strong track record of influencing outcomes and driving alignment without direct authority.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex technical and operational topics into clear, concise recommendations for executive-level audiences.
• Strong understanding of modern machine learning techniques and large language models, with the ability to guide decision making across data, modeling, engineering, and cloud platform teams.
• Familiarity with enterprise governance, risk, security, or regulatory environments.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Zebra is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability and protected veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

If you are an individual with a disability and need assistance in applying for a position, please contact us at [e-mail].

Know Your Rights: https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/EEOC_KnowYourRights_screen_reader_10_20.pdf Conozca sus Derechos: https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRightsSp_10_20.pdf We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation at [e-mail] .

Pay Range: $177,920.00 - $266,880.00

Annual Incentive Compensation: In addition to base pay, Zebra offers this role the opportunity to earn a performance-based annual cash incentive, at a target equal to 25% of base pay, in accordance with the terms of the applicable incentive plan.

Zebra Total Rewards: Zebra Total Rewards includes more than just pay and is structured to meet the needs of our changing global business and evolving talent. We are committed to providing our employees with a benefits program that is comprehensive and competitive – including healthcare, wellness, inclusion networks, and continued learning and development offerings. We offer community service days, in addition to the traditional insurances, compensation, parental leave, employee assistance program and paid time off offerings depending on the country where you work.

Salary offered will vary depending on your location, job-related skills, knowledge, and experience.

Additionally, all Zebra roles are eligible for cash incentive programs. For example, sales roles have additional opportunity to earn substantial variable compensation tied to quota achievement. In most other roles, the Zebra annual cash incentive program links Company and individual performance together. Some roles may also be eligible for long-term incentive equity awards.

Benefits

Benefits: We understand the importance of work-life balance and wellbeing, which is why we offer flexibility for our teams including:

• hybrid work
• adaptable hours
• Summer Flex Fridays
• Focus Fridays
• an annual companywide well-being day to promote revitalization and success.