Director, AI Engineering

McKesson; Irving (TX); On-site; USD 196,000 - 327,000; Full time

Job summary

McKesson is seeking a Director (M4) to lead major AI/ML engineering initiatives with enterprise-level strategic direction and cross-functional execution. You will oversee budgets, forecasts, and performance across a regulated healthcare environment to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.

The role requires 12+ years of experience and 4+ years in management, with deep AI/ML credibility and a proven ability to translate business strategy into a multi-year technical roadmap.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional experience with 4+ years in management.
• Experience leading AI/ML engineering orgs and cross-functional teams.
• Finance/P&L ownership at scale and operating budget experience.
• Strong technical credibility in AI/ML systems and deployment at scale.
• Experience in regulated enterprise environments (healthcare/pharma).
• Ability to translate business strategy into multi-year technical roadmaps.

Responsibilities

• Provide enterprise-level strategic direction across related disciplines.
• Lead talent pipelines, succession planning, and cross-functional integration.
• Drive continuous improvement and alignment of products with strategy.
• Manage budgets, forecasts, and financial accountability for operating plans.
• Interface with leaders to align capabilities with organizational priorities.

Job description

Job Description

McKesson is an impact-driven, Fortune 10 company that touches virtually every aspect of healthcare. We are known for delivering insights, products, and services that make quality care more accessible and affordable. Here, we focus on the health, happiness, and well-being of you and those we serve – we care.

What you do at McKesson matters. We foster a culture where you can grow, make an impact, and are empowered to bring new ideas. Together, we thrive as we shape the future of health for patients, our communities, and our people. If you want to be part of tomorrow’s health today, we want to hear from you.

Position Summary (Purpose of job)

The Director (M4) leads major divisional functions or corporate sub-functions, providing enterprise-level strategic direction, long-range planning, and operational leadership across multiple related disciplines. This role analyzes external business environments to anticipate trends, influence strategy, and recommend growth opportunities for the business unit. It directs managers ensuring operational excellence, cross-functional integration, and execution of high-impact initiatives. The Director is financially accountable for operating plans, budgets, and forecasts, and manages complex organizational performance across services.

As a senior enterprise advisor, the Director interfaces with leaders to shape integrated business strategies and ensure alignment of products, solutions, and capabilities with organizational priorities. The role leads talent pipelines, strengthens leadership benches, and manages significant conflicts and disciplinary matters. It drives continuous improvement, optimizes cross-functional workflows, and ensures strategic communication across stakeholder groups.

Key Responsibilities

• Proven leadership of AI/ML engineering orgs through a management layer - direct experience managing people, not just individual senior engineers or a single flat team.
• Finance/P&L ownership at scale - has managed and grown an operating budget/forecast, not just consumed one handed down.
• Deep technical credibility in AI/ML systems - enough hands-on depth (ML lifecycle, data architecture, LLMs deployment at scale) to make and defend build/buy/architecture decisions with engineering teams and with executives.
• Experience operating in a regulated or high-compliance enterprise environment (healthcare and pharma distribution) - given McKesson's regulatory and data-sensitivity context.
• Track record of translating business strategy into a multi-year technical roadmap and being held accountable for its execution.

Minimum Requirements

Degree or equivalent experience. Typically requires 12+ years of professional experience and 4+ years of management experience.

Critical Skills

• 5+ years of experience in Responsible AI practices, model risk management, data governance, audit readiness
• Partnering with Product, Data Engineering, Platform/Infra, Security, Legal/Compliance, and BU leaders
• Experience with enterprise-scale cloud AI/ML platforms (Azure services, Langchain/LangGraph, Python etc.) at production scale
• Succession planning, performance calibration, handling significant conflict and disciplinary matters
• Strong Vendor & Partner Management - Build-vs-buy analysis, negotiating with cloud/AI vendors
• KPI/metrics frameworks, SLA management across services and programs, continuous improvement methodology
• Business impact scope - Has supported multiple business units, product lines, or customer segments concurrently

Nice to Have

• Domain expertise in healthcare, pharmaceutical distribution, or supply chain preferred

Candidate Requirements

Candidate must be authorized to work in the U.S, now or in the future, without the support from McKesson.

We are proud to offer a competitive compensation package at McKesson as part of our Total Rewards. This is determined by several factors, including performance, experience and skills, equity, regular job market evaluations, and geographical markets. The pay range shown below is aligned with McKesson's pay philosophy, and pay will always be compliant with any applicable regulations. In addition to base pay, other compensation, such as an annual bonus or long-term incentive opportunities may be offered.

Our Base Pay Range for this position

$196,100 - $326,900

McKesson job postings are posted on our career site: careers.mckesson.com.

Equal Employment Opportunity

McKesson is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

McKesson provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, age, genetic information, or any other legally protected category. For additional information on McKesson’s full Equal Employment Opportunity policies, visit our Equal Employment Opportunity page.

McKesson is committed to being an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers including job seekers with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, please contact us by sending an email to (United States) [e-mail] or (Canada) [e-mail]. Resumes or CVs submitted to this email box will not be accepted.