Director, Applied AI

webAI; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision benefits

401(k) match

Equity options

$200 Health & Wellness stipend

Continuing Education support

$500/year Function Health subscription

Free parking

Flexible Time Off

Parental leave

Supplemental life insurance

Job summary

webAI, based in Austin, TX, seeks a Director of Applied AI to lead cross-functional teams in designing and deploying enterprise AI solutions on a distributed platform. This role demands deep technical leadership, hands-on coding, and the ability to translate customer needs into scalable capabilities.

You will mentor engineers and applied scientists, shape research strategy, and drive edge inference, privacy-preserving AI, and real-time performance.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in ML/AI with at least 3 in leadership.
• Proven AI product design and deployment.
• Proficient in Python and ML frameworks.
• Experience with customer-facing AI systems.
• Excellent cross-functional leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and deployment of applied AI on webAI's distributed platform.
• Translate customer needs into scalable AI solutions.
• Mentor teams and align with product strategy.
• Drive edge inference and privacy-preserving AI architecture.
• Set evaluation benchmarks and ensure reliability.
• Present complex tech to executives and customers.

Job description

webAI is pioneering the future of artificial intelligence by establishing the first distributed AI infrastructure dedicated to personalized AI. We recognize the evolving demands of a data-driven society for scalability and flexibility, and we firmly believe that the future of AI lies in distributed processing at the edge, bringing computation closer to the source of data generation. Our mission is to build a future where a company's valuable data and intellectual property remain entirely private, enabling the deployment of large-scale AI models directly on standard consumer hardware without compromising the information embedded within those models. We are developing an end-to-end platform that is secure, scalable, and fully under the control of our users, empowering enterprises and consumers with AI that understands their unique business. We are a team driven by truth, ownership, tenacity, and humility, and we seek individuals who resonate with these core values and are passionate about shaping the next generation of AI.

About the Role:

The Director of Applied AI will play a pivotal leadership role in designing, developing, and deploying advanced AI solutions for enterprise customers. You will lead a cross-functional team of engineers and applied scientists to deliver mission-critical AI capabilities, architect novel approaches leveraging distributed AI infrastructure, and partner closely with customers to understand their needs and translate them into scalable, impactful solutions.

This role requires deep technical expertise, strong communication and leadership skills, and the ability to drive execution in high-stakes, rapidly evolving environments. You will help shape webAI’s applied research strategy, mentor teams, and ensure we deliver world‑class AI technologies that align with customer missions and business goals.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of applied AI systems built on webAI’s distributed AI platform.
• Engage directly with commercial customers to translate mission needs into technical requirements and scalable solutions.
• Guide teams in training, fine‑tuning, optimizing, and evaluating large language models and multimodal models for domain‑specific applications.
• Oversee technical execution across multiple parallel projects, ensuring high-quality delivery under tight deadlines.
• Collaborate with Infrastructure, Platform Engineering, and Product teams to align applied AI initiatives with overall product strategy.
• Build and mentor a high‑performing applied AI team, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and hands‑on problem solving.
• Drive architectural decisions related to edge inference, distributed processing, privacy‑preserving AI, and real‑time performance.
• Establish rigorous evaluation methodologies, benchmarks, and validation frameworks for AI model performance and system reliability.
• Identify emerging trends, technologies, and research areas that can accelerate mission impact and product differentiation.
• Present complex technical concepts to leaders, customers, and stakeholders in a clear and compelling manner.

Qualifications:

• You need to code! Every leader in this company is hands‑on.
• 8+ years of experience in applied machine learning, AI engineering, or related fields, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven track record designing and deploying an AI product.
• Strong expertise with LLMs, generative AI, machine learning workflows.
• Hands‑on experience building or integrating AI systems for customer‑facing applications.
• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, etc.).
• Experience leading cross‑functional teams and managing multiple high‑impact projects simultaneously.
• Ability to communicate complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or related field.

Preferred Skills

• Master's or PhD in a technical discipline such as Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI or Applied Mathematics.
• Background in distributed systems, edge computing, or privacy‑preserving ML.
• Experience deploying AI models on-device or in constrained compute environments.
• Familiarity with MLOps, data pipelines, and scalable inference architectures.
• Strong understanding of security, compliance, and data governance considerations in enterprise or public sector contexts.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast‑paced, high‑growth startup environments.

We strive to provide competitive benefits to all employees. The benefits listed in this posting generally apply to U.S.-based employees. For employees hired outside the United States, benefits may vary based on local law, country-specific requirements, and the employment platform or entity through which the employee is hired.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits package
• 401(k) match
• Equity options
• $200/month Health & Wellness stipend
• Continuing Education support
• $500/year Function Health subscription
• Free parking for in-office employees
• Flexible Time Off (FTO)
• Parental leave for eligible employees
• Supplemental life insurance

webAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We adhere to these principles in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, benefits, social and recreational programs, and discipline. In addition, it is the policy of webAI to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particularly employee works.