Director, Applied AI

Denali Therapeutics; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 204,000 - 265,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Healthcare coverage

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

Denali Therapeutics invites applications for a Director, Applied AI to build and lead the company\'s applied‑AI practice, delivering AI‑driven efficiency and measurable business value. Reporting to the VP of IT, you will set strategy, ship solutions, and partner with senior leaders to scale AI across Denali.

You are an expert in practical AI, from ideation to production, with hands‑on engineering and experience in regulated life sciences.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in computer science, AI, data science, or engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10+ years delivering AI/ML solutions with hands-on gen AI and production experience.
• Experience in regulated life sciences (pharma/biotech) including GxP and AI frameworks ISO/IEC 42001 and NIST AI RMF.
• Proven ability to drive cross-functional outcomes as a senior individual.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Denali's recognized expert on the practical application of AI, setting standards for how AI is applied across the company, advising teams and leadership, and raising their ability to apply it well in their own work.
• Own and drive Denali's applied‑AI strategy, determining where AI has a role, choosing approaches, and setting priorities alongside leadership and teams.
• Partner with leaders across the company to find the problems worth solving, which include high‑volume, workflow‑specific work that goes beyond individual AI tools.
• Design, prototype, and build AI solutions hands‑on, moving quickly from idea to production and getting directly into the data, models, and workflows.
• Deliver measurable efficiency gains and use the results to guide where to focus AI next.
• Bring strategy, progress, wins, risks, and tradeoffs to senior leadership to drive investment and prioritization decisions.
• Work hand in hand with Legal, Quality, and Regulatory to enable a compliant path to production for safe AI use.
• Drive adoption of what is built and establish the repeatable methods and playbooks that let applied AI scale across the company.

Skills

Python

Generative AI / LLMs

Cross-functional leadership

Regulated life sciences experience

Hands-on AI engineering

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in CS/AI/Engineering

Tools

ISO/IEC 42001

NIST AI RMF

Job description

Neurodegenerative diseases are one of the largest medical challenges of our time. Denali Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing breakthrough therapies for neurodegenerative diseases through our deep commitment to degeneration biology and principles of translational medicine. Denali is founded on the collaboration of leading scientists, industry experts, and investors who share the vision that scientific discovery energetically applied to translational medicine is the key to delivering effective therapies to patients.

We invite you to consider an opportunity with Denali to help achieve our goal of delivering meaningful therapeutics to patients.

Denali is seeking a Director, Applied AI to build and lead Denali's applied‑AI practice, bringing measurable, AI‑driven efficiency to how Denali operates. At Denali, Applied AI is the practical implementation of artificial intelligence to solve specific, real‑world problems and deliver tangible business value. Reporting to the VP of Information Technology and partnering directly with senior leaders across the company, this individual sets strategy for where and how applied AI creates value, then builds it by shipping solutions directly and working with partners to scale. A successful candidate is a recognized expert in the practical application of AI, with command of the discipline from idea to production, this person sets the standard for how AI is put to work at Denali and raises the ability of teams across the company to do the same. The role pairs deep, current AI engineering skills with the judgment to operate in a regulated environment and the presence to demonstrate return on investment to leadership.

Key Accountabilities / Core Job Responsibilities

• Serve as Denali's recognized expert on the practical application of AI, setting standards for how AI is applied across the company, advising teams and leadership, and raising their ability to apply it well in their own work.
• Own and drive Denali's applied‑AI strategy, determining where AI has a role, choosing approaches, and setting priorities alongside leadership and teams.
• Partner with leaders across the company to find the problems worth solving, which include high‑volume, workflow‑specific work that goes beyond individual AI tools.
• Design, prototype, and build AI solutions hands‑on, moving quickly from idea to production and getting directly into the data, models, and workflows.
• Deliver measurable efficiency gains and use the results to guide where to focus AI next.
• Bring strategy, progress, wins, risks, and tradeoffs to senior leadership to drive investment and prioritization decisions.
• Work hand in hand with Legal, Quality, and Regulatory to enable a compliant path to production for safe AI use.
• Drive adoption of what is built and establish the repeatable methods and playbooks that let applied AI scale across the company.

Qualifications/Skills

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in a technical field such as computer science, artificial intelligence, data science, or engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10+ years building and delivering solutions, with applied AI/ML at the center of recent, hands‑on work: fluent in Python and hands‑on building generative AI / LLM applications (RAG, fine‑tuning, agentic workflows) through to production.
• Direct experience in a regulated life sciences industry (pharma, biotech, or medical devices), including GxP, and AI frameworks such as ISO/IEC 42001 and NIST AI RMF.
• Demonstrated experience driving cross‑functional outcomes as a senior individual.

Salary Range: $204,000.00 to $265,000.00. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Denali offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401(k), healthcare coverage, ESPP and a broad range of other benefits. Learn more at https://www.denalitherapeutics.com/careers. This compensation and benefits information is based on Denali’s good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.

Denali is committed to its core company value of unity by creating a diverse and inclusive environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, basis of disability, or any other federal, state, or local protected class.