Director, Engineering, Applied AI

Mcgraw Hill; Columbus (OH); Remote; USD 175,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

McGraw Hill seeks a Director, AI Enablement to build and lead the function turning AI into a core capability across the company. You will own adoption, governance, cost and ROI, spanning business workflows, data, and developer enablement.

Reporting to the VP of Applied AI Engineering, you will set strategy, hire and mentor a team, partner with the Solution Architect, and communicate with executives while staying hands-on with enterprise GenAI tools such as M365 Copilot, Claude, and Github

Qualifications

• Senior leader with a software engineering background who can engage credibly with engineers and executives alike.
• Expert-level user of AI tools, not just a manager of people.
• Experience leading a team focused on technology adoption, enablement, platform strategy, or similar cross-functional focus.
• Track record of driving org-wide change and getting a large group to adopt new tools or ways of working.
• Comfortable owning governance, cost, and ROI conversations and speaking about business value.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and grow the AI Enablement team across business workflow enablement, data enablement, and developer enablement.
• Set strategy, priorities, and operating model for AI adoption across workflows, data initiatives, and software development.
• Partner with the Solution Architect to turn strategy into execution.
• Hire, coach, and develop a fast-moving team that can work hands-on with stakeholders.
• Represent AI enablement to executive leadership and secure necessary resources.
• Own AI adoption, governance, and playbooks across three pillars; establish training and communities of practice.
• Define cost models and ROI measurements; prioritize portfolio by business impact.
• Continuously reassess priorities as tools and needs evolve.

Skills

Software engineering background

Expert-level AI tools user

Executive presence

Cross-functional leadership

Communications skills

Strategy & vision

Tools

M365 Copilot

Claude

Github Copilot

Claude Code

Job description

Overview

At McGraw Hill, our mission is to unlock the full potential of every learner. This role puts you at the center of that mission, applying cutting-edge AI to products used by millions of students and educators.

Impact the Moment

We're looking for a Director, AI Enablement to build and lead the team responsible for making our company AI native. This is a senior leadership role with singular ownership of AI enablement across the organization, spanning three pillars: business workflow enablement, data enablement, and developer enablement. You will report to the VP of Applied AI Engineering and will be accountable for adoption, best practices, governance, cost, and ROI across every business and technology AI transformation we undertake.

This role is not about running a single project or a single pillar. It's about building the function, the team, and the operating model that turns AI from a set of scattered tools into a core capability that every part of the business, and every engineering team, relies on. You will set the strategy across all three pillars, lead the group and personally represent AI enablement to executive leadership, while staying close enough to the work to know where it's succeeding and where it's stalling.

We are looking for a hands on practitioner on enterprise GenAI tools like M365 Copilot, Claude and coding assistants like Github Copilot, Claude Code; someone who can operate at both altitudes: deep in the technology and equally comfortable in executive presence.

This is a remote position open to applicants authorized to work for any employer within the United States.

What You'll Do:

Team & Function Leadership

• Build, lead, and grow the AI Enablement team across all three pillars: business workflow enablement, data enablement, and developer enablement.


• Set the strategy, priorities, and operating model for how the company adopts and scales AI across business workflows, data initiatives, and software development alike.


• Partner closely with the team's Solution Architect, who owns the technical architecture, patterns, and standards across all three pillars, to turn strategy into execution.


• Hire, coach, and develop a team that can move fast, work hands-on, and partner credibly with both technical and business stakeholders.


• Represent AI enablement to executive leadership, translating technical progress into business impact and securing the resources the function needs.

Adoption, Governance & Best Practices

• Own the company's overall approach to AI adoption across business, data, and developer audiences alike, defining what good looks like and building the playbooks, standards, and training that get teams there.


• Establish governance for how AI tools are evaluated, approved, and used, balancing speed of adoption with security, compliance, and risk.


• Make sure best practices for efficient, cost-conscious use of enterprise AI tools, including coding assistants and token optimization, are defined and adopted across all three pillars.


• Build the mechanisms that keep AI fluency growing over time: training programs, communities of practice, and enablement resources for business users, data practitioners, and developers alike.

Cost, ROI & Business Impact

• Own the cost model and help set the budget for AI tools and enablement programs, and make disciplined decisions about where to invest across all three pillars.


• Define how AI ROI gets measured across the company, and build the reporting that shows leadership what is working and what isn't.


• Prioritize the AI enablement portfolio based on business impact, balancing high-visibility initiatives with the unglamorous work that drives real adoption.


• Continuously reassess priorities as tools, vendors, and business needs evolve, and be willing to change direction quickly when the data calls for it.

Who You Are:

• A senior leader with a software engineering background who can engage credibly with engineers and executives alike, across business, data, and developer domains.


• An expert-level user of AI tools yourself, not just a manager of people who use them. You should be someone others come to for advice on how to get the most out of these tools.


• Experience leading a team, ideally one focused on technology adoption, enablement, platform strategy, or a similar cross-functional focus.


• A track record of driving org-wide change: getting a large group of people to adopt new tools, processes, or ways of working.


• Comfortable owning governance, cost, and ROI conversations, and able to speak fluently about risk and business value, not just technology.


• Strong executive presence and communication skills, with the judgment to know when to lead from the front and when to let your team run.


• Prior experience participating in or leading an AI transformation initiative is highly preferred.

What Success Looks Like:

• The company operates as a genuinely AI native organization, with AI fluency and adoption embedded across business, data, and developer teams alike.


• The AI Enablement team is high-performing, well-regarded, and seen as a trusted partner rather than a gatekeeper across all three pillars.


• Governance, cost, and ROI for AI initiatives are well understood and clearly reported, giving leadership confidence in how AI investment is managed.


• AI enablement is recognized across the company as a durable, strategic function, not a temporary initiative.

Why work for us?

The work you do at McGraw Hill will be work that matters. We are collectively building experiences that will help shape the future of education. Play your part and experience a sense of fulfilment that will inspire you to even greater heights.

The pay range for this position is between $175,000 - $220,000 annually, however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. An annual bonus plan may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical and/or other benefits, depending on the position offered.

McGraw Hill recruiters always use a "@mheducation.com" email address and/or from our Applicant Tracking System, iCIMS. Any variation of this email domain should be considered suspicious. Additionally, McGraw Hill recruiters and authorized representatives will never request sensitive information in email.

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