Director of Engineering - Machine Learning & AI Products

Adobe Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 206,000 - 385,000; Full time

Job summary

Adobe Inc. in Silicon Valley is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead an ML engineering organization focused on production-ready AI solutions for external clients. You will own end-to-end delivery from concept to production, customer engagement, and ongoing reliability.

You will scale the team from a small core to 20+ engineers, mentor senior leaders, and partner with Product, Development, and GTM to differentiate offerings beyond generic LLMs. This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role.

Qualifications

• Over 15 years of software engineering experience with ML/AI focus.
• Proven track record delivering AI/ML products in production.
• Strong business acumen with customer-facing, revenue-impacting product ownership.
• Deep production architecture and real-world operational experience.
• Successful leadership of senior technical teams with mentoring and scaling.
• Ability to engage product partners and trade off technical and product choices.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of AI/ML solutions deployed in production.
• Lead technical discussions on system build, model integration, and reliability.
• Collaborate with Product Management to shape product vision and differentiation.
• Drive architectural decisions balancing innovation, scalability, cost, and maintainability.
• Act as senior technical voice with customers on roadmap and production issues.
• Establish and grow a high-caliber ML engineering org with mentorship and succession planning.
• Ensure excellence in production operations, testing, release readiness and postlaunch support.

Skills

Hands-on ML engineering

Senior technical leadership

Product and business acumen

Customer-facing product ownership

Scale team leadership

Architectural decisions

Production ML systems

Mentoring leaders

Hybrid operating model

Performance management

Job description

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Director of Engineering to guide the development of AI-native, production-ready machine learning products for external clients. This leader will be responsible for the entire lifecycle of sophisticated AI systems-from product conception and rollout to production, customer engagement, and continuous operational success.

This role requires a rare blend of handson technical depth, product judgment, and seniorlevel people leadership. You will lead a highly experienced ML engineering organization and work closely with Product, Development, and GotoMarket partners to bring differentiated AI solutions to market.

Key Responsibilities

Technical & Product Leadership

• Own the endtoend delivery of AI/ML solutions deployed in production, moving beyond proofsofconcept to scalable, reliable, customerfacing systems.

• Lead deep technical discussions on system build, model integration, performance, reliability, and operational readiness.

• Collaborate directly with Product Management to build product vision, challenge assumptions, and ensure differentiation beyond generalpurpose LLM capabilities.

• Drive architectural decisions that balance innovation, scalability, cost, and longterm maintainability.

• Act as a senior technical voice with customers, handling partner concerns, roadmap discussions, and production issue resolution.

Team & Organizational Leadership

• Establish, grow, and manage a high-caliber ML engineering organization, scaling the team from about 4 to over 20 engineers as time progresses.

• Manage and mentor senior engineers and leaders with 16+ years of experience, encouraging accountability, ownership, and continuous growth.

• Establish a flat, handson, hybrid operating model where leaders stay close to the work while empowering teams to implement initiatives independently.

• Conduct performance management, career development, and succession planning aligned to directorlevel expectations.

Execution & Operations

• Ensure excellence in production operations, including monitoring, incident response, model performance, and customerreported issues.

• Drive strong engineering rigor across testing, release readiness, and postlaunch support.

• Build scalable processes that support rapid iteration while maintaining enterprisegrade reliability.

Required Qualifications

• Over 15 years of experience in software engineering, with extensive expertise in machine learning or systems driven by artificial intelligence.

• Demonstrated history of delivering and managing AI/ML products in production, beyond just experimentation or research.

• Strong business and commercial exposure, with direct ownership or leadership of a customer-facing, revenue-impacting AI/ML product.

• Strong experience with ML system build, production architecture, and realworld operational challenges.

• Demonstrated success leading senior technical teams, including performance evaluations, mentoring, and org scaling.

• Ability to engage deeply with product partners and debate technical and product tradeoffs in fast paced environments.

• Experience working directly with external customers and understanding customerfacing production realities.

Preferred Background

• Proven track record of building AI/ML products in startup or startup-like contexts that prioritize rapid market introduction.

• Background in external, customerfacing platforms or products, particularly AIfirst offerings.

• Familiarity with domains such as marketing technology, sales technology, or customer experience platforms.

Leadership Attributes We Value

• Handson, credible technical leadership with the ability to go deep when needed.

• Strong product intuition paired with engineering rigor.

• Comfort operating in ambiguity while building structure for scale.

• Ability to earn trust quickly with senior engineers, product leaders, and customers.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe's industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We're on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.

Let's Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email [e-mail].

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI - and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it's restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this positionis $206,400 - $384,675 annually. Paywithin this range varies by work locationand may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills,and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.
In California, the pay range for this position is $265,700 - $384,675

At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California:

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

There is no deadline to apply to this job posting because Adobe accepts applications for this role on an ongoing basis. The posting will remain open based on hiring needs and position availability.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.