IT AI Engineering Manager

Valmont Industries; Omaha (NE); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

401k

Paid time off

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Work life support

Tuition reimbursement

Wellness programs

Job summary

Valmont Industries is seeking a Manager of AI Engineering to lead a team delivering enterprise AI solutions across manufacturing, supply chain, and operations. You will establish AI standards, governance, and ML-OPs while partnering with Data & Analytics, IT, and Digital Manufacturing.

You will mentor engineers, prioritize AI use cases, and drive secure, production-ready AI products that generate measurable business value while aligning with Valmont's strategic roadmap.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Mathematics, or related field.
• 8+ years of relevant experience; and/or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 3+ years of experience leading technical teams and managing professionals.
• Proven experience deploying AI/ML solutions in production environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the AI Engineering team to deliver scalable, secure AI solutions across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify AI use cases and measurable business value.
• Establish AI engineering standards, ML-OPs, governance, and reusable capabilities.
• Guide design, development, testing, deployment, and support of AI-powered applications.

Skills

AI engineering leadership

Generative AI

LLMs

RAG

Cloud platforms

Python

ML-ops

DevOps CI/CD

Stakeholder management

Enterprise data platforms

Education

Bachelor's Degree in CS/Data Science/Engineering

Master's Degree in AI/CS (preferred)

Tools

Azure/OpenAI

Databricks

MLflow

LangChain

CI/CD tools

Job description

15000 Valmont Plaza Omaha Nebraska 68154

Why Valmont

We’re Here to Move the World Forward. Valmont impacts millions of people around the world every day, yet they might not realize the many ways. Our technology is helping feed the growing population, supplying the world with more reliable energy and access to renewables, enhancing connectivity in remote and urban locations to create a sustainable future and so much more. Simply put, Valmont is advancing agricultural productivity and reimagining vital infrastructure to make life better. Join a Fortune 1000 company that respects hard work, honors diversity and invests in our employees as we focus on creating the world of tomorrow, today. We are the modern workforce. Are you ready to move the world forward?

A Brief Summary of This Position

This is a management-level position within the Corporate Shared Services IT organization responsible for leading the development, deployment, and operationalization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI capabilities across the enterprise. The Manager, AI Engineering will oversee a team of AI Engineers/Contractors focused on delivering scalable, secure, and business-driven AI solutions that improve operational efficiency, manufacturing performance, quality, supply chain optimization, and employee productivity. This role serves as a key bridge between business stakeholders, Data & Analytics, Digital Manufacturing, Enterprise Architecture, and IT teams to transform business opportunities into production-ready AI products. The position is responsible for establishing AI engineering standards, AI delivery frameworks, ML-OPs practices, governance processes, and reusable enterprise AI capabilities while supporting the organization's AI strategy and roadmap. Lead the enterprise AI Engineering function by delivering secure, scalable, and high-impact AI solutions that enable smarter operations, accelerate innovation, improve manufacturing performance, and create measurable business value across the organization. It is essential to embody Valmont’s core values of Passion, Integrity, Continuous Improvement, and Delivering Results while cultivating a workplace where employees feel valued, trusted, understood, and respected.

Essential Functions

This position reports directly to the Senior Director, Data & Analytics, and will have direct reports. This role requires up to 25% travel (domestic and international), including overnight stays. Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing AI Engineering team responsible for developing enterprise AI and Generative AI solutions. Partner with business leaders to identify, prioritize, and deliver AI use cases that generate measurable business value. Develop and maintain the enterprise AI engineering roadmap aligned with strategic business objectives. Lead the design, development, testing, deployment, and support of AI-powered applications and intelligent automation solutions. Establish best practices for AI development, ML-OPs, model deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management. Collaborate with Data Engineering teams to ensure AI solutions leverage trusted enterprise data assets from modern cloud data platforms. Drive implementation of Generative AI solutions, AI assistants, intelligent agents, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures. Develop reusable AI services, APIs, frameworks, and accelerators that enable rapid delivery of business solutions. Participate in data model and data product discussions to ensure AI requirements are incorporated into enterprise data architecture. Ensure AI solutions adhere to corporate security, compliance, privacy, and governance standards. Evaluate emerging AI technologies and recommend opportunities to improve business operations and productivity. Implement monitoring, observability, and performance management practices for production AI systems. Apply Agile and DevOps methodologies to support effective AI product delivery and continuous improvement. Develop and maintain documentation, standards, and operational procedures related to AI engineering capabilities. Support the advancement of enterprise AI literacy and responsible AI adoption across the organization.

Other Important Details About the Role

The incumbent must effectively communicate complex technical concepts and AI capabilities to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. This position acts as a liaison between Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Corporate Functions, and IT to ensure AI initiatives are aligned with business priorities. The role requires strong leadership and collaboration skills to influence organizational adoption of AI technologies and practices. Direction is provided by the immediate supervisor and typically consists of strategic priorities, business objectives, enterprise architecture standards, governance requirements, and resource constraints. The incumbent exercises significant independent judgment in evaluating AI technologies, recommending solutions, and managing technical delivery activities. Major AI initiatives require broad understanding of business processes, operational challenges, technology capabilities, and organizational impacts. The position collaborates closely with enterprise architects, cybersecurity teams, data engineering teams, data governance teams, and business leaders. Responsible for identifying risks associated with AI implementations and developing mitigation strategies to ensure reliable and trustworthy outcomes. Supports continuous improvement efforts by identifying opportunities to automate processes, enhance decision-making, and improve operational performance using AI technologies.

Required Qualifications of Every Candidate

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Mathematics, or a related field, with 8+ years of relevant experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 3+ years of experience leading technical teams and managing technical professionals.
• Demonstrated experience developing and deploying AI, machine learning, or advanced analytics solutions in production environments.
• Strong knowledge of Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and AI agent architectures.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with modern AI and machine learning frameworks.
• Experience with ML-OPs practices including model deployment, monitoring, versioning, testing, and lifecycle management.
• Understanding of software engineering best practices, API development, DevOps, and CI/CD methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business challenges into scalable technology solutions.
• Experience working with enterprise data platforms, data products, and modern data architectures.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence decision-making across organizations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• High degree of initiative, accountability, and self-motivation.
• Ability to work effectively with both technical and business teams.
• Passion and integrity with the drive to deliver measurable business outcomes.

Highly Qualified Candidates Will Also Possess These Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or related discipline.
• Experience in manufacturing, industrial, operations, supply chain, or quality-focused environments.
• Experience with Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Services, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Databricks, MLflow, LangChain, or Semantic Kernel.
• Experience implementing computer vision, predictive maintenance, or industrial AI solutions.
• Knowledge of Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing, IoT, or Digital Manufacturing initiatives.
• Azure, AI, cloud, or data-related professional certifications.
• Experience establishing enterprise AI governance frameworks and responsible AI programs.
• Experience building or scaling AI Centers of Excellence (CoE).

Benefits

• Healthcare (medical, prescription drugs, dental and vision)
• 401k retirement plan with company match
• Paid time off
• Employer paid life insurance
• Employer paid short-term and long-term disability including maternity leave
• Work Life Support
• Tuition Reimbursement up to $5,250 per year
• Voluntary programs like tobacco cessation, Type 2 diabetes reversal, one-on-one health coaching, mortgage services and more

Valmont does not discriminate against any employee or applicant in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by law.

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. If you have a disability and require any assistance in filling out the application for employment email [e-mail].

Valmont is here to modernize vital infrastructure and increase agricultural productivity, sustainably and reliably. We galvanize steel to last a century with minimal environmental impact. We modernize irrigation to feed a growing population by utilizing the latest technology. We harden the electrical grid to enable the delivery of reliable power to millions of homes around the world. And we help make communities everywhere safer, cleaner and more connected through our smart infrastructure technology.

Valmont serves two primary markets — agriculture and infrastructure — and seven diverse product lines: Utility, Lighting and Transportation, Telecom, Solar, Coatings, Irrigation and Ag Tech. We manufacture products in 85 facilities spread across six continents, and we do business in 100 different countries. That’s what Valmont does. We conserve resources and improve life, finding ways to make innovation and technology beneficial in the real world.

That’s the value we add.