Program Manager, Enterprise AI Literacy & Enablement

Applied Materials, Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 96,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Applied Materials, Inc. is seeking a program leader to drive enterprise AI literacy and culture across the organization in Austin. You will design a multi-year curriculum, define quarterly milestones, and measure impact with KPI-driven reporting to senior leadership.

You will partner with Legal, Security, and Compliance to ensure responsible AI governance, while building a network of AI champions across business units to accelerate adoption.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of leading enterprise-scale programs or change initiatives.
• Experience designing executive learning experiences, preferably AI/digital transformation.
• Familiarity with enterprise AI tools and governance frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise AI literacy roadmap with multi-year curriculum strategy and quarterly milestones.
• Measure capability gains via KPI framework and report to senior leadership.
• Design and deliver leader-facing workshops on Applied’s AI tool stack for managers and executives.
• Build and activate a distributed AI Champion Network across business units.
• Lead change management, map adoption barriers, and partner with managers to shift behaviors.
• Collaborate with Legal, Security, Compliance, and Data Governance for responsible‑AI governance.
• Align cross-functional stakeholders and secure sponsorship without direct authority.
• Tie learning outcomes to business performance and operational efficiency.
• Iterate learning programs based on feedback and benchmarking.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Influencing without authority

Reading organization

Risk assessment

Strategy to execution

Executive workshops

Stakeholder management

Tools

Microsoft Copilot

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Who We Are

Applied Materials is the global leader in materials science and engineering solutions that are at the foundation of virtually every new semiconductor chip and advanced display in the world. The equipment that we create and service is essential to advancing AI and accelerating the commercialization of next‑generation semiconductor chips. Join us and push the boundaries of materials science and engineering in a company at the foundation of the electronics industry. The work we do together advances the world’s technology.

What We Offer

Salary: $96,000.00 - $132,000.00

Location: Austin,TX

You’ll benefit from a supportive work culture that encourages you to learn, develop, and grow your career as you take on challenges and drive innovative solutions for our customers. We empower our team to push the boundaries of what is possible—while learning every day in a supportive leading global company. Visit our Careers website to learn more. At Applied Materials, we care about the health and wellbeing of our employees. We’re committed to providing programs and support that encourage personal and professional growth and care for you at work, at home, or wherever you may go. Learn more about our benefits.

About the Role

Applied Materials is the world's largest supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment — and how quickly our workforce harnesses AI directly shapes our ability to innovate, execute, and compete. This role sits on the team responsible for driving enterprise‑wide AI adoption and culture‑building: turning strategic intent into measurable workforce capability. You will design and run the programs that move Applied Materials employees from AI‑curious to AI‑proficient, and you will do so at the pace and scale a global technology manufacturer demands. This is not a training‑catalog role. It is an enterprise change initiative, and you will own it.

What You Will Do

• Own the enterprise AI literacy roadmap. Define the multi‑year curriculum strategy — segmented by role, function, and proficiency tier — and translate it into a concrete quarterly execution plan with named milestones and owners.
• Drive measurable capability gains. Instrument every program initiative against a KPI framework that tracks usage and adoption rate, proficiency level by employee tier, time‑saved and productivity impact, and confidence/sentiment scores — then report findings to senior leadership on a regular cadence.
• Design and deliver leader‑facing workshops. Build and facilitate hands‑on sessions for people managers and executives on [Applied’s AI tool stack, including Microsoft Copilot] — equipping leaders to model new working behaviors and set expectations for their teams.
• Build and activate an AI Champion Network. Recruit, onboard, and hold accountable a distributed community of AI ambassadors across business units; provide them with enablement resources, feedback loops, and executive air cover so they can accelerate adoption where you cannot be present.
• Lead change management, not just communications. Proactively map adoption barriers — cultural, technical, and structural — develop mitigation strategies, and work with managers to shift behaviors before resistance becomes inertia.
• Partner on responsible‑AI governance. Collaborate with Legal, Security, Compliance, and Data Governance stakeholders to ensure every program initiative remains aligned with Applied’s responsible‑AI principles and regulatory requirements.
• Align and influence cross‑functional stakeholders. Navigate a matrixed organization to secure buy‑in, resources, and sponsorship from business unit leaders and senior executives — without direct authority over any of them.
• Tie learning outcomes to business performance. Frame every program deliverable in terms of productivity improvement, operational efficiency, or competitive advantage — not only employee satisfaction or participation counts.
• Iterate rapidly. Collect participant feedback, benchmark against industry peers, and refine program design continuously — treating each cohort as a data point, not a finish line.

What You Are Good At

• Running complex programs at enterprise scale.
• You have led large, cross‑functional initiatives at companies with 5,000+ employees and know how to manage scope, stakeholders, timelines, and competing priorities without losing momentum.
• Influencing without authority. You build trust and alignment with senior leaders and functional partners through credibility and clarity, not org‑chart leverage — and you are comfortable presenting to executives on a regular basis.
• Reading the organization. You pick up on unwritten culture, political dynamics, and decision‑making patterns through observation — you don't need everything spelled out to know what will and won't work.
• Anticipating second‑order effects. Before making recommendations, you map downstream risks, stakeholder implications, KPI impacts — and you flag them proactively rather than waiting to be asked.
• Translating strategy into structured execution. You are equally at home writing a program charter and running a weekly status meeting; you know that strategy only matters if it lands in practice.
• Facilitating executive workshops with confidence. You can design and lead a two‑hour session with a roomful of skeptical senior leaders — adjusting on the fly when energy drops or a question derails the agenda.
• Sustaining energy and credibility across a long initiative. AI enablement is a multi‑year journey with inevitable plateaus; you keep stakeholders engaged, communicate wins clearly, and retool when a program isn’t working.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of program or change management experience inside a large, complex enterprise; experience in a technology, semiconductor, or advanced manufacturing environment is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience designing and facilitating executive‑level learning experiences — preferably including AI or digital transformation content.
• Hands‑on familiarity with enterprise AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent productivity AI platforms; experience training others to use them is strongly preferred.
• Exposure to responsible‑AI or AI governance frameworks — including working with Legal, Compliance, or Data Governance teams to evaluate and mitigate AI‑related risks.
• Experience building or scaling an ambassador, champion, or peer‑network program across multiple business units.

Additional Information

Time Type: Full time Employee Type: Assignee / Regular Travel: Yes, 20% of the Time Relocation Eligible: Yes

The salary offered to a selected candidate will be based on multiple factors including location, hire grade, job‑related knowledge, skills, experience, and with consideration of internal equity of our current team members. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, candidates may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus and a stock award program, as applicable.

For all sales roles, the posted salary range is the Target Total Cash (TTC) range for the role, which is the sum of base salary and target bonus amount at 100% goal achievement.

Applied Materials is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. In addition, Applied endeavors to make our careers site accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact us via e-mail at [e-mail], or by calling our HR Direct Help Line at 877-612-7547, option 1, and following the prompts to speak to an HR Advisor. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.

Cookies are small text files stored on your device that help the website function correctly. Our website uses only cookies that are strictly necessary to operate and to provide services explicitly requested by the user. These cookies cannot be switched off in our systems and do not track browsing behavior or collect data for analytics, advertising, or marketing purposes.