Remote Principal AI & Automation Leader

Confluent; Concord (NH); Remote; USD 285,000 - 342,000; Full time

Job summary

Confluent is seeking a strategic, hands-on technical leader to define and drive internal agentic AI capabilities and adoption of smart, automated decisioning systems for R&D productivity. You will partner across Engineering, Security, and IT to scale AI usage across our platform and accelerate value for customers and the business.

You will operationalize a vision where AI augments developers, automates routine tasks, and orchestrates intelligent workflows that unlock new usage patterns.

Qualifications

• 8+ years driving strategic productivity initiatives in SaaS/Cloud platforms or developer tools with AI focus.
• Expert in building distributed systems and the infrastructure to support them.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong communicator translating complex technical strategies into impact-oriented outcomes.
• Hands-on AI experience with AI/ML platforms and workflow automation.
• Understanding of responsible AI governance.

Responsibilities

• Define and evangelize the AI and agentic flows strategy - aligning business metrics, engineering needs, and platform opportunities.
• Build a roadmap for introducing agentic automation features, smart assistants, and AI-driven workflows across all aspects of engineering.
• Lead the delivery of core agentic workflows that improves productivity across engineering.
• Balance of hands-on contributions with effective delegation to others. Expect 60% execution and 40% strategy setting.
• Drive measurable adoption of AI tooling and flows with internal teams.
• Governance & best practices: adopt industry standards, guardrails, and quality metrics for AI behavior.
• Define success metrics and KPIs (e.g., AI-driven usage lift, automation ROI, reduction in manual workflows).
• Thought leadership: participate in external forums and evolve with technology shifts.
• Write internal playbooks for building and scaling agentic outcomes.

Skills

Strategic leadership

AI/ML expertise

Distributed systems

Cross-functional collaboration

Metrics & ROI

Job description

Confluent is seeking a strategic, hands-on technical leader to define and drive internal agentic AI capabilities and adoption of smart, automated decisioning systems for R&D productivity. You will partner across Engineering, Security, and IT to scale AI usage across our platform and accelerate value for customers and the business.

You will operationalize a vision where AI augments developers, automates routine tasks, and orchestrates intelligent workflows that unlock new usage patterns.