Senior Director, AI Platform Engineering

Jobtailor; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Coupa Software seeks an experienced AI Platform Engineering leader to set the technical strategy and roadmap for expanding its AI platform capabilities. You will oversee an engineering team across the US and India, hiring across ML, data engineering, and platform disciplines.

You will drive partnerships with AI infrastructure providers, define high-impact AI use cases, and own data strategy including privacy-safe practices.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in engineering leadership (Director or Sr. Director level).
• Track record building and leading AI/ML engineering teams of 15+ people across multiple geographies.
• Deep technical understanding of ML/AI systems, including model training, fine-tuning, RAG, and model serving. Must be able to evaluate technical decisions and challenge architects.
• Experience delivering AI/ML products in an enterprise B2B SaaS environment.
• Experience scaling engineering teams and shipping complex AI capabilities from concept to production.
• Strong partnership and vendor management experience with major AI and cloud providers.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure at enterprise scale.
• Track record managing distributed teams across US and India.
• Excellent executive communication, translating technical strategy into business impact for C-level audiences.
• Understanding of data privacy, tenant isolation, and responsible AI practices.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy and delivery roadmap for expanding AI platform capabilities.
• Build and manage a large engineering team across US and India.
• Drive strategic partnerships with AI infrastructure and model providers.
• Define and prioritize AI use cases with product leadership for business impact.
• Expand model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure beyond frontier models.
• Own data strategy, data pipelines, quality, and privacy-safe practices for AI.
• Coordinate with AI, data, application, and cloud operations teams.
• Manage budget, hiring plan, and delivery milestones for the AI platform group.
• Present strategy and results to VP/SVP/C-level stakeholders.
• Ensure data safety, tenant isolation, and responsible AI practices across capabilities.

Skills

AI/ML leadership

Model training & fine-tuning

Cloud infrastructure

Vendor management

Executive communication

Education

Advanced degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

ML Frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch)

RAG

Model serving

Data pipelines

Cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Job description

• Lead the technical strategy and delivery roadmap for expanding Coupa's AI platform capabilities.
• Build and manage a high-performing engineering team across the US and India, hiring across ML, data engineering, and platform disciplines.
• Drive strategic partnership evaluations with AI infrastructure and model providers.
• Define and prioritize AI use cases that deliver the highest accuracy and business impact, working closely with product leadership.
• Expand model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure beyond frontier model integrations.
• Own data strategy for AI, ensuring the right data pipelines, quality frameworks, and privacy-safe practices feed model development.
• Coordinate with existing AI platform, data platform, application platform, and cloud operations teams.
• Manage budget, hiring plan, and delivery milestones for the AI platform engineering organization.
• Present strategy, progress, and results to VP/SVP/C-level stakeholders.
• Ensure data safety, tenant isolation, and responsible AI practices across all AI capabilities.

Requirements

• 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in engineering leadership (Director or Sr. Director level).
• Track record building and leading AI/ML engineering teams of 15+ people across multiple geographies.
• Deep technical understanding of ML/AI systems, including model training, fine-tuning, RAG, and model serving. Must be able to evaluate technical decisions and challenge architects.
• Experience delivering AI/ML products in an enterprise B2B SaaS environment.
• Experience scaling engineering teams and shipping complex AI capabilities from concept to production.
• Strong partnership and vendor management experience with major AI and cloud providers.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure at enterprise scale.
• Track record managing distributed teams across US and India.
• Excellent executive communication, translating technical strategy into business impact for C-level audiences.
• Understanding of data privacy, tenant isolation, and responsible AI practices.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in leading AI/ML engineering teams, driving technical strategy, and managing complex AI capabilities in enterprise environments. Proficient in data strategy, model training, and ensuring responsible AI practices while effectively communicating with C-level stakeholders.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• AI/ML Engineering Leadership
• Model Training and Fine-Tuning
• Cloud Infrastructure Management
• Vendor Management with AI Providers
• Executive Communication

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Software Engineering
• AI/ML Systems
• Model Serving
• Data Pipeline Management
• Enterprise B2B SaaS Delivery
• Technical Decision Evaluation
• Distributed Team Management
• Data Privacy Practices
• Tenant Isolation
• Responsible AI Practices

Soft Skills

• Strategic Thinking
• Team Building
• Collaboration
• Problem Solving
• Communication

Certifications & Qualifications

• Advanced Degree in Computer Science
• Advanced Degree in Engineering

Industry Keywords

• AI Platform
• Machine Learning
• Data Engineering
• Cloud Operations
• Model Training Infrastructure