AI Engineering Director

Ciklum is looking for an AI Engineering Director to join our team full-time in United States.

We are a custom product engineering company that supports both multinational organizations and scaling startups to solve their most complex business challenges. With a global team of over 4,000 highly skilled developers, consultants, analysts and product owners, we engineer technology that redefines industries and shapes the way people live.

About the role:

As an AI Engineering Director, become a part of a cross-functional development team engineering experiences of tomorrow. The AI Engineering Director (US) leads technical delivery and strategic engagement for a flagship AI-driven US healthcare platform. This is a client-facing, architecture-heavy leadership role embedded in a high-impact and fast-paced enterprise environment. The ideal candidate blends deep AI and data architecture experience with executive presence, acting as a trusted partner to both internal teams and C-level stakeholders on the client side. This role will sit at the intersection of solution architecture, AI capability leadership, and consultative client engagement.

The AI Engineering Director will work closely with the Program Director, Product Lead, and global delivery teams, while serving as the technical face of the program for the customer’s CTO, SVPs, and key decision-makers. While this position is unlikely to involve direct management of subordinates within the US entity, it requires the presence of a highly experienced individual who can effectively influence the company’s strategy in close collaboration with clients and senior leadership. Beyond the described project, the role will have opportunities to shape technical direction, driving innovation, supporting the sales process, and ensuring that Ciklum delivers top-tier engineering solutions for our current and new US customers.

Responsibilities:

• Act as the technical lead and client-facing engineering owner, managing senior stakeholder interactions across SVPs, CTO, and product leadership
• Drive the architecture, design, and feasibility validation of frontier AI solutions (LLMs, ML models, data pipelines) with clarity on what works, and what doesn’t
• Own and present technical proposals in leadership meetings, proactively managing expectations and pushing back when solutions are not feasible or scalable
• Represent engineering in critical milestones, including discovery phases, live demos, estimation reviews, and delivery governance
• Coach and align distributed technical teams, spanning US, Europe, and Asia, to maintain architectural consistency and delivery velocity
• Influence client trust and confidence by balancing subject matter expertise with strong communication and stakeholder management
• Support sales and expansion efforts by crafting technical strategies and articulating AI delivery capabilities during executive engagements

Requirements:

• Proven experience (5+ years) in engineering leadership roles, preferably in software or technology development
• Strong technical expertise, especially in AI/ML systems, LLMs, data pipelines, cloud- native environment, with a proven track record of delivering complex engineering solutions
• Demonstrated success in enterprise-scale architecture with regulatory or data-sensitive contexts (e.g., healthcare)
• Exceptional ability to present to and influence C-level executives, including handling cross-functional stakeholder tensions
• Prior experience leading or mentoring globally distributed engineering teams
• Capable of navigating high-stakes political environments with shifting priorities, making this role equal parts delivery, advisory, and diplomacy
• Strong communicator with consulting experience or a consulting mindset, able to act as a force multiplier for both client and internal teams
• Located on the East Coast US (New York/New Jersey/Boston preferred) or able to travel for key in-person leadership sessions
• Exceptional decision-making skills with the ability to balance business objectives with technical feasibility

Technical requirements:

• We recognize that exceptional candidates may not tick every box — if you bring strength in either AI architecture and executive-level client engagement (or both), we strongly encourage you to apply
• BSc in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research, Econometrics, or related fields
• Strong knowledge of Probability Theory, Statistics, and a deep understanding of the Mathematics behind Machine Learning
• Proven experience in architecting and implementing Data Science or AI/ML solutions, with a strong understanding of model lifecycle management and deployment strategies
• Strong knowledge and hands-on experience in Generative AI (GenAI) solution architecture, including model selection, fine-tuning strategies, and integration into enterprise environments
• Solid knowledge and hands-on experience in software architecture and data engineering, with the ability to design scalable, maintainable, and efficient systems
• Proficiency in development / languages related to data processing, data manipulation, sampling, and reporting. (Python / SQL / Java / Scala / etc.)
• Experience working with imbalanced datasets and applying appropriate techniques
• Experience with time series data, including preprocessing, feature engineering, and forecasting
• Experience with outlier detection and anomaly detection
• Experience working with various data types: text, image and video data
• Familiarity with AI/ML cloud implementations (AWS, Azure, GCP, NVidia) and cloud-based AI/ML services (e.g., Amazon SageMaker, Azure ML)

What's in it for you?

• A leadership role in a rapidly growing technology company
• Opportunity to work with iconic global brands and deliver impactful products
• Collaboration with industry-leading minds across Product, Architecture, Design, and Engineering
• Health insurance for the employees and their family members, 401k plan
• Being a Ciklumer means feeling passionate about what you do, striving for excellence, being ready to step up and open new spaces for new ideas, being part of an open-minded and enthusiastic community

About us:

At Ciklum, we are always exploring innovations, empowering each other to achieve more, and engineering solutions that matter. With us, you’ll work with cutting-edge technologies, contribute to impactful projects, and be part of a One Team culture that values collaboration and progress. In the US, Ciklum is growing fast—inviting experienced professionals to lead digital transformation alongside Fortune 500 clients. Be part of a company where innovation and impact go hand in hand.

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Explore, empower, engineer with Ciklum!

Interested already? We would love to get to know you! Submit your application. We can’t wait to see you at Ciklum.