Lead Technical Product/Program Manager, AI Applications

Hybrid: Individuals in this role are expected to live in the Greater Seattle area and are encouraged to spend 1-3 days per week on-site in our Seattle offices. Compensation Range: $159,548 - $239,322

Who You Are:

You are a seasoned product or program manager who thrives in greenfield environments where you have broad scope and get to wear multiple hats. You're passionate about creating real-world impact using AI and you excel at defining strategic MVPs with a long-term roadmap. Your stakeholder management skills are exceptional—you know how to bring the right people together and ask the right questions. You're a strong strategic thinker who’s equally ready to do the tactical work needed to move a project forward.

Who We Are: 

You’ll be joining the program management team within our Strategic Infrastructure (SI) group, responsible for driving the definition and execution of AI2’s ambitious flagship projects, including "truly open" foundation models, our upcoming agentic AI research assistant, and AI-for-environment initiatives. Our centralized team works directly with world-class researchers to connect the dots between R&D, engineering, and real-world impact. We are deeply involved in technical details while also serving as stewards of the institute's big-picture strategy. Our work spans all levels of the organization—from coordinating with the team operating our state-of-the-art GPU cluster to collaborating with executives to drive clarity, decision-making, and prioritization.

Your Next Challenge:

You’ll be responsible for creating clarity and alignment around a roadmap for our AI products and initiatives. You'll work closely with senior leaders, marketing, design, and technical teams to define go-to-market strategy, and establish the governance structure and cadence needed to bring that strategy to life. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, you will work collaboratively with the broader team to analyze learnings and iterate on the approach.

The essential functions include, but are not limited to the following:

• Define product vision and strategy in close collaboration with design, UXR, and HCI and AI researchers. Represent this vision to executive leadership and rally the team around it.
• Apply an understanding of the broader context surrounding initiatives to identify external risks and opportunities; productively drive strategic changes when necessary.
• Manage discussions of technical and product tradeoffs with a diversity of opinions, lighting the path forward in difficult situations.
• Lead planning processes, including the definition of annual goals and addressing questions of scope, priority, and success criteria. 
• Define and implement program management systems, answering key questions about how best to structure working teams, how to make the right decisions efficiently, and how to communicate across the team for strong collaboration and alignment.
• Ensure clear communication of status to leadership and other stakeholders, including progress updates, risks, and mitigation strategies. 
• Use your experience and knowledge to guide others. Model a growth mindset and proactively suggest improvements to how we work as a team. 

What You’ll Need:

• 12+ years of experience in product or program management
• BS degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or equivalent professional experience
• Track record launching successful AI/ML consumer products
• Expert knowledge of product development methodologies, e.g. value proposition, market sizing, positioning, user stories.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal; deft at adapting communication style to fit different audiences (technical, non-technical, executive level).

Bonus qualifications

• 3+ years working in a start-up or lab environment
• Experience with AI agents or LLMs
• Experience with ML deployment/serving infrastructure

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time. 
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations. 
• The ability to observe details at close range.
• Can work under deadlines.

A Little More About Ai2:

Ai2 is a Seattle based non-profit AI research institute founded in 2014 by the late Paul Allen. Our mission is building breakthrough AI to solve the world’s biggest problems. We develop foundational AI research and innovation to deliver real-world impact through large-scale open models, data, robotics, conservation, and beyond.

In addition to Ai2’s core mission, we also aim to contribute to humanity through our treatment of each member of the Ai2 Team. Some highlights are:

• We are a learning organization – because everything Ai2 does is ground-breaking, we are learning every day. Similarly, through weekly Ai2 Academy lectures, a wide variety of world-class AI experts as guest speakers, and our commitment to your personal on-going education, Ai2 is a place where you will have opportunities to continue learning alongside your coworkers. 
• We value diversity - We seek to hire, support, and promote people from all genders, ethnicities, and all levels of experience regardless of age. We particularly encourage applications from women, non-binary individuals, people of color, members of the LGBTQA+ community, and people with disabilities of any kind. 
• We value inclusion - We understand the value that people's individual experiences and perspectives can bring to an organization, and we are building a culture in which all voices are heard, respected and considered.
• We emphasize a healthy work/life balance – we believe our team members are happiest and most productive when their work/life balance is optimized. While we value powerful research results which drive our mission forward, we also value dinner with family, weekend time, and vacation time. We offer generous paid vacation and sick leave as well as family leave.
• We are collaborative and transparent – we consider ourselves a team, all moving with a common purpose. We are quick to cheer our successes, and even quicker to share and jointly problem solve our failures.
• We are in Seattle – and our office is on the water! We have mountains, we have lakes, we have four seasons, we bike to work, we have a vibrant theater scene, and we have so much else. We even have kayaks for you to paddle right outside our front door. We welcome interest from applicants from outside of the United States.
• We are friendly– chances are you will like every one of the 200+ (and growing) people who work here. We do. 

Ai2 is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. You may view the related Know Your Rights compliance poster and the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision by clicking on their corresponding links. 

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities to the full extent required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you feel you need a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the ADA, you are encouraged to contact us at [email protected].

Benefits: 

• Team members and their families are covered by medical, dental, vision, basic life insurance, basic accidental death and dismemberment insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, and an employee assistance program. 
• Team members are able to enroll in our voluntary life insurance program, our voluntary accidental death and dismemberment program, our health savings account plan, our healthcare reimbursement arrangement plan, and our health care and dependent care flexible spending account plans. 
• Team members are able to enroll in our company’s 401k plan. 
• Team members will receive $125 per month to assist with commuting or internet expenses and will also receive $200 per month for fitness and wellbeing expenses.
• Team members will also receive up to ten sick days per year, up to seven personal days per year, up to 20 vacation days per year and twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Team members will be able to receive annual bonuses and can participate in the long-term incentive plan.

Note: This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the team members(s) of this position. Team members will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the team member(s) will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an at will relationship.