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Product2 days agoRemote

Merkle

VP, Operations Transformation

AILLMsprompt engineeringmachine learningPythonSQLAI governancedata privacyproduct managementoperationsstrategic leadershipdistributed teamsClaude AI

Key details

Salary

$163K – $275K

Employment type

Full-time

Seniority

Senior

Years experience

5-10

Location

New York, US

Full job description

Lead the AI transformation of operations at Merkle by developing strategic vision and delivering AI-powered solutions across finance, staffing, project delivery, and sales operations. Manage and inspire a distributed team of AI practitioners including business analysts, technical architects, machine learning engineers, and data specialists. Collaborate closely with finance, HR, resource management, and delivery leadership to understand operational workflows and pain points. Define problems clearly and balance thorough understanding with timely delivery. Ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, and adopted by the business. Own measurable outcomes and report to the COO. Oversee operational support to maintain solutions post-launch and foster a culture of ownership. Requires 8+ years experience in operations or AI-driven solution leadership, hands-on experience with LLMs and AI application architecture, full solution lifecycle expertise, strong strategic and communication skills, and ability to lead distributed teams. Nice to have experience in digital marketing, agency operations, financial planning tools, machine learning, Python, SQL, and AI governance. Position is full-time, senior level, hybrid work based in New York. Salary range $163,000-$275,000 with comprehensive benefits.

What you'll do

  • Develop strategic vision for AI transformation of operations
  • Identify high-leverage AI opportunities across finance, staffing, project delivery, and sales operations
  • Lead and inspire a distributed team of AI practitioners and analysts
  • Understand operational workflows and pain points deeply before building solutions
  • Partner with finance, HR, resource management, and delivery leadership to gather requirements and build relationships
  • Define problems clearly before directing solution development
  • Balance depth of understanding with speed of delivery
  • Direct a team including AI-native business analysts, technical architect, machine learning engineer, and data/modeling specialists to deliver adopted AI solutions
  • Set clear expectations for working solutions, not just prototypes or research
  • Use AI platforms like Claude as foundational tools
  • Ensure solutions are scalable and maintainable
  • Own measurable outcomes and report progress honestly to COO
  • Continuously seek to reduce manual effort, improve decision quality, and accelerate business responsiveness
  • Oversee operational support function to maintain solutions and processes post-launch
  • Build a culture of maintenance and ownership within the team
  • Identify when solutions need updating, replacing, or retiring

Requirements

  • 8+ years of experience in operations, AI-driven solution development, or related leadership role
  • Track record of delivering AI-powered solutions, not just advising
  • Hands-on experience building with LLMs including prompt engineering, agentic workflows, API integration, and AI application architecture
  • Experience shipping AI-powered tools in production environments
  • Experience with full solution lifecycle from scoping and data requirements through deployment and iteration
  • Ability to articulate a vision for AI-enabled operations
  • Deep curiosity about business operations and strong problem understanding skills
  • Technical understanding of AI and large language models
  • Experience leading distributed or offshore teams
  • Strong strategic thinking with a bias toward delivery
  • Excellent communication skills at all levels including executive presentations
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and defining new paths
  • Nice to have: background in digital marketing, agency operations, or professional services
  • Nice to have: experience in large matrixed organizations
  • Nice to have: familiarity with financial planning, resource management, or project delivery tooling
  • Nice to have: machine learning or data engineering experience
  • Nice to have: familiarity with AI governance, data privacy, or responsible AI practices

Tech stack

LLMsprompt engineeringagentic workflowsAPI integrationAI application architectureClaude AI platformmachine learningPythonSQL

Benefits

Medical, vision, and dental insuranceLife insuranceShort-term and long-term disability insurance401k planFlexible paid time offAt least 15 paid holidays per yearPaid sick and safe leavePaid parental leaveCompliance with applicable state and local employee leave laws

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