Director, AI and Innovation

Director, AI and Innovation

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Job Category

Customer Success

Job Details

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.

Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

Director, AI and Innovation

About the Role

The Director, AI and Innovation leads the strategy, development, and adoption of artificial intelligence and emerging technology initiatives across the organization. This role partners with business, technology, and delivery leaders to identify high-impact AI opportunities, build innovation pipelines, and drive measurable business value through responsible AI adoption.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive the AI and Innovation strategy in alignment with overall business objectives.

• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize AI/emerging tech use cases across the enterprise.

• Lead cross-functional teams to design, pilot, and scale AI-powered solutions.

• Partner with engineering, data science, and product teams to operationalize AI models responsibly.

• Establish governance frameworks for responsible and ethical AI use.

• Track industry trends and emerging technologies (Generative AI, Agentic AI, ML, automation) to inform roadmap decisions.

• Build and manage relationships with internal stakeholders and external partners/vendors.

• Present innovation roadmaps and business cases to executive leadership.

• Mentor and grow a team focused on innovation and applied AI delivery.

• Measure and report on ROI and adoption metrics for AI initiatives.

What You Will Do (Core Responsibilities)

1. Build and Own the Agent Ecosystem

• Design and build a set of AI agents (scoping, estimation, risk, etc.)

• Ensure they work together as a single system

• Continuously improve based on real deal and delivery data.

2. Design End-to-End Workflows

• Define how agents interact across the lifecycle

• Ensure smooth hand-offs between agents and humans

• Reduce manual steps and rework

3. Turn Business Logic into Automation

• Convert scoping rules, estimation models, and governance policies into working tools

• Ensure outputs are consistent, accurate, and easy to use by the field

4. Build Data & Feedback Loops

• Connect delivery data into centralized data source (e.g. Data Cloud)

• Track: Estimate vs actual and Margin vs plan

• Use this data to improve agents over time

5. Automate Governance

• Build tools that automatically check estimates against standards

• Flag risks early

• Enforce approval rules

6. Work Closely with Field and GDC Teams

• Partner with consultants to understand real challenges

• Work with Global Delivery Centers (GDC) based team to build and scale solutions

• Ensure tools are practical and adopted globally

7. Partner with Salesforce Product & Engineering

• Use latest platform capabilities (e.g. Agentforce, Data Cloud)

• Provide feedback to improve platform features

• Ensure internal tools stay aligned with product roadmap

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in technology strategy, innovation, or AI/ML delivery, with 5+ years in a leadership role.

• Strong understanding of AI/ML concepts, Generative AI, and enterprise technology architecture.

• Proven track record of leading cross-functional innovation programs.

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and executive presentation skills.

• Experience with change management and driving adoption of new technologies at scale.

Strategic And Technical Expertise And Experience
Hands on experience with Large Language Models, agentic frameworks, ML Ops, and traditional AI and ML.

• Proven history of delivering large programs in the AI space, including integration of operational systems, APIs, and batch/streaming pipelines.

• Deep understanding of AI system governance and security, including data privacy, model integrity, observability and cost management.

• Proficient in cloud technologies and enterprise-grade AI/ML platforms (e.g., AWS Sagemaker, Bedrock, Agentic, Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure ML, Databricks).

• Expertise in LLMs, including fine-tuning, RAG, prompt engineering, multi-agent collaboration, orchestration frameworks, and alignment techniques. Demonstrated experience leading the development of strategic technology direction and architecture vision for a large organization.

• Developed technology target states and roadmaps aligned with short- and long-term business goals.

• Expert-level software engineering experience.

• Partnerships with hyperscalars and technology vendors for right build vs. buy evaluations.

Impact & Success Metrics

• Create a thriving AI culture within and across Salesforce through the AI Center of excellence

• Design, build, adoption, scale of AI capabilities to achieve target revenue impact

• Build a best-in-class marketplace & scale reusable solution components usage through better marketplace adoption across business units

• Expansion of organizational AI/ML capabilities and talent

• This role requires a unique blend of strategic vision, technical depth, and business insight to lead our organization in delivering next-generation marketing solutions powered by artificial intelligence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Salesforce, cloud platforms, or enterprise SaaS ecosystems.

• Familiarity with AI governance, responsible AI practices, and data privacy regulations.

• Background in consulting, delivery management, or product innovation.

What Kind of Person Succeeds Here

• Builds, not just designs

• Thinks in systems and workflows, not isolated tools

• Comfortable working with both engineers and consultants / business teams

• Focused on solving real problems, not building “cool demos”

• Can simplify complexity and make tools easy to use

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

Experience Level

Executive Level