Senior Manager, Applied AI

Job Purpose

The Senior Manager, Applied AI position leads Hyliion's enterprise AI adoption, partnering with every department to turn AI tools into measurable gains in speed, quality, and capacity. Hyliion designs and builds the KARNO™ Power Module, a fuel-agnostic linear generator for data center, commercial and industrial, and defense applications, and is working toward commercialization with a lean team. This position identifies the highest-value AI opportunities across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and HR, then designs, deploys, and scales the workflows, assistants, agents, and automations that capture that value.

This is a hands-on individual contributor role: the Senior Manager, Applied AI role builds solutions directly, trains and coaches teams, and develops a network of departmental AI champions so adoption sticks after go-live. Working closely with IT leadership, Legal & Compliance, and functional leaders, the position also owns the governance, security, and data practices that let Hyliion move fast with AI while protecting intellectual property and meeting government contract requirements.

Duties and Responsibilities

• AI strategy and roadmap: Develop and maintain Hyliion's enterprise AI roadmap in partnership with executive leadership; prioritize use cases by business value, effort, and risk, and tie each initiative to KARNO commercialization goals and departmental objectives.
• Departmental partnership: Serve as the embedded AI partner to each department; map current workflows with functional leaders, identify where AI can remove manual effort or improve decisions, and agree on success metrics before work begins.
• Solution design and delivery: Design, build, and deploy AI solutions end to end, including prompt libraries, custom assistants, agents, retrieval-based knowledge tools, and workflow automations; take solutions from prototype to daily production use and own their performance after launch.
• Engineering and operations enablement: Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain on use cases such as test data analysis, technical documentation, design review support, supplier and procurement analysis, nonconformance and root cause analysis, and production planning.
• Business function enablement: Partner with Commercial, Finance, Legal & Compliance, and HR on use cases such as proposal and RFP drafting, market research, financial analysis and reporting, contract review, policy research, recruiting, and employee self-service.
• Adoption and change management: Drive measurable adoption of company AI tools; design and deliver role-based training, office hours, and playbooks, and build a network of departmental AI champions who sustain usage and surface new opportunities.
• Tool evaluation and platform management: Evaluate, select, and manage AI platforms and vendors with IT.
• Governance, security, and compliance: Maintain Hyliion's AI acceptable use policy, data classification guidance, and review process with IT team and Legal & Compliance; protect intellectual property and ensure AI use meets export control and government contract requirements, including those tied to U.S. Navy work.
• Measurement and reporting: Define and track AI KPIs, including adoption, active usage, hours saved, cycle-time reduction, and quality improvements; report results and ROI to executive leadership on a regular cadence.
• Emerging technology: Monitor developments in AI models, agents, and tooling; run controlled pilots and recommend where Hyliion should adopt, wait, or pass.
• Cross-functional influence: Lead company-wide AI initiatives without direct authority, influence senior leaders, and model AI-first ways of working across the organization.
• Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned, needed, or required for the business.

Qualifications include:

• Education, Experience and Certifications
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience, required; advanced technical or business degree beneficial.
• 8+ years of experience in technology, data, digital transformation, or process improvement roles, including 3+ years leading AI, machine learning, or automation initiatives.
• Demonstrated track record of deploying generative AI solutions (LLM-based assistants, agents, or automations) into daily business use with measurable results.
• Experience leading enterprise-wide technology adoption across multiple departments, including training and change management.
• Experience in manufacturing, energy, aerospace, defense, or another engineering-driven industry preferred.
• Experience in a pre-commercial, startup, or high-growth environment preferred.
• Experience with AI governance and data security in regulated environments, including export control (ITAR/EAR) or government contract requirements, preferred.
• Skills and Abilities
• Hands-on proficiency with leading generative AI platforms and enterprise AI tools, including prompt design, custom assistants, and agent configuration.
• Working knowledge of APIs, low-code/no-code automation platforms, and scripting (Python or equivalent).
• Understanding of retrieval-augmented generation, data pipelines, and integration of AI with enterprise systems such as Microsoft 365, ERP, and PLM.
• Ability to translate business problems into practical AI solutions and quantify the value before and after implementation.
• Strong facilitation and teaching skills, with the ability to train audiences ranging from technicians to executives.
• Clear, direct communicator, credible with engineers, operators, and business leaders alike.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive change without direct authority.
• Sound judgment on risk, privacy, and intellectual property protection when applying AI.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity and building programs from the ground up rather than inheriting them.

Role Classification and Working Conditions

This is a salaried, exempt-level position. This position typically works in an office environment; and given the nature of our business is also exposed to operations/warehouses/production environments.

Physical/Other Requirements

• Ability to sit and work at a computer for extended periods.
• Ability to walk production and lab areas and wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when on the floor, following Hyliion safety procedures.
• Ability to travel, as needed, by plane, automobile, etc., including periodic travel between the Cedar Park, Texas headquarters and the Milford, Ohio development facility (estimated ~25%).

We are not accepting candidates who require sponsorship for this role at this time.