Head of AI Applications (f/m/x)

• Shape the future AI & Gen AI tech stack at ZEISS by mapping state-of-the-art technology to ZEISS business needs – ensuring scalability, maintainability and cost-effectiveness
• Consult teams in Zeiss Digital Partners and beyond regarding AI & Gen AI technologies and implementation

Your Role

• Technical Leadership
• Shape the future AI & Gen AI tech stack at ZEISS by mapping state-of-the-art technology to ZEISS business needs – ensuring scalability, maintainability and cost-effectiveness
• Consult teams in Zeiss Digital Partners and beyond regarding AI & Gen AI technologies and implementation
• Solution Delivery
• Lead technical project streams through the whole lifecycle, from Po C to fully operational and scaled solutions within an agile framework, ensuring high quality and efficient development, while adhering to ZEISS standards (regulatory, ethical, security)
• Continuously advance best-practices in application development and drive delivery excellence
• Own and drive scoping, budgeting, staffing and stakeholder management for technical project streams
• Team Empowerment & Development
• Support project teams with guidance, prioritization and problem solving as needed
• Empower the teams so they are setup for success and can deliver to promise
• Step-in in case of escalations or conflicts
• Ensure balanced workloads and appropriate task allocation
• Promote a culture of innovation, learning, and inclusion aligned with company values and keep the teams' motivation high
• Communication & Stakeholder Alignment
• Facilitate clear communication and responsibilities between SBUs, ZDP teams, and AI experts
• Ensure all project sponsors and client-side management understands scope, risks and limitations of joint projects / solutions via clear and effective expectation-management
• Ensure all team members understand business context and client requirements
• Team Leadership
• Leading, motivating, assessing, controlling and developing team members in accordance with ZEISS management and leadership principles
• Ensuring the necessary employee qualifications
• Propose salary adjustments and participate in decisions on individual personnel measures (in coordination with the HR department)
• Implement measures for the efficient design of structures and processes in the team

Your Profile

• An excellent university degree (Ph D is a plus) in natural science, mathematics, computer science, engineering or similar
• Several years of professional experience in building and delivering AI & Gen AI applications in an enterprise context
• Proven ability to lead diverse development teams
• Leadership & Decision Making
• Ability to lead with clarity in a fast-paced environment with high uncertainty and ambiguity
• Experience in leading agile development and product teams
• Ability to enable and empower the development teams, providing guidance, support and prioritization as needed, so they can work effectively
• Technical Expertise
• Deep technical understanding of foundational and large language models, the Microsoft AI tech stack, and agentic frameworks like Lang Chain or Auto Gen
• Very strong technical skills, from solution architecture to hands-on software development (Python, Git, Dev Ops)
• Business acumen
• Ability cut through hype and identify most promising and impactful use cases while sorting out noise
• Strong business acumen, understanding relevant aspects of AI-and data-driven business models
• Ability to translate customer needs into effective technical solutions
• Interpersonal & Communication Skills
• Open-minded, flexible and proven ability to successfully work with interdisciplinary and international teams – across teams and departments
• Strong communication and presentation skills, and the ability to drive decision making from operational to Cx O level
• Ability to easily navigate corporate, as well as managerial / business and tech environments
• Fluent English and advanced German language skills
• Your ZEISS Recruiting Team
• Markus Repp
• #J-18808-Ljbffr