Algolia

AI Search

VP,AI-NativeOps&Automation,R&D

United States Remote Friendly
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Director candidates.

The Brief

“VP, AI-Native Ops & Automation, R&D at Algolia. Skills: AI-Native Ops, Automation, R&D Transformation, Operating Models. Lead R&D Operating Model Transformation. Analyze product development lifecycle”

What You'll Achieve.

Improve development velocity; Improve quality; Improve reliability; Improve execution consistency; Deliver measurable operational outcomes; Continuously surface delivery risks; Continuously surface quality issues; Continuously surface prioritization opportunities; Continuously surface operational insights; Achieve high-velocity, continuously optimized R&D organization; Achieve enterprise scale; Achieve rapid innovation

Industry & Context.

AI Search
Problems you'll solve

Problem-solving capability; Perseverance capability

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

15+ years of experience in Product Operations, Engineering Operations, Technical Program Leadership, or enterprise transformation roles, Deep understanding of modern software development lifecycles, Deep understanding of developer tooling ecosystems, Deep understanding of platform engineering, Deep understanding of AI/ML-enabled workflows, Demonstrated success leading large-scale engineering or product transformation initiatives with measurable operational outcomes

Nice to Have

Experience in high-scale SaaS, Experience in AI infrastructure, Experience in platform engineering, Experience in enterprise technology environments, Familiarity with AI-assisted software development tooling, Familiarity with autonomous workflows, Familiarity with engineering intelligence systems, Experience scaling globally distributed engineering organizations, Exposure to governance frameworks, Exposure to reliability frameworks, Exposure to operational excellence frameworks in complex technical organizations

What You'll Do.

Lead R&D Operating Model Transformation

Analyze product development lifecycle

Redesign product development lifecycle

Identify coordination overhead

Identify tooling gaps

Identify workflow inefficiencies

AI-native operating models

Improve development velocity

Improve execution consistency

Apply AI across engineering telemetry

Apply AI across CI/CD systems

Apply AI across product usage data

Apply AI across incidents

Apply AI across retrospectives

Apply AI across customer feedback

Develop systems for delivery risks

Develop systems for quality issues

Develop systems for prioritization opportunities

Develop systems for operational insights

Partner with infrastructure teams

Partner with platform teams

Partner with developer tooling teams

Embed AI into engineering workflows

Embed automation into engineering workflows

Build transformation roadmap

Execute transformation roadmap

Drive adoption of AI-assisted workflows

Drive adoption of automated reporting

Drive adoption of intelligent execution systems

Establish governance models for AI usage

Establish governance models for workflow instrumentation

Establish governance models for data integrity

Establish governance models for system reliability

Define KPI frameworks

Measure automation impact

Measure AI adoption impact

Institutionalize repeatable methodologies

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Influence skills across executive stakeholders; Influence skills across technical stakeholders; Influence skills across operational stakeholders; Partner with infrastructure, platform, and developer tooling teams; Collaborate with Product, Engineering, AI Research, and Platform teams

Communication Scope

Exceptional communication skills

Process & Methodology

Technical Program Leadership, Enterprise transformation

Full Job Description

At Algolia, we’re proud to be a pioneer and market leader in AI Search, empowering 17,000+ businesses to deliver blazing-fast, predictive search and browse experiences at internet scale. Every week, we power over 30 billion search requests — four times more than Microsoft Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, and DuckDuckGo combined. In 2021, we raised $150 million in Series D funding, quadrupling our valuation to $2.25 billion. This strong foundation enables us to keep investing in our market-leading platform and serving incredible customers like Under Armour, PetSmart, Stripe, Gymshark, and Walgreens. To support this next phase of growth, this is a new individual contributor executive role responsible for transforming how Product, Engineering, AI Research, and Platform teams operate. Reporting directly to the CEO, the VP, AI-Native Ops & Automation, R&D will define and scale the operating system for how Algolia builds, ships, instruments, and continuously improves products and platforms across the company. This role goes beyond traditional Product Operations or Engineering Operations leadership. The mandate is to embed AI deeply into software development workflows, engineering coordination, prioritization systems, operational instrumentation, and organizational decision-making, enabling a high-velocity, continuously optimized R&D organization built for enterprise scale and rapid innovation. YOUR ROLE WILL CONSIST OF: Lead R&D Operating Model Transformation Analyze and redesign the full product development lifecycle across planning, prioritization, development, deployment, and release management Identify bottlenecks, coordination overhead, tooling gaps, and workflow inefficiencies across Product, Engineering, AI Research, and Platform teams Define scalable, AI-native operating models that improve development velocity, quality, reliability, and execution consistency Build AI-Augmented Engineering & Product Intelligence Apply AI and advanced analytics across engineering teleme

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