Senior Director, AI Strategy & Smart Manufacturing

About our group:

The Senior Director, AI Strategy & Smart Manufacturingat Seagate Technology plays a transformative leadership role in defining the long‑term AI vision for Global Operations. This role shapes how intelligent systems drive the evolution of manufacturing-from data‑driven insights to predictive, prescriptive, and increasingly autonomous decision‑making across Seagate's global footprint.

Operating at the intersection of strategy and deep technical expertise, the role leads the industrialization of AI at scale, translating emerging capabilities into resilient, self‑learning manufacturing operations. In doing so, the AI Strategist & Technical Lead ensures Seagate remains at the forefront of intelligent, adaptive, and future‑ready manufacturing.

About the role - you will:

• Accelerate AI-driven innovation and transformation by building and maintaining a vision for how AI will drive value aligned with strategic objectives by working collaboratively with other leaders and Executives across the enterprise, with emphasis on manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and operational resilience.
• Foster collaboration to develop cross-organizational and functional alignment in accordance with the enterprise AI vision. Establish an internal and external AI ecosystem, building working relationships with vendors, partners, research institutes, regulators, industry associations, and other external stakeholders, including strategic technology partners supporting industrial AI, digital twin, and factory systems.
• Establish a world-class AI strategy for Operations that aligns with the company's overarching enterprise vision, including goal setting and measuring AI initiatives, with success measured through operational KPIs such as yield, downtime, throughput variability, cost efficiency, and resilience, not pilots or proofs of concept.
• Define the operating model and delivery capabilities to engineer and operationalize AI initiatives, overseeing the development and execution of advanced AI products and solutions, ensuring their scalable and seamless integration across the organization, including closed loop decision systems, digital twins, and integration with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and operational technology (OT) environments.
• Guide and influence Executives on AI driven transformation strategies, particularly where AI directly impacts physical operations, production performance, and decision automation.

About you:

The AI Leader understands business objectives and goals has deep knowledge of AI concepts, methods, and techniques and exhibits exceptional interpersonal and leadership skills, including:

• Business acumen: Understand business concepts, practices, and business-domain language deeply enough to engage in problem-solving sessions and discuss business issues in stakeholder language. Aligning AI initiatives with the organization's overarching vision and strategic goals, this includes understanding how AI will impact business objectives beyond financial metrics.
• AI-driven business transformation: Understand how decision intelligence, agentic AI, and other AI practices/approaches/application areas can transform decision making and work practices, including application to physical-world systems such as manufacturing, logistics, equipment reliability, and quality control. Articulate AI's transformative impact on current and future business objectives, including its potential to drive new business models, regenerate existing workflows, optimize operations, and deliver measurable value based on key performance indicators (KPIs).
• AI industry knowledge: Leverage a comprehensive understanding of industry dynamics and the organization's core mission to pinpoint where AI can yield the most significant impact and competitive advantage, while also identifying relevant business risks and opportunities, including how AI can disrupt or extend existing business models. Deep expertise in AI concepts, methods, and techniques (including machine learning, deep learning, decision intelligence, and agentic AI).
• Communication and influence: Bridge communication gaps and foster cross-functional synergy to align AI initiatives seamlessly across diverse business units and functions, ensuring maximum value realization, minimizing conflicting implementations, and effectively communicating complex AI topics to various stakeholders.
• Leadership: Proven track record of applying and orchestrating AI throughout an organization, leading complex, multidisciplinary talent teams in new endeavors and delivering solutions. Ability to balance team and individual responsibilities, build teams and consensus, get things done through others not directly under their supervision, and work ethically and with integrity. Be a self-starter with an entrepreneurial spirit that thrives in dynamic environments, able to build teams, execute influence strategies, and advance ideas.

Your experience includes:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field, or comparable hands-on experience.
• 10+ years of experience in senior technology, manufacturing, and/or business leadership roles, with a proven track record of leading AI/ML initiatives. Demonstrated success delivering AI solutions from concept through full-scale enterprise deployment, ideally within complex, operational environments.
• Deep expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, including areas such as machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, and decision intelligence. Hands-on experience with modern AI/ML tools, frameworks, and platforms, with the ability to integrate AI solutions into existing systems and workflows.
• Proven ability to define and execute an AI strategy aligned to business objectives. Experience leading enterprise-wide digital or AI transformation initiatives and managing cross-functional teams (e.g., data science, engineering, operations) to deliver scalable, production-ready AI solutions.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to align AI initiatives to measurable business outcomes and KPIs (e.g., yield, efficiency, quality, cost). Experienced in developing business cases for AI investments and tracking their operational and financial impact.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex AI concepts into clear, actionable insights for executive and non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive cross-functional alignment to support AI adoption at scale.
  Desirable Skills, Competencies & Experience:
• Advanced Education: Master's or Ph.D. in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science), or an MBA with strong technology or digital focus.
• Industry Domain Experience: Experience in manufacturing, supply chain, or industrial operations. Familiarity with Industry 4.0 concepts and technologies, including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), IoT/OT environments, and digital twin platforms.
• AI Governance & Responsible Innovation: Knowledge of AI ethics, governance, and regulatory compliance, with experience establishing responsible AI practices across the enterprise.
• Thought Leadership & Continuous Learning: Recognized contributions to the AI community (e.g., speaking engagements, publications, or industry group participation).
• Relevant professional certifications (e.g., AI/ML, cloud platforms) or evidence of ongoing learning in emerging AI technologies are an advantage.

Location:

Woodlands, Singapore, W3

Location: Woodlands, Singapore, W3
Travel: None