Director AIML, Enterprise Data & AI Team

As part of the SanDisk Global IT organization, this Director-level role places you at the forefront of a company-wide transformation to embed AI into core operations and product innovation. You will play a pivotal role in executing SanDisk’s enterprise AI strategy, with a focus on Generative AI (LLMs, agents), traditional ML, and data platform build-out. You will be part of a global cross-functional team driving the development of scalable AI platforms and solutions that deliver measurable business impact across manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, and other functions. Based in Bangalore, this role offers the opportunity to build and lead a high-performance team, collaborate globally, and shape the future of AI at SanDisk.

Responsibilities

Internalize and drive the AI/ML vision and roadmap aligned with SanDisk’s strategic goals; Champion the development, adoption, and scaling of a centralized Data and AI platform supporting both GenAI and traditional ML use cases; Collaborate with global stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Operations, and IT to prioritize and deliver high-impact AI initiatives; Lead technology evaluations and drive consensus across cross-functional teams; Architect and oversee the build-out of the Data and AI Platform, including Lakehouse architecture, ML lifecycle management, GenAI capabilities (LLMs, RAG, vector databases, agentic workflows), and scalable cloud-native solutions (AWS, Azure, GCP); Drive the development of internal AI SDKs/tools to accelerate adoption across teams; Partner with Factory, Operations, and Engineering teams to identify, prioritize and implement AI use cases tied to key business KPIs such as yield improvement, predictive maintenance, and process optimization; Ensure responsible AI practices are embedded throughout the development and deployment lifecycle; Influence stakeholders and end-users to drive adoption of AI-enabled solutions; Build and mentor a world-class team of ML Engineers, Full-Stack Developers, and Data Scientists in Bangalore; Manage and scale vendor partnerships to augment delivery capacity and technical depth

Requirements

15-18+ Years of Professional Experience working with large Product and Services Organizations; BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science; 10+ years of experience in AI/ML, with 3+ years in leadership roles managing engineering and product development teams; Proven track record of shipping ML/LLM systems to production in enterprise environments; Deep expertise in Python, PyTorch/TensorFlow; Deep expertise in GenAI frameworks (RAG, LangChain, vector databases); Deep expertise in MLOps, ML CI/CD; Deep expertise in Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Nice to have

Experience in the semiconductor or high-tech industry; Experience in use-cases with Engineering Productivity, Manufacturing Automation, Supply Chain Optimization; Exposure to cloud-native architectures; Experience building internal AI platforms or SDKs used across multiple teams; Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills; Ability to translate business goals into technical roadmaps and execution plans; Experience managing technology and services vendor relationships