<p>Job Title: Director, Head of Core Intelligence (AI Architecture & Innovation)</p> <p>Job Description</p> <p>This role leads the Core Intelligence organization for a next-generation hybrid AI platform that spans devices and cloud. You will design and own the intelligence layer that powers agentic orchestration, reasoning, fused memory, retrieval-augmented generation, perception models, and recommendation systems across millions of devices. As a hands-on engineering leader, you will define the architecture and technical direction for the AI "brain" of the system, ensuring it delivers contextual, proactive, and reliable AI experiences across platforms such as Windows and Android.</p> <p>Responsibilities</p> <ul> <li>Build and lead the Core Intelligence organization, taking end-to-end ownership of agentic systems, orchestration, routing, tool frameworks, RAG retrieval, memory, knowledge graph, and perception signal pipelines. </li><li>Architect the intelligence layer for a hybrid AI platform, including on-device inference, cloud fallback, multi-model routing, policy enforcement, and robust context grounding. </li><li>Design and drive the development of perception-based triggers, including wake-word detection logic, screenshot and audio understanding, and OCR/ASR processing pipelines. </li><li>Own the design and implementation of recommendation and next-action engines, partnering with experience engineering teams to deliver contextual, proactive AI interactions. </li><li>Lead the optimization of small and medium AI models through techniques such as quantization, distillation, pruning, and device-specific tuning to ensure efficient on-device and hybrid deployment. </li><li>Partner closely with platform engineering, cloud platform, SRE and delivery, and experience teams to ensure Core Intelligence services are performant, reliable, secure, and tightly integrated into the broader ecosystem. </li><li>Define evaluation frameworks, metrics, and quality gates for intelligence features, including retrieval accuracy, hallucination avoidance, model grounding, and agent reliability. </li><li>Set the technical direction and long-term roadmap for the intelligence layer, balancing innovation and rapid prototyping with production-grade reliability and maintainability. </li><li>Mentor and develop senior individual contributors across perception, agentic systems, RAG, memory, and model optimization, fostering a high-performing and collaborative engineering culture. </li><li>Collaborate with research, product, and design teams to conceive, prototype, and ship new agent capabilities and multimodal AI experiences across devices. </li><li>Ensure that Core Intelligence components operate effectively in hybrid and edge environments, spanning device and cloud deployments. </li><li>Contribute to shaping the engineering culture for a new AI platform, promoting best practices in AI systems design, experimentation, and large-scale delivery. </li><li>Travel globally up to approximately 25% of the time to collaborate with distributed teams and stakeholders. </li></ul> <p>Essential Skills</p> <ul> <li>At least 12 years of engineering experience, including a minimum of 5 years leading teams in AI/ML systems, agent platforms, search, recommendation, or applied machine learning infrastructure. </li><li>Proven experience shipping AI products at scale, from architecture and design through deployment and ongoing iteration. </li><li>Hands-on experience with orchestration frameworks and agentic systems, including design and operation of LLM/SLM pipelines. </li><li>Practical expertise with RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) systems, embeddings, and memory architectures for context-aware AI. </li><li>Strong technical depth in at least one of the following areas: perception models (OCR, ASR, computer vision), retrieval systems, reinforcement learning, model optimization, or distributed systems. </li><li>Experience building and operating systems that run across device and cloud in hybrid or edge environments. </li><li>Demonstrated ability to lead senior individual contributors, set technical direction, and deliver complex AI systems at scale. </li><li>Strong collaboration skills with platform teams, cloud engineering, user experience and experience engineering, and SRE organizations. </li><li>Ability to thrive in fast-paced, evolving environments while shaping the engineering culture for a new AI platform. </li><li>Ability and willingness to travel globally up to approximately 25% of the time. </li></ul> <p>Additional Skills & Qualifications</p> <ul> <li>Experience with Rust is highly preferred, particularly for high-performance and systems-level components of the AI platform. </li><li>Experience with Kotlin Multiplatform is highly preferred for building cross-platform client and device experiences. </li><li>Background in artificial intelligence and applied machine learning, especially in the context of hybrid AI ecosystems. </li><li>Experience working on cross-device personal AI assistants or similar contextual, multimodal AI experiences. </li><li>Comfort working across multiple layers of the AI stack, from model and data pipelines to orchestration and user-facing experiences. </li><li>Track record of defining and implementing evaluation frameworks and metrics for AI quality, including retrieval accuracy, grounding, and reliability. </li><li>Experience collaborating with research, product, and design teams to translate advanced AI capabilities into user-centric products. </li></ul> <p>Work Environment</p> <p>You will work in a highly collaborative, cross-functional environment focused on building a next-generation hybrid AI platform that spans Windows, Android, and cloud. The Core Intelligence team operates at the center of this ecosystem, partnering closely with platform engineering, cloud platform, SRE and delivery, and experience engineering teams. The technology stack includes agentic systems, orchestration frameworks, LLM and SLM pipelines, RAG retrieval, embeddings, memory architectures, perception models (OCR, ASR, vision), and hybrid device-cloud infrastructure, with Rust and Kotlin Multiplatform as preferred languages for key components. The role emphasizes hands-on technical leadership, rapid iteration, and production-grade reliability in a fast-paced setting. You will collaborate with global teams and may travel up to approximately 25% of the time to align on architecture, integration, and delivery of AI experiences across millions of devices.</p> <p>Job Type & Location</p> <p>This is a Permanent position based out of Chicago, IL.</p> <p>Pay and Benefits</p> <p>The pay range for this position is $300000.00 - $475000.00/yr.</p> <p>Lenovobenefits.com candidates can take a look there</p> <p>Workplace Type</p> <p>This is a fully remote position.</p> <p>Application Deadline</p> <p>This position is anticipated to close on May 27, 2026.</p> <p>About Actalent</p> <p>Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 30,000 consultants and more than 4,500 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500.</p> <p>The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.</p> <p>If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.</p> <p>San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.</p> <p>Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.</p> <p>Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.</p>