Manufacturing Engineering, AI Enablement Lead
The Manufacturing Engineering AI Enablement Lead sitsat the forefront of Illumina’s AI transformation-driving the adoption, scale, and real-world impact of AI and intelligent automation across Instrument and Consumables Manufacturing within our life sciences business. In this highly visible role, you will help translate cutting-edge AI innovation into everyday operational advantage, enabling teams to understand what’s possible, generate high-value demand, and deliver prioritized solutions that matter.
You will serve as a catalyst for change-championing training, enablement, and adoption so AI becomes seamlessly embedded in how work gets done. Blending strong business influence, operational expertise, and AI fluency with a solid technical foundation, you will partner closely with AI and automation developers to bring to Life Generative AI applications, intelligent workflows, agentic AI, and automation services. This is a unique opportunity to shape how AI scales across manufacturing at a company whose work advances human health globally.
Position Responsibilities:
AI Demand Generation & Business Partnership
Partner with manufacturing sites and value streams to identify high-value AI and automation opportunities and shape an actionable demand pipeline.
Facilitate discovery sessions, process reviews, and value assessments to align opportunities with operational priorities.
Translate operational challenges into well-defined AI and automation use cases, solution concepts, and ROI projections.
AI & Automation Delivery Leadership
Partner with IT and business stakeholders to execute RPA, Generative AI, and Agentic AI solutions.
Lead intake, scoping, sprint planning, and delivery to ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with enterprise AI governance and emerging AI CoE practices.
Collaborate closely with IT Automation & AI teams and platform owners to ensure technology readiness, security, and compliance.
Assess and drive adoption of AI capabilities integrated with SAP EAM, Industry 4.0, Digital Twin, and other OT and manufacturing technologies.
AI Enablement, Adoption & Training
Design and deploy comprehensive training programs to accelerate AI literacy and adoption across manufacturing operations.
Develop enablement assets including playbooks, FAQs, demos, usage guidelines, and citizen-developer guardrails.
Establish feedback loops to continuously improve training, tooling, and solution usability across functions.
Upskill manufacturing teams to effectively leverage AI in their day-to-day work.
Change Management & Value Realization
Drive change-management strategies that support new AI solutions, ensuring strong stakeholder engagement, communication, and user readiness.
Track adoption and performance metrics, measure business impact, and report value realization to senior leadership.
Support cultural transformation toward data-driven, AI-enabled manufacturing operations.
Strategic Contributions to Global Operations AI Vision
Contribute to Global Operations’ AI roadmap, aligning AI capabilities with long-term operational excellence and innovation goals.
Stay current on AI, LLM, and automation trends and apply insights to guide technology evolution and solution design.
Serve as a visible champion for responsible, secure, and value-driven AI adoption across the enterprise.
The listed responsibilities are essential but not exhaustive and may evolve to meet business needs.
Experience & Education:
Typically requires 12+ years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 10+ years with a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 8+ years of experience; or equivalent practical experience.
Required Qualifications:
10+ years of experience in Global Operations, Manufacturing, Quality, or related environments.
Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross-functional transformation.
Strong understanding of life sciences manufacturing processes and systems, including LIMS, EAM, Industry 4.0, Digital Twin, and OT environments.
Solid understanding of applied AI, agentic AI, and automation capabilities (e.g., LLMs, workflow automation, predictive models).
Technical fluency to lead and partner across AI engineering, automation development, and low-code platforms.
Experience with RPA, LLMs, orchestration tools, or process mining (e.g., UiPath, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Anthropic).
Experience managing global project portfolios, agile teams, and end-to-end solution delivery lifecycles.
Preferred Qualifications:
Hands-on experience deploying AI and automation solutions in complex operational environments.
Familiarity with enterprise AI governance, risk management, and compliance frameworks.
Exposure to MES, QMS, ERP, planning systems, or related manufacturing technologies.
Lean, Six Sigma, or operational excellence certification.
Leadership Competencies:
Strong executive presence with the ability to build trust across technical and business teams.
Ability to simplify complex AI concepts for broad, non-technical audiences.
Change-leadership mindset with a focus on adoption, value realization, and sustainable outcomes.
High learning agility and comfort operating in ambiguity.
We are a company deeply rooted in belonging, promoting an inclusive environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute to our mission. Built on a strong foundation, Illumina has always prioritized openness, collaboration, and seeking alternative perspectives to propel innovation in genomics. We are proud to confirm a zero-net gap in pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race. We also have several Employee Resource Groups (ERG) that deliver career development experiences, increase cultural awareness, and offer opportunities to engage in social responsibility. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, creed, color, gender, religion, marital status, domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, pregnancy, military or veteran status, citizenship status, and genetic information. Illumina conducts background checks on applicants for whom a conditional offer of employment has been made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws. Background check results may potentially result in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. The background check process and any decisions made as a result shall be made in accordance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws. Illumina prohibits the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process. If you require accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact [email protected]. To learn more, visit: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf. The position will be posted until a final candidate is selected or the requisition has a sufficient number of qualified applicants. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.