Director, AI Operations (LLMOps / AgentOps / MLOps)

About the job

Navy Federal Credit Union currently does not provide sponsorship for this role. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future sponsorship.

The Director, Enterprise AI Operations (LLMOps / AgentOps / MLOps) leads the enterprise capabilities, platforms, standards, and operating model required to deploy, govern, operate, and continuously optimize AI solutions at scale.

This leader is responsible for establishing the production frameworks, operational services, engineering practices, and automated governance controls that enable AI delivery teams to move solutions efficiently from experimentation into secure, reliable, and well-governed production environments. Working closely with Infrastructure, Data, Cybersecurity, Architecture, Risk, and Business teams, the Director will drive adoption of enterprise AI capabilities that accelerate delivery while maintaining operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and responsible AI practices.

The role will build and lead a multidisciplinary team, manage strategic vendor relationships, and influence enterprise platform and operating-model decisions that enable trusted AI solutions for members and team members.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise LLMOps, AgentOps, and MLOps capabilities across the AI lifecycle, including deployment, evaluation, monitoring, operational governance, and continuous improvement.
• Establish enterprise operational standards, controls, and operating models for managing AI solutions in production.
• Own the roadmap, service model, engineering standards, and adoption strategy for shared AI operational capabilities.
• Define and implement AI observability, reliability, production-readiness, and operational support frameworks to ensure service quality and resilience.
• Partner with enterprise control functions to operationalize AI evaluation, governance, and risk-management requirements that promote quality, safety, compliance, and responsible AI outcomes.
• Lead AI FinOps capabilities, including cost attribution, consumption monitoring, optimization, and capacity planning.
• Partner with Security, Risk, Audit, Compliance, Architecture, and Infrastructure teams to translate enterprise policies and regulatory requirements into effective operational controls.
• Develop executive reporting and performance metrics related to AI adoption, reliability, utilization, operational risk, cost efficiency, and production health, while enabling business owners to measure value realization.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends to improve enterprise AI operational maturity and scalability.
• Build and lead a high-performing multidisciplinary team while managing strategic technology partners and driving adoption across AI engineering and delivery organizations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related technical discipline, or the equivalent level of work experience
• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, AI/ML operations, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, or related disciplines.
• 6+ years of leadership experience managing/leading engineering, operations, platform, or AI-focused teams.
• Experience operationalizing machine learning, generative AI, or agentic AI solutions in large-scale enterprise environments.
• Strong understanding of AI lifecycle management, including deployment, monitoring, governance, evaluation, continuous improvement, and retirement.
• Experience establishing operational frameworks, standards, and governance practices for enterprise technology platforms.
• Knowledge of AI observability, reliability engineering, incident management, and operational excellence practices.
• Understanding of AI security, privacy, identity and access management, compliance, model risk, and responsible AI principles.
• Experience managing large initiatives, vendor relationships, technology investments, budgets, and strategic roadmaps.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive alignment across technology and business organizations.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business outcomes and executive recommendations.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with Microsoft AI technologies, Azure AI Foundry, Copilot Studio, Databricks, MLflow, LangChain, LangGraph, LangSmith, or similar platforms.
• Experience with generative AI, RAG architectures, vector search, orchestration frameworks, and agentic AI solutions.
• Experience supporting highly available, member-facing, or mission-critical AI applications.
• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, automation, CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience implementing AI governance, model risk management, AI evaluation, FinOps, or responsible AI controls.
• Experience within financial services, credit unions, or other highly regulated industries.
• Advanced degree and/or relevant cloud, AI, or machine learning certifications.

Leadership Competencies

• Thinks in terms of end-to-end systems and shared accountability, balancing business outcomes, operational excellence, governance, and risk management.
• Builds scalable, reusable capabilities that accelerate delivery across multiple teams and business functions.
• Establishes a culture of reliability, automation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Develops high-performing teams and technical leaders while fostering collaboration across organizational boundaries.
• Influences enterprise decisions through partnership, expertise, and measurable outcomes.

Additional Information

Hours:

• Monday - Friday, 8:00AM - 4:30PM

Location:

• 820 Follin Lane, Vienna, VA 22180

About Us

Navy Federal provides much more than a job. We provide a meaningful career experience, including a culture that is energized, engaged and committed; and fierce appreciation for our teams, who are rewarded with highly competitive pay and generous benefits and perks.

Our approach to careers is simple yet powerful: Make our mission your passion.

• FORTUNE* *100 Best Companies to Work For® 2025

• Yello and WayUp Top 100 Internship Programs

• Computerworld® Best Places to Work in IT

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• 2025 Handshake Early Talent Award

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Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity or any other basis protected by applicable law.

Accommodations: If you need accommodation or assistance for a qualifying condition to complete the online application (or during any stage of the hiring process), you can contact Navy Federal's Medical Accommodations team at medicalaccommodations@navyfederal.org or by calling 1-888-503-6013. This team cannot provide any information on job postings or application status.

Disclaimers: Navy Federal reserves the right to fill this role at a higher/lower grade level based on business need. An assessment may be required to compete for this position. Job postings are subject to close early or extend out longer than the anticipated closing date at the hiring team’s discretion based on qualified applicant volume. Navy Federal Credit Union assesses market data to establish salary ranges that enable us to remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range, based on your experience, location and market position. For additional details regarding compensation and benefits, review the Benefits page of the Navy Federal Career Site.

Protect Yourself from Job Scams: Navy Federal Credit Union jobs are posted on our career site, jobs.navyfederal.org and reputable job boards (e.g., LinkedIn, Indeed). We do not post jobs on social media marketplaces, messaging apps or unverified websites. We will never ask candidates for payment, bank details or personal financial information during the hiring process.

Bank Secrecy Act: Remains cognizant of and adheres to Navy Federal policies and procedures, and regulations pertaining to the Bank Secrecy Act.

Additional Information

• Job Identification: 32972
• Job Category: Data Engineering (AI/ML/NLP)
• Posting Date: 2026-10-14
• Apply Before: 2026-11-05
• Job Schedule: Full time
• Locations: 820 Follin Ln SE, Vienna, VA, 22180, US (Hybrid)
• Targeted Salary Range: Negotiable based on experience and qualifications