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The Associate Principal, AI Adoption & Enablement Lead, Operations & Supply Chain will drive the adoption, scaling, and impact of AI and intelligent automation across Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Quality. This role ensures that Global Operations teams understand AI capabilities, generate high‑quality demand, execute prioritized initiatives, and deliver the training and change‑management needed for sustained value realization.
The leader will combine strong business influencing ability, process expertise, and AI fluency with a solid technical background to manage a team of AI and automation developers building solutions such as Generative AI apps, intelligent workflows, and automation services for Global Operations.
Position Responsibilities:
AI Demand Generation & Business Partnership
Partner with Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Quality leaders to identify high‑value AI opportunities and shape an actionable demand pipeline.
Facilitate discovery sessions, process reviews, and value assessments to align opportunities with business priorities.
Translate operational challenges into clear AI/automation use cases, solution concepts, and ROI projections.
AI & Automation Delivery Leadership
Lead and mentor a cross-functional team of AI developers, automation engineers, and solution architects delivering Generative AI, automation, and decision-support capabilities.
Manage intake, scoping, sprint planning, and delivery to ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with enterprise AI governance (aligned with emerging AI CoE practices referenced in GO & IT collaboration
Partner closely with IT Automation & AI teams, and platform owners to ensure technology readiness, compliance, and security.
AI Enablement, Adoption & Training Rollout
Design and deploy comprehensive training programs to accelerate AI literacy and adoption within operations
Build enablement assets including playbooks, FAQs, demos, guidelines, and citizen‑developer guardrails.
Establish feedback loops to refine training, tooling, and solution usability across functions.
Design and deploy training for GO Analytics to upskill the talent with AI
Change Management & Value Realization
Drive change‑management plans supporting new AI solutions, ensuring strong stakeholder engagement, communication, and user readiness.
Track adoption metrics, measure business impact, and report value delivered to leadership.
Support cultural transformation toward data‑driven and AI‑enabled operations.
Strategic Contributions to Global Operations AI Vision
Contribute to GO’s AI roadmap, aligning AI capabilities with long‑term operational excellence and innovation goals.
Stay current on AI/LLM trends, automation platforms, and operational use cases to guide technology evolution and solution design.
Serve as a visible champion for responsible, secure, value‑driven AI adoption across the enterprise.
The listed responsibilities are an essential but not exhaustive list of the usual duties associated with the position. Changes to individual responsibilities may occur due to business needs.
Qualifications:
Required
8+ years of experience in Global Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, or similar environments.
Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross-functional transformation.
Strong understanding of operational processes and applied AI/Agentic AI/automation capabilities (LLMs, workflow automation, predictive models, etc.).
Technical fluency and ability to lead teams across automation development, AI engineering, or low code/automation platforms.
Experience with RPA, LLMs, orchestration tools, or process mining. (UiPath, Azure Open AI, Microsoft CoPilot Studio, GitHub Copilot)
Understanding of industry trends of .ai products than can drive significant impact through augmentation of tools
Experience managing global project portfolios, agile teams, and solution delivery lifecycles.
Preferred
Hands-on experience deploying AI/automation solutions in complex operational environments.
Familiarity with enterprise AI governance and risk frameworks
Exposure to MES, QMS, ERP, planning systems, or other operations technologies.
Lean, Six Sigma, or operational excellence certification.
Leadership Competencies
Strong executive presence and ability to inspire trust across technical and business teams.
Ability to simplify complex AI concepts for broad audiences.
Change‑leadership mindset with a focus on adoption and business outcomes.
High learning agility and comfort navigating ambiguity.
Experience/Education:
Typically requires a minimum of 15 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 12 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 8 years of experience; or equivalent experience.
Barriers to entry exist at this level; may require additional review and approval
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 accommodations@illumina.com. 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.
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