Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This VP remit sits at a growing SaaS company’s inflection point where R&D throughput and reliability become board-level concerns. Rather than owning a single function, the role is positioned as an operating-system builder across Product, Engineering, AI Research, and Platform, with explicit sponsorship from the CEO. The emphasis on AI-native workflows reflects a broader SaaS shift from incremental process improvement to instrumentation-driven, automation-first delivery.
For a SaaS operator, the career leverage comes from shaping how software is planned, shipped, measured, and improved at enterprise scale. The mandate spans telemetry, CI/CD signals, product usage data, incidents, and feedback loops, which are the core datasets that mature SaaS businesses use to manage execution. Establishing KPI frameworks and governance around AI usage also builds transferable expertise as more SaaS organizations formalize AI adoption in development and decision systems.
This role fits an experienced, systems-oriented leader who prefers cross-functional influence over direct line management and is comfortable translating between executive priorities and technical realities. It will suit someone motivated by multi-quarter transformation work, where success is defined by measurable operational outcomes and sustained adoption across senior stakeholders.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
To support this next phase of growth, this is a new individual contributor executive role responsible for transforming how Product, Engineering, AI Research, and Platform teams operate. Reporting directly to the CEO, the VP, AI-Native Ops & Automation, R&D will define and scale the operating system for how Algolia builds, ships, instruments, and continuously improves products and platforms across the company.
This role goes beyond traditional Product Operations or Engineering Operations leadership. The mandate is to embed AI deeply into software development workflows, engineering coordination, prioritization systems, operational instrumentation, and organizational decision-making, enabling a high-velocity, continuously optimized R&D organization built for enterprise scale and rapid innovation.
YOUR ROLE WILL CONSIST OF:
Lead R&D Operating Model Transformation
- Analyze and redesign the full product development lifecycle across planning, prioritization, development, deployment, and release management
- Identify bottlenecks, coordination overhead, tooling gaps, and workflow inefficiencies across Product, Engineering, AI Research, and Platform teams
- Define scalable, AI-native operating models that improve development velocity, quality, reliability, and execution consistency
Build AI-Augmented Engineering & Product Intelligence
- Apply AI and advanced analytics across engineering telemetry, CI/CD systems, product usage data, incidents, retrospectives, and customer feedback
- Develop systems that continuously surface delivery risks, quality issues, prioritization opportunities, and operational insights
- Partner with infrastructure, platform, and developer tooling teams to embed AI and automation deeply into engineering workflows
Drive Transformation Execution, Adoption & Governance
- Build and execute a multi-quarter roadmap for R&D operational transformation
- Drive adoption of AI-assisted workflows, automated reporting, and intelligent execution systems across Product and Engineering leadership
- Establish governance models for AI usage, workflow instrumentation, data integrity, and system reliability
Establish Performance Measurement & Operational Excellence
- Define KPI frameworks across cycle time, deployment frequency, reliability, productivity, and engineering efficiency
- Measure the impact of automation and AI adoption across development workflows
- Institutionalize repeatable methodologies for AI-enabled product development and engineering operations
YOU MIGHT BE A FIT IF YOU HAVE:
- Strong systems thinking and a passion for optimizing complex engineering and product organizations
- Exceptional communication and influence skills across executive, technical, and operational stakeholders
- 15+ years of experience in Product Operations, Engineering Operations, Technical Program Leadership, or enterprise transformation roles
- Deep understanding of modern software development lifecycles, developer tooling ecosystems, platform engineering, and AI/ML-enabled workflows
- Demonstrated success leading large-scale engineering or product transformation initiatives with measurable operational outcomes
NICE TO HAVE
- Experience in high-scale SaaS, AI infrastructure, platform engineering, or enterprise technology environments
- Familiarity with AI-assisted software development tooling, autonomous workflows, and engineering intelligence systems
- Experience scaling globally distributed engineering organizations
- Exposure to governance, reliability, and operational excellence frameworks in complex technical organizations
WE’RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN LIVE OUR VALUES:
- GRIT - Problem-solving and perseverance capability in an ever-changing and growing environment
- TRUST - Willingness to trust our co-workers and to take ownership
- CANDOR - Ability to receive and give constructive feedback
- CARE - Genuine care about other team members, our clients, and the decisions we make as a company
- HUMILITY - Aptitude for learning from others and putting ego aside
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