AI Strategy Leader, R&D

About the role

You will architect and own the enterprise AI strategy for Samsung Research America, defining the 2026 roadmap and aligning it to concrete business outcomes across consumer electronics, B2B services, health tech, and internal operations. You will translate ambiguous technological frontiers into clear, evidence-based investment choices that balance innovation with risk management and responsible deployment. In this role, you act as the central nervous system connecting emerging AI research with product teams, ensuring initiatives are prioritized for maximum competitive advantage and sustainable growth. You will build and maintain business cases, secure executive sponsorship, and drive adoption by demonstrating measurable ROI and operational excellence. You will mentor internal stakeholders, establish AI as the default approach to problem solving, and ensure governance frameworks keep the organization moving fast without unacceptable safety, legal, or reputational risk. This is a strategic leadership position for a T-shaped professional who combines deep AI fluency with commercial acumen and change-management capability.

Key facts

What you'll do

Develop and maintain a multi-year AI roadmap that aligns with business goals across consumer electronics, B2B services, health tech, and internal operations.

Identify high-value use cases across functions such as agentic orchestration and automation workflows, embodied and physical AI, efficient small models, inference-time scaling, and advanced reasoning for decision support, then make evidence-based recommendations on what to pursue, defer, or ignore.

Build compelling business cases for high-ROI AI initiatives by identifying opportunities, quantifying value, defining success metrics, and securing executive sponsorship.

Translate strategy into action by collaborating with product, engineering, and data science teams to integrate AI into core workflows and products.

Conduct structured pilots and proof-of-concepts, defining clear go/no-go criteria and graduation paths from POC to enterprise deployment.

Evaluate and negotiate with external AI vendors, platforms, and research partners to accelerate Samsung's capabilities and reduce time to value.

Stay at the forefront of AI research and market developments, continuously evaluating emerging technologies for relevance, feasibility, and strategic fit.

Proactively develop governance frameworks that enable fast, empowered decision-making while mitigating safety, legal, and reputational risk.

Champion responsible AI practices, including bias mitigation, interpretability, regulatory compliance, data privacy, and environmental sustainability across the AI lifecycle.

Serve as a translator, making complex AI concepts accessible to non-technical executives and rendering business priorities concrete and actionable for technical teams.

Mentor internal teams and help establish a culture where AI adoption is the default, not the exception, by facilitating workshops and translating technical concepts into actionable business language.

Define success metrics for AI initiatives, track outcomes against baselines, and iterate based on performance data and stakeholder feedback.

Establish partnerships with academic institutions, startups, and consortia to maintain access to cutting-edge research and talent pipelines.

Champion data-driven decision-making, using analytics and rigorous evaluation to guide investments in model development, tooling, and infrastructure.

Requirements

Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Business Administration, Engineering, or a related field or equivalent practical experience.

Demonstrated experience in AI strategy, product management, business development, or corporate planning within technology-driven organizations.

Exceptional analytical skills with the ability to synthesize complex technical information into clear, actionable recommendations for executive audiences.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a proven track record of influencing and aligning stakeholders across functions and levels.

Experience building and scaling AI or data-driven initiatives, including defining success metrics, piloting solutions, and transitioning from pilot to production.

Deep understanding of AI technologies, including but not limited to large language models, agentic systems, multimodal AI, efficient models, and emerging research in reasoning and scientific discovery.

Knowledge of responsible AI principles, including bias mitigation, fairness, transparency, interpretability, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and sustainability considerations.

Experience navigating vendor landscapes and managing partnerships with external AI providers, research labs, and technology platforms.

Demonstrated ability to operate in ambiguous, fast-moving environments while maintaining rigor, discipline, and attention to detail.

Commitment to Samsung's core values of integrity, excellence, and collaboration, with a focus on inclusive teamwork and ethical decision-making.

Nice to have

Experience in consumer electronics, mobile platforms, or hardware-software co-design is highly valued given the nature of Samsung's business.

Background in AI ethics, governance, or policy work, especially in highly regulated environments.

Prior work establishing innovation programs or venture-style initiatives within large enterprises.

Exposure to AI for scientific discovery, life sciences, or digital health applications.

Understanding of 6G and next-generation communications trends and their implications for AI at the edge.

Practical notes

No specific hours, travel, visa, or application deadlines are stated in the source material.