Progressive Leasing is a leading provider of in-store and e-commerce lease-to-own solutions. They are seeking a Principal R&D AI Software Engineer to manage business-facing AI products, oversee tool licensing, vendor relationships, and ensure effective AI tool adoption across the organization.
Responsibilities:
- Architect, design, and develop proof-of-concepts and early-stage production systems leveraging LLMs, agentic workflows, vector databases, and emerging AI
- Own the AI tool portfolio for business units — managing licensing, vendor relationships, renewal cycles, and feature roadmap engagement for Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Power Platform
- Partner directly with business unit leaders to identify, evaluate, and prioritize AI agent use cases that deliver measurable operational value
- Translate ambiguous business needs into structured requirements, user stories, and actionable backlogs that the technical enablement team can execute against
- Own the intake and triage process between business stakeholders and the AI Agent Developer, ensuring work is scoped, prioritized, and sequenced for maximum impact
- Design and deliver AI adoption programs — including training curricula, best practice guides, and change management plans — that drive sustained usage across business teams
- Define and track adoption metrics, usage analytics, and outcome-based KPIs for every AI tool in the portfolio, and use that data to make prioritization decisions
- Manage stakeholder expectations and communicate timelines, progress, blockers, and outcomes in a clear, data-informed manner to audiences at every level of the organization
- Establish and maintain governance frameworks for AI tool usage across business units, ensuring compliance with organizational policies and security requirements
- Serve as the accountability owner for business AI outcomes — if a tool isn’t delivering value, you’re the one who flags it, fixes it, or kills it
Requirements:
- 3+ years of experience in product management, IT program management, or technology‑driven business operations, operating effectively between business and technical teams
- Proven experience managing Microsoft 365 and Copilot licensing, governance, and enterprise rollouts, including coordination with technical partners
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Power Platform, with broader awareness of AI tools such as ChatGPT and Anthropic Claude to assess fit‑for‑purpose solutions
- Experience designing or delivering AI adoption programs, change management, and end‑user training, with the ability to define and track adoption metrics, usage analytics, and outcome‑based KPIs
- Strong communication and presentation skills, familiarity with SaaS vendor management (contracts, renewals, roadmaps), and a high‑integrity, results‑driven mindset backed by a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience