AI Program Manager - Special Projects & Innovation

Smart Tech Contracting delivers turnkey BAS and EPMS solutions for mission-critical colocation and hyperscale data centers at national program scale. The AI Program Manager will mature the SmartTech.ai initiative from informal experimentation into a governed, scalable capability by establishing policies, enabling AI adoption, developing and deploying LLM-powered solutions, and managing supporting platforms, tools, and workflows.

Responsibilities:

• Establish light-touch, practical governance for AI use company-wide — acceptable-use standards, data-handling and security guardrails, and a clear tool-approval pathway — in partnership with IT and InfoSec
• Contribute to development of the innovation and idea intake (“funnel”), triaging incoming requests and prototypes and prioritizing them by value, effort, and risk
• Maintain a lightweight review cadence that keeps the program safe and consistent without slowing the people doing the work
• Raise the AI fluency of the entire company — technical and non-technical staff alike — through hands-on training, office hours, documentation, and reusable prompt and workflow libraries
• Own internal messaging and change management for SmartTech.ai: announcements, wins, and adoption campaigns that build momentum and engagement
• Coordinate the departmental AI Champions network, turning individual wins into shared, company-wide capability
• Turn ideas and prototypes into deployable, supportable solutions — designing, building, and shipping LLM-powered tools, agents, and integrations
• Serve as a hands-on power user of Claude and modern AI development tools, setting the technical bar for prompt engineering, agentic workflows, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) over company knowledge, and API integration
• Harden and deploy high-value prototypes built by others so delivery teams can rely on them without owning their maintenance
• Design and stand up the sanctioned development environments, hosting platforms, and DevOps toolchain (source control, CI/CD, containerization, cloud hosting) that let AI solutions be built, deployed, and maintained safely and repeatably
• Replace ad-hoc, unsanctioned workarounds with secure, documented, scalable infrastructure, in coordination with IT and InfoSec
• Establish reusable patterns, templates, and reference architectures for AI application development
• Evaluate, select, and manage the company's portfolio of AI tools and platforms; map tools to specific business needs and use cases so teams adopt the right tool for the job
• Track adoption, value, and ROI; maintain a prioritized roadmap of AI investments aligned to corporate growth targets
• Manage vendor relationships, licensing, and cost, and advise leadership on build-vs-buy decisions
• Leverage AI-enabled and digital tools to enhance efficiency, reduce manual effort, and support consistent, high-quality work output
• Identify opportunities to improve processes and demonstrate a continuous learning mindset, seeking out new technologies, skills, and methods that elevate individual and team performance
• Adapt to emerging technologies and evolving digital workflows, actively supporting the integration and adoption of innovative tools across the organization
• Completion of assigned tasks and deliverables on time and on budget
• Performs other related duties as assigned
• Frequently required to remain in a stationary position and to operate a computer and other office equipment
• Frequently moving through office, lab, and critical-facility environments, including tight and confined spaces
• Occasionally descending / ascending stairs and ladders to access equipment during site visits
• On occasion required to move equipment weighing up to 25 pounds
• Up to 20%; this may include travel to any or all 50 US states
• Effective May 7, 2025, and in accordance with U.S. federal regulations for domestic air travel, a valid REAL ID (or an acceptable alternative, such as a passport) is required for travel associated with this position
• Travel may involve transportation by car or plane depending on the destination and nature of the business need
• Travel is defined as physically leaving home on behalf of business activities including but not limited to client sites, meetings with other employees, meetings for business development purposes, running errands on behalf of the business, and attending industry conferences

Requirements:

• Demonstrated experience building or maturing an AI enablement program or Center of Excellence at a similarly sized, fast-scaling company — taking it from ad-hoc adoption to governed, supported capability
• Power user of Claude (claude.ai, Claude Code, CoWork, Projects, connectors/MCP, and agentic tools) with fluency across the modern AI tool landscape (e.g., ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Perplexity)
• Hands-on skill designing and shipping LLM-powered applications: prompt engineering, agent and workflow design, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and API integration
• Application development and rapid prototyping using AI app builders and full-stack tools (e.g., Replit, Lovable) and scripting (Python)
• Development frameworks, hosting platforms, and DevOps: source control (Git), CI/CD, containerization, and cloud hosting (Microsoft Azure and others)
• Data fundamentals: relational, vector, and time-series data, knowledge bases, and data-pipeline concepts sufficient to ground AI tools in company data
• Workflow automation platforms such as Microsoft Power Automate, Copilot Studio)
• Working knowledge of AI governance and IT/OT security frameworks
• Program and change management: intake and prioritization, roadmapping, stakeholder management, and internal communications
• Ability to translate business needs into AI use cases and to teach both technical and non-technical audiences
• Skilled at using MS Office Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams); knowledge of file management
• Ability to work successfully in a remote environment through effective communication and organizational skills, self-motivation, proactiveness, and resourcefulness in a distraction-free workspace
• Ability to analyze and prepare documents, reports, and correspondence
• Ability to communicate effectively in both oral and written form (technical and non-technical information) and directly with stakeholders across all levels
• Ability to work successfully as a member of a team and independently with limited supervision
• Ability to work under pressure and meet close deadlines
• Ability to effectively plan, prioritize, and delegate work
• Organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously
• Ability to follow company and site safety requirements
• Frequently required to remain in a stationary position and to operate a computer and other office equipment
• Frequently moving through office, lab, and critical-facility environments, including tight and confined spaces
• Occasionally descending / ascending stairs and ladders to access equipment during site visits
• On occasion required to move equipment weighing up to 25 pounds
• Up to 20%; this may include travel to any or all 50 US states
• Effective May 7, 2025, and in accordance with U.S. federal regulations for domestic air travel, a valid REAL ID (or an acceptable alternative, such as a passport) is required for travel associated with this position
• Bachelor's in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related discipline (or equivalent professional experience)
• 5+ years in software / AI development, technical program management, or AI/ML enablement, including hands-on delivery of AI or LLM-powered solutions
• 2+ years building, leading, or maturing an AI enablement program, Center of Excellence, or comparable initiative at a similarly sized organization