Carters, Inc

AI Engineer Manager / AI Development Manager

Carters, Inc • $130K — $155K *
Retail & Consumer Goods
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 7+ years in software and data analytics development
  • 2+ years in a leadership role managing developers
  • 1+ year in building GenAI/LLM-based solutions
  • Hands-on experience with shipping AI applications and automations
  • Familiarity with enterprise AI platforms like Claude/Anthropic and Azure OpenAI
  • Strong communication skills with non-technical stakeholders
  • Proven agile delivery and backlog management experience
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Responsibilities

  • Manage the development team, overseeing assignments and performance
  • Own sprint planning and delivery execution for the CoE backlog
  • Conduct code and design reviews while managing delivery risks
  • Coordinate embedded builds with Forward-Deployed Engineers
  • Report on project delivery status and team capacity
  • Design and build complex AI solutions personally
  • Consult on feasibility and approach for solutions with business units
  • Prototype and harden new AI patterns for production solutions
  • Define and enforce development and testing standards for AI solutions
  • Mentor super developers and support their development initiatives

Benefits

  • Opportunity to lead an innovative AI Center of Excellence
  • Hands-on involvement in cutting-edge AI projects
  • Collaborative environment with cross-departmental visibility
  • Career development opportunities for team members
  • Focus on building reusable and scalable AI solutions
  • Access to industry-standard AI platforms and tools
Full Job Description

HOW YOU'LL MAKE AN IMPACT:


Carter's is standing up an enterprise AI Center of Excellence (CoE) to bring safe, governed, and high-value AI to every part of the business. As Manager, AI Development, you will be the player-coach who leads the CoE's build team — managing and mentoring our AI developers, consulting on solution design, and staying hands-on in the code. You will translate prioritized use cases into shipped, supported AI solutions (agentic workflows, connectors, automations, and reporting tools) while raising the technical bar of the team and the reusable patterns the whole enterprise builds on. You will partner closely with the Tech & Platform Lead on architecture and with the Solutions Manager on delivery commitments.

Delivery Leadership & Team Management (40%)

  • Manage the AI CoE development team (Junior/Mid AI Developers and intern developers): assignments, priorities, performance, and career growth
  • Own sprint planning and delivery execution for the CoE build backlog, in partnership with the Solutions Manager's intake and prioritization
  • Run code and design reviews; unblock developers and manage delivery risks and dependencies
  • Coordinate with Forward-Deployed Engineers so embedded builds follow CoE standards and hand back cleanly
  • Report delivery status, capacity, and velocity to CoE leadership

Hands-On Development & Technical Consulting (35%)

  • Personally design and build the most complex or highest-stakes AI solutions (agentic workflows, LLM applications, skills, and connector-based automations)
  • Consult with business units and FDEs on solution feasibility, approach, and effort — turning ambiguous asks into buildable designs
  • Prototype new patterns (e.g., natural-language query over governed data, document generation, incident summarization) and harden successful pilots into production solutions
  • Serve as escalation point for technical issues across CoE-supported solutions

Standards, Quality & Enablement (25%)

  • Define and enforce development standards: coding practices, testing, documentation, versioning, and release management for AI solutions
  • Curate the CoE pattern library of reusable, governed building blocks for business super users and champions
  • Partner with the AI Security & Governance Manager so every building pass security review efficiently (access controls, data flows, prompt-injection safeguards)
  • Mentor super developers in business units; support office hours and paired builds that move prototypes into supported solutions

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU IF:

Must have:

  • At least 7+ years of software and/or data analytics development experience,
  • At least 2+ years leading or managing developers including 1+ years building Generative AI (GenAI)/large language models (LLMs)-based solutions
  • Hands-on AI development — practical experience shipping LLM applications, agentic workflows, or AI-powered automations against enterprise systems and APIs
  • Proven experience with enterprise AI platforms and frameworks (e.g., Claude/Anthropic API, Azure OpenAI, MCP-style tool integrations, RAG architectures)
  • Experience in leading sprint planning, backlog grooming, and prioritization processes, collaborating with stakeholders to deliver critical features and meet strategic goals.
  • Communication — excels at partnering with non-technical stakeholders, clarifying ambiguous needs, facilitating productive discussions, and guiding developers with clear, constructive, and empathetic feedback.
  • Delivery leadership — track record running agile delivery: backlog management, code review discipline, and predictable releases
  • Integration fluency — comfort working with enterprise data and platform integrations (e.g., BI tools, cloud data warehouses, collaboration and ticketing systems)
  • At least a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, and/or related field, or equivalent practical experience
  • undefined

Preferred skills and experience

  • Familiarity with MLOps/LLMOps practices: evaluation, monitoring, versioning, and cost management
  • Retail or consumer-products industry experience
  • Building out cross-functional teams along with team development

About Carters, Inc

Carter's, Inc. operates as a children's apparel and accessories company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Retail, U.S. Wholesale, and International. Its Carter's brand products include baby products, such as bodysuits, pants, dresses, knit sets, blankets, layette essentials, bibs, booties, sleep and play products, rompers, and jumpers; play clothes comprising knit and woven cotton apparel; sleepwear products consisting of pajamas in cotton, fleece, and ploy-jersey; and other products, including bedding, outerwear, swimwear, footwear, socks, diaper bags, gift sets, toys, and hair accessories. The company also provides products under the OshKosh brand name, which comprise play clothes in denim, fleece, and other fabrics for sizes newborn to 14. It sells its products through company-operated stores, department stores, and online, as well as through other retail outlets, such as specialty stores, national chains, and mass merchants. As of January 2, 2021, the company operated approximately 800 Carter's retail stores, 100 OshKosh retail stores, and its products were available in approximately 18,000 department stores and other retail outlets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Carter's, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Learn more about Carters, Inc
Size
15,900 employees
Market Cap
$2.8 billion
Industry
Net Income
$109.7 million
Founded
1865
5 Year Trend
+1.7%
Revenue
$3 billion
NASDAQ

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