Job Overview:
This senior manager leads the engineering, quality, deployment, and production support of AI and process automation solutions across their full lifecycle within UNFI's Technology organization. The role entails translating approved priorities and projects into executable development and deployment plans, managing development teams and vendor partners, overseeing rapid prototyping, and ensuring solutions are built, deployed, and supported in production with appropriate quality and operational discipline.
The position will support execution of UNFI's AI and automation roadmap by managing delivery of practical use cases across business operations such as distribution, supply chain, warehouse, customer, finance, and enterprise support functions through leading a robust AI and process automation solution engineering practice. The role is expected to balance hands-on solution understanding with team leadership, production support ownership, vendor coordination, and continuous improvement of deployed automation and agentic AI capabilities.
Job Responsibilities:
Key Responsibilities
- Manage full SDLC delivery of GenAI/Agentic and process automation initiatives aligned to priorities set by Technology leadership and business stakeholders.
- Own engineering execution and technical delivery quality for approved solutions, including build standards, code and configuration review, environment readiness, resource readiness, and direct oversight of third-party developers and offshore build partners to ensure work meets UNFI engineering, security, and support standards before release.
- Lead rapid prototyping efforts to validate feasibility, user experience, data availability, security considerations, cost assumptions, and operational fit before moving solutions into full development.
- Oversee solution engineering and development of agentic AI and automation solutions, including reusable development frameworks and standards, using approved enterprise platforms such as Microsoft Copilot Studio, AWS Bedrock, Automation Anywhere, Power Platform, and related technologies.
- Guide solution engineering teams on practical design patterns for prompts, workflows, retrieval, tool use, approvals, exception handling, logging, and human-in-the-loop controls.
- Ensure automation work includes appropriate process review so solutions improve business execution rather than simply automating inefficient steps.
- Coordinate development, testing, deployment, hypercare, and transition-to-support activities for AI and automation solutions.
- Own the quality engineering and QA function for AI and automation solutions, including test strategy, test automation, model/agent evaluation harnesses, regression coverage, quality gates prior to release, and defect trend analysis across in-house and third-party built solutions.
- Manage production support for deployed solutions, including issue triage, monitoring, runbook readiness, incident coordination, root cause follow-up, defect prioritization, and stabilization actions.
- Apply established Technology standards for release management, change control, documentation, testing, access management, security review, and operational handoff.
- Manage analysts, developers, engineers, offshore resources, contingent workforce, and delivery partners by setting work priorities, reviewing deliverables, resolving delivery blockers, and maintaining accountability for assigned outcomes.
- Manage vendor and delivery-partner engagements, including scope and SOW alignment, deliverable quality, performance against commitments, and day-to-day coordination for both development and production support.
- Work with architecture, security, cloud, data, compliance, and business teams to ensure solutions follow approved patterns and are ready for responsible use in production.
- Track delivery progress, production health, adoption, issues, risks, and benefits realization; provide clear updates and recommendations to the IT Leadership and relevant stakeholders.
- Coach team members on GenAI, agentic AI, process automation, delivery discipline, documentation quality, and production support expectations.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Job Requirements:
Education/ Certifications
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or a closely related field
Experience
- 10+ years of progressive experience in technology delivery, automation, AI, software development, platform operations, or enterprise solution delivery
- 5+ years of experience managing or leading analysts, developers, engineers, offshore delivery resources, contingent workforce, or third-party partners
- Experience delivering process automation, RPA, workflow automation, AI/ML, GenAI, LLM-based applications, or agentic AI solutions across prototype, development, deployment, and support phases
- Working knowledge of agentic AI or GenAI platforms such as Microsoft Copilot Studio, AWS Bedrock, OpenAI, or comparable enterprise AI platforms
- Experience supporting production applications, automation assets, or AI-enabled solutions, including incident management, defect resolution, documentation, and release coordination
- Experience supporting distribution, supply chain, logistics, warehouse, retail, customer, finance, or enterprise operations preferred
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities
- Solid working knowledge of GenAI, agentic AI concepts, LLM behavior, prompt design, retrieval-augmented generation, workflow orchestration, and responsible AI considerations.
- Working knowledge of process automation technologies, platforms, and delivery nuance like RPA.
- Ability to convert business process needs into practical automation and AI delivery plans with clear scope, assumptions, dependencies, and support requirements.
- Ability to lead rapid prototypes while keeping focus on whether the solution can be secured, supported, adopted, and moved into production responsibly.
- Working knowledge of QA practices for AI/agentic solutions, including evaluation frameworks, prompt/regression testing, and test automation across integrated systems.
- Knowledge of production support practices, monitoring, runbooks, issue triage, root cause follow-up, release coordination, and continuous improvement.
- Ability to manage delivery teams and partners, remove blockers, review deliverables, and maintain accountability for assigned work.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to summarize progress, risks, support issues, decisions needed, and recommendations for director-level and business stakeholders.
- Good judgment is required for this position as there may be times when direct supervision may not be immediately available.
Work Environment:
Remote Role
- This position is classified as remote where the associate will perform remote work from their primary residence. Remote associates are welcome to work from the office but are not required to do so. While remote associates are not required to work from an office on a regular basis, they may be required to come to the office or other UNFI locations for necessary business reasons or if directed to do so by their manager.
Physical Environment/Demands:
Office Roles
- Most work is performed in a temperature-controlled office environment.
- Incumbent may sit for long periods of time at a desk or computer terminal.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.
- Incumbent may use calculators, keyboards, telephones, and other office equipment in the course of a normal workday.
- Stooping, bending, twisting, and reaching may be required in the completion of job duties.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of the work performed by the employees assigned to this job. All employees must comply with Company policy and applicable laws. The responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified may vary within each department and/or location.
Compensation: UNFI anticipates paying the above-referenced pay rate (or within the above-referenced pay range) for this position. Actual Pay, where applicable, will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, education, experience, training, and any requirements under applicable collective bargaining agreements. UNFI is committed to transparency in pay in compliance with applicable state and local laws.
Benefits: For Washington positions (or positions that may be performed remotely from Washington), https://www.unfi.com/jobs-more-info-wa.html for Washington-specific paid time off details.
Candidates hired into this position will also be eligible to participate in the following benefits programs: Paid Time Off; Sick Time; paid holidays and parental leave; 401K Program; medical, dental, vision, life, and accidental death/dismemberment insurance; short-term and long-term disability insurance program, Flexible Spending Account and/or Health Savings Account, subject to meeting the eligibility requirements and the terms and conditions of these programs, and subject to any requirements under applicable collective bargaining agreements.
UNFI's compensation, benefits, and paid time off policies are subject to change in the Company's sole discretion, consistent with applicable law. This job posting should not be construed as an offer of employment with certain terms, nor should it be construed as a guaranteed minimum.
