Director, AI Applications Engineering

 VERSANT, Comcast Corporation’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) planned spin-off, will be a leading independent publicly traded media company comprised of most of NBCUniversal’s cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. The well-capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. The spin-off is expected to be completed during 2025, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions.

 At VERSANT Media’s Sports & Entertainment Digital Products division, we’re driven by a shared mission: to innovate, create unforgettable experiences, and connect with fans through the power of technology. Our diverse portfolio brings together industry-leading platforms that serve millions of users across the sports and entertainment landscape.

In sports, we empower over 30 million players, coaches, administrators, and fans in 40 countries through more than 25 digital products. These include SportsEngine, the largest youth sports club, league, and team management platform; SportsEngine Play, the first-ever streaming service dedicated to youth and amateur sports; GolfNow, the top online tee time marketplace and golf course operations technology provider; and GolfPass, the ultimate golf membership that delivers exclusive content, tee time benefits, expert instruction, and more.

In entertainment, we reach over 50 million movie and TV fans through our trusted digital brands. Our platforms support every stage of the fan journey – from discovering content to enjoying it on the big screen or at home. Our portfolio includes Fandango, the nation’s leading online movie ticketing service, partnering with more than 31,000 U.S. movie screens; Rotten Tomatoes, the iconic destination for movie and TV reviews; and Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), our on-demand streaming service offering more than 250,000 titles, including new releases, next-day TV, and the largest selection of 4K UHD content in the industry.

Together, we’re shaping the future of how people experience the sports they play and the stories they love.

This opportunity is within our Fandango group – a collection of trusted entertainment brands that guide over 50 million movie and TV fans throughout their viewing journey. Whether it’s purchasing tickets to their favorite blockbusters through Fandango, reading trusted reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, or streaming the latest releases at home via Fandango at Home, our platforms help audiences find, watch, and enjoy content with ease. Our team thrives on shaping how people discover and experience entertainment, one screen at a time.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking a Director, AI Applications Engineering, to lead the design, development, and delivery of applied AI systems across business units. This role sits at the intersection of engineering leadership, AI/ML innovation, and product strategy. You will establish the vision for AI application engineering, build and mentor a cross-functional team, and ensure that our AI systems are production-grade, scalable, and aligned with business needs.

This is both a strategic and hands-on role: you’ll partner with product and executive stakeholders to shape the roadmap, while guiding engineers through rapid prototyping, support of existing applications, and production delivery of AI-powered applications.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

As a Director, AI Applications Engineering on our team, you will own the:

Strategy & Vision

• Define and own the strategy for AI applications across DPV, with emphasis on LLM and generative AI platforms.
• Shape and drive the enterprise-wide AI Applications strategy, ensuring consistency, scalability, and ethical best practices across business units.
• Establish and lead a Center of Excellence for Applied AI, creating reusable frameworks, standards, and accelerators that other teams can adopt.
• Partner with product and business leaders to identify high-value opportunities for AI application development.
• Guide build vs. buy decisions for applied AI systems, ensuring maximum value and IP ownership.

Team Leadership

• Build, lead, and mentor a cross-functional team of AI/ML engineers.
• Foster a culture of innovation, technical depth, and pragmatic delivery.
• Guide technical and career development for engineers at all levels.

Execution & Delivery

• Oversee design and delivery of AI-powered applications, such as conversational agents, agents, workflow automation, and recommendation systems.
• Ensure solutions are production-ready, scalable, and secure, with strong observability and testing practices.
• Drive adoption of modern GenAI practices: RAG pipelines, model fine-tuning, prompt/context engineering, evaluation frameworks, and guardrails.
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Serve as a key partner to executive stakeholders, communicating progress, risks, and outcomes clearly.
• Translate complex AI concepts into business impact narratives for leadership
•  Act as a thought leader and evangelist for applied AI applications across the enterprise.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years in a Director-level (or equivalent) leadership role.
•  Proven track record building and leading teams that deliver production-grade AI/ML applications.
•  Deep knowledge of LLMs, generative AI frameworks, and applied AI systems.
•  Strong technical expertise in backend/platform engineering, with fluency in Python and at least one other modern language (Go, Node.js, Rust, etc).
• Experience deploying AI systems at scale (cloud-native, containerized, CI/CD integrated).
• Familiarity with MLOps and GenAI ecosystems (LangChain, LlamaIndex, Hugging Face, MLflow, Weights & Biases).
• Experience with Amazon Bedrock
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences.

BONUS POINTS FOR

• Experience with other large entertainment focused platforms, centered around being consumer-facing at a large scale
• Familiarity and hands-on exposure with MCP Servers and highly accessible and available API platforms
• Knowledge of microservices and event-driven architectures at enterprise scale
• Cloud-native, global scaling experience (AWS and their various tool offerings)
• Understanding of the mindset of “Fail Fast, Learn Fast” and continuous improvement

WORKER TYPE

Fully Remote: This role has been designated as fully remote, meaning it is expected to be performed from a non-Versant worksite, typically an employee’s residence.

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected].

Although you'll be hired as an NBCU employee, your employment and the responsibilities associated with this job likely will transition to Versant in the future. By joining at this pivotal time, you'll be a part of this exciting company as it takes shape.