AI Co-Innovation Engineering Program Manager

Rockwell Automation is a global technology leader focused on helping the world’s manufacturers be more productive, sustainable, and agile. With more than 28,000 employees who make the world better every day, we know we have something special. Behind our customers - amazing companies that help feed the world, provide life-saving medicine on a global scale, and focus on clean water and green mobility - our people are energized problem solvers that take pride in how the work we do changes the world for the better.

We welcome all makers, forward thinkers, and problem solvers who are looking for a place to do their best work. And if that’s you we would love to have you join us!

Job Description

As an AI Co-Innovation Engineering Program Manager, you will drive the operational rigor of complex, cross-functional programs, and serve as a credible technical thought partner to engineering teams and external technology partners building at the frontier of AI and autonomy — including agentic frameworks, robotics, and emerging AI platforms.

You will live in the intersection of program execution and technical fluency. You will be deep enough in the technology to challenge assumptions, ask the right questions in architecture discussions, and translate between business stakeholders, R&D engineers, and partner engineering teams.

You'll sit at the center of how AI and autonomy actually reach our businesses — close enough to the technology to shape it, close enough to the business to ensure it lands. You will report to AI Co-Innovation Engineering Manager and will work remotely in Illinois.

Primary Responsibilities:

- Manage a portfolio of programs end-to-end: plans, milestones, performance metrics, risks, and resource needs across complex, multi-stakeholder work.
- Define and run the communication plan for each program — landing strategy, rhythm of business, executive updates, and decision logs — so the right people have the right context at the right time.
- Establish objectives and success criteria with stakeholders, hold teams accountable, and shepherd decisions to closure across business unit product, business unit engineering, AI COE/AI R&D, partner engineering, and executive sponsors.
- Use OKRs, KPIs, and other performance metrics to demonstrate program value and business impact, adapting communication style to each audience.
- Recognize process gaps and inefficiencies, and drive optimization across the portfolio.
- Help shape the technical strategy for programs run jointly with strategic technology partners, in close partnership with the AI Engineering Programs Manager and engineering counterparts.
- Advise internal stakeholders on technical feasibility and trade-offs as we build with and on top of partner technologies in areas like agentic frameworks, robotics, and applied AI.
- Maintain working knowledge across modern AI systems — LLMs, agentic frameworks, ML pipelines — and adjacent areas such as robotics and autonomy stacks. Read technical design documents critically and ask questions.
- Promote reference architectures, standards, and reusable patterns from partner engagements so learnings flow back into the broader AI & Autonomy function.
- Understand the technical and business drivers of our strategic technology partners and translate them into a partner engagement strategy aligned to our roadmap.
- Map partner capabilities to internal opportunities, helping business units see what's possible and helping partners understand where their technology lands inside our environment.
- Jointly qualify and prioritize partner opportunities with the AI Engineering Programs Manager, and develop the technical engagement plan that supports each one.
- Engage internal teams — engineering, product groups, R&D — to confirm capability to execute and to unblock technical and business obstacles as they surface.

The Essential qualifications: You will have

- Bachelor's Degree in relevant field.
- Legal authorization to work in the US is required. We will not sponsor individuals for employment visas, now or in the future, for this job opening.

The Preferred - You Might Also Have:

- Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience.
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or equivalent practical experience.
- 5+ years of program management experience in software, AI, or other deeply technical environments.
- Run complex, multi-stakeholder programs with engineering teams as a primary audience.
- Track record of producing executive-quality updates and driving alignment in writing.
- Background as a software engineer, AI/ML engineer, or in an adjacent technical role . We are looking for someone who has built before they managed programs.
- Working knowledge of modern AI systems — LLMs, agentic frameworks, ML pipelines — and/or robotics and autonomy stacks.
- Experience working with or inside technology partnerships (joint engineering, co-development, vendor/partner integrations).
- Experience building and running programs that require cross-org collaboration and support from leadership.
- A genuine passion for product roadmaps shaped by AI capabilities — not just running the program, but caring about what gets built.

What We Offer:

- Health Insurance including Medical, Dental and Vision
- 401k
- Paid Time off
- Parental and Caregiver Leave
- Flexible Work Schedule where you will work with your manager to enjoy a work schedule that can be flexible with your personal life.
- To learn more about our benefits package, please visit at www.raquickfind.com.

For this role, the total target compensation is from $130,400.00 to 195,600.00 USD Annual. Actual pay will be based on factors such as skills, knowledge, education, and experience.

This position is part of a job family. Experience will be the determining factor for position level and compensation.

At Rockwell Automation we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right person for this or other roles.

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