Sr. Manager, AI Enablement

Ocean Spray is hiring for a(n) Sr. Manager, AI Enablement! We’re a team of farmers, thinkers, creators, and doers. Whatever your title, whatever your role — it always comes back to this: we’re a farmer-owned co-op where everyone rolls up their sleeves to get the job done. Three maverick farmers started it all — and we’ve been making our own way ever since. 

Position Location: We're all about flexibility! This will be a hybrid role based out of our corporate headquarters in Lakeville, MA or our Seaport Boston, MA location with Mondays and Fridays remote. 

The Senior Manager, Artificial Intelligence leads the development, execution, and ongoing evolution of Ocean Spray’s enterprise AI strategy. As Ocean Spray is in the early stages of its AI journey, this role plays a critical part in driving initial awareness, adoption, and value, particularly through Microsoft Copilot, SAP and other AI tools. This role oversees the full AI portfolio, identifying and prioritizing high‑value use cases that deliver measurable business impact while building the foundational processes and capabilities the cooperative needs for long-term growth. Operating at the Leading Others level, this leader manages a small team of AI practitioners and works closely with IT, business functions, and external partners to design and deploy AI solutions that leverage enterprise applications, tools, and data. The role ensures all AI initiatives align with business goals, follow responsible AI practices, and support organizational transformation.

A Day in the Life...

AI Strategy & Portfolio Leadership

• Develop and refine the enterprise AI strategy in alignment with cooperative business priorities.
• Identify, assess, and prioritize high‑impact AI opportunities across Commercial, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Corporate, and IT.
• Build business cases that quantify expected outcomes, ROI, risks, and success metrics.
• Lead execution of the AI portfolio to ensure delivery of measurable value.
• Strengthen AI governance, security, and responsible AI practices.
• Provide clear updates, portfolio reporting, and executive communications.

Technical Leadership & Delivery

• Partner with Data Engineering, Cloud/Infrastructure, Enterprise Applications, Data Governance, and Cybersecurity teams to architect scalable AI solutions.
• Contribute hands‑on to solution design, prototyping, model evaluation, and prompt engineering.
• Support implementation of MLOps and model lifecycle practices with platform teams.
• Ensure operationalization, monitoring, and performance optimization of AI solutions.
• Provide technical direction to data scientists, ML engineers, IT product owners, and other contributors.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration & Adoption

• Serve as a champion for AI awareness and adoption across the cooperative, especially focusing on embedding Microsoft Copilot, SAP, Workday and other approved tools into processes and workflows.
• Support change management efforts to drive adoption of AI-enabled improvements.
• Build strong partnerships with internal stakeholders and external vendors to introduce leading tools and methods.
• Foster a collaborative, learning-oriented team environment.

What We Are Looking For:

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of AI/ML concepts (supervised/unsupervised learning, NLP, generative AI, optimization, predictive modeling).
• Ability to prototype or evaluate AI models and prompts using tools such as Python and SQL.
• Familiarity with enterprise AI platforms, cloud technologies, MLOps, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Solid knowledge of data engineering fundamentals, data quality, and integration.
• Experience with enterprise systems such as SAP S/4HANA, SAP IBP/SAC, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Maximo or SAP EAM/APM, Workday, and Azure services.

Strategic & Analytical Skills

• Strong ability to evaluate business needs and size opportunities.
• Skilled at translating complex technical concepts into business-friendly language.
• Capable of managing complex initiatives while balancing short‑ and long‑term priorities.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop AI talent.
• Strong cross-functional influence and stakeholder management skills.
• Sound decision-making and adaptability in dynamic environments.

Communication & Change Leadership

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for technical and executive audiences.
• Able to articulate value, risks, progress, and recommendations clearly.
• Experience supporting change management related to AI adoption.

Education:

Bachelor's or University Degree (Required)

Work Experience:

At least 7 Years of Experience

Annual Salary:

$128,000 - $160,000

The base salary range information above serves as a guideline of the position’s typical hiring range.  We value and appreciate what makes you unique and will consider a variety of factors when determining an offer.  These factors include, but are not limited to, your skills and experience, external and internal benchmarks, as well as overall company considerations.  Certain positions may be eligible for short-term and long-term incentive rewards. We also offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits program that supports all aspects of your health and well-being.

Benefits:

• Complete insurance package on Day-1 that includes a plethora of health and wellness programs

• • Health, Dental and Vision insurance

  • Health savings account

  • Flexible spending account

  • Life and accident insurance

  • Employee assistance program

  • Telehealth services

  • 1:1 health coaching

  • Supportive benefits for all the stages of your life

• 401(k) with up to 6% Company matching; additional potential discretionary match at year-end

• Short-Term Incentive/Performance bonuses

• Flexible scheduling options

• Vacation pay, up to three weeks of time (pro-rated for your first year of employment)

• Holiday pay for 12 holidays

• Career development and growth opportunities

• Tuition/Education assistance programs

• Access to LinkedIn Learning

• Scholarship programs for children of employees

• Parental leave

• Bright Horizons Family Solutions – Back-up care, tutoring, etc.

• Adoption assistance

• Bereavement leave

• Up to $300 fitness reimbursement

• Up to $300 massage reimbursement

• Employee appreciation events

• Employee discounts

• Charitable giving

Who We Are:

You might have our iconic cranberry juice in your fridge or have gotten into heated holiday debate about what’s better - canned or fresh cranberry sauce. But did you know that the hardworking people growing the superfruit in our products are 700 family farmers that own our cooperative? They entrust us with what is most precious to them to create new and innovative products that will delight consumers and grow this beloved brand today and into the future.

Team members, farmers, consumers and communities alike--we value what makes us unique and strive to connect our farms to families for a better life by living our values:

• Grower Mindset – We embrace our grower-owners innovative spirit and heritage through confidence, learning and focus on the future.
• Sustainable Results – Guided by purpose, we are focused on delivering results for our grower-owners.
• Integrity Above All – We are ethical, doing the right thing for our grower-owners, customers, consumers and each other
• Inclusive Teamwork – We build diverse and inclusive teams that strengthen our cooperative.

For MA Applicants – It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. Any employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.