Product Director - AI

Product Director, AI  

We are looking for a visionary and dynamic Product Director to spearhead our Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy and execution. This role is central to driving innovation and shaping the future of our AI-powered products. You will play a key role in advancing our product roadmap, leading cross-functional teams, and influencing stakeholders across the business to ensure the successful delivery of AI solutions that enhance traveller experiences, reinvent our products, and drive business growth. 

We are at the forefront of an amazing opportunity, as generative AI reshapes industries at an unprecedented pace. At Skyscanner, we are an AI-forward company with deep expertise in machine learning, and we are all-in on the transformative power of GenAI—for travellers, our partners, and productivity. This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of travel industry. We’re making significant investments in AI, yet the landscape remains fluid, offering the perfect environment for a leader who thrives on innovation, bold thinking, and the ability to drive real impact. 

As Product Director, AI, you will be a thought leader, staying at the forefront of advancements in machine learning and generative AI and translating these into impactful product opportunities. With a deep understanding of customer needs, market trends, and the rapidly evolving AI landscape, you will develop and deliver cutting-edge AI-driven products. You will lead our advanced GenAI teams while also working across the company to embed AI-driven thinking into every aspect of our business. 

Key responsibilities: 

• AI Vision & Strategy: Define and drive a bold product vision and strategy for AI-powered products, ensuring alignment with overall company objectives. 

• Product Roadmap Management: Own and execute the AI product roadmap, balancing innovation with execution to deliver high-impact solutions on time. 

• AI Innovation & Experimentation: Stay ahead of the latest in GenAI and machine learning, proactively exploring emerging technologies (e.g., model fine-tuning, RAG, embeddings, multimodal AI) and translating them into real product opportunities. 

• Model Training & Deployment: Work closely with engineering and data science teams to experiment with, train, and deploy AI models—including large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and fine-tuned models—to enhance Skyscanner’s AI capabilities. 

• Market Research & Analysis: Conduct deep research into AI advancements, competitive trends, and user behaviour to identify opportunities for differentiation. 

• Requirements Definition: Collaborate with engineering, data science, and design teams to define detailed product requirements, ensuring AI solutions are scalable, effective, and user centric. 

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead and inspire teams across engineering, data science, design, marketing, and strategy, ensuring seamless collaboration and execution. 

• Partnerships & AI Ecosystem: Work with our strategy and M&A teams on partnerships with major AI companies and startups, ensuring Skyscanner remains at the forefront of AI innovation. 

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage real-time data, A/B testing, and AI performance metrics to continuously refine models and optimize AI-driven features. 

• Customer Advocacy: Ensure AI-powered experiences truly enhance traveller journeys, balancing innovation with usability and trust. 

• Ethical AI: Champion responsible AI development, ensuring fairness, transparency, and ethical considerations are embedded in our products. 

What you will bring: 

• Deep AI Expertise: You’re an AI enthusiast—someone who runs models on their laptop for fun, fine-tunes open-source LLMs, is always up to date on the latest AI developments, and explores new architectures before they go mainstream. 

• Technical Foundations: Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field. An advanced degree is preferred. 

• Hands-On ML & GenAI Experience: Strong experience in machine learning, deep learning, and GenAI, including model training, fine-tuning, deployment, and inference optimization. 

• Experience with RAG & Vector Search: Familiarity with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), embeddings (e.g., FAISS, Pinecone, Weaviate), and vector databases to enhance AI retrieval capabilities. 

• Cloud AI & ML Platforms: Experience with cloud-based AI tools and services (e.g., AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Azure AI, Databricks, Hugging Face). 

• Data-Driven Product Thinking: Strong background in data-driven product development, leveraging experimentation, analytics, and AI performance evaluation. 

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven ability to lead AI-focused teams, working effectively with engineers, data scientists, and designers. 

• Agile & Fast-Paced Execution: Ability to thrive in an environment where innovation happens fast, and priorities shift frequently. 

• Ethical AI Mindset: Familiarity with fairness, bias mitigation, and responsible AI practices. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience working with multi-modal AI (text, images, video, speech). 

• Experience integrating AI into consumer-facing products at scale. 

• Familiarity with reinforcement learning and personalization models. 

• Background in a relevant industry (e.g., travel, search, recommendations, fintech).