Director, AI & Automation (Tysons)

About TEGNA

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) helps people thrive in their local communities by providing the trusted local news and services that matter most. With 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA reaches more than 100 million people monthly across the web, mobile apps, streaming, and linear television. Together, we are building a sustainable future for local news.

TEGNA is seeking an enterprise-focused technology leader to spearhead the development and implementation of advanced AI solutions. This individual will be responsible for incubating ideas, rapid prototyping and validation of emerging technologies, ensuring concepts are effectively transformed into functional solutions. This position centers on enterprise-wide automation through Agentic AI, aiming to enhance operations across all business and media workflows.

The ideal candidate will possess substantial technical expertise in AI orchestration, distributed systems, and cloud platforms, along with the ability to lead a small, high-performing team within a dynamic, innovation-driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the innovation lab for AI. Design modular AI architectures and execute rapid POCs and pilots to validate technical feasibility.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a specialized team of AI engineers. Provide technical guidance, and champion best practices in a matrixed onshore-offshore model.
• Partner with business stakeholders to translate business needs into technical specifications. Evaluate and recommend new technologies—such as LLMs, orchestration frameworks, and vector databases—ensuring alignment with TEGNA’s enterprise architecture and security policies.
• Oversee the design and maintenance of scalable AI pipelines and shared services (prompt libraries, RAG pipelines). Drive automation in AI ops. Oversee the building of efficient, reusable code and APIs for AI model integration and user interfaces for AI-powered features.

Requirements

• 12‑15 years in technology leadership, with 2 years specifically focused on AI/automation strategy, architecture, or platform enablement. Proven track record of delivering impactful AI solutions and managing high‑performing engineering teams.
• Deep understanding of Generative AI (LLMs, RAG) and Agentic AI (multi‑agent systems, autonomous workflows). Proficiency in AI/ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or scikit‑learn.
• Expertise in cloud‑native AI platforms (Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, or Google Vertex AI). Advanced SQL and strong Python skills (Pandas, PySpark) for data manipulation and pipeline development.
• Strong understanding of Agile methodologies, Jira, and version control (Git). Experience managing the end‑to‑end lifecycle of multiple AI projects from planning to monitoring.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills to articulate complex AI concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field.

Pay Range

$175,000 - $200,000 USD

Benefits

TEGNA offers comprehensive benefits designed to safeguard the physical, mental and financial health of our employees and their families. TEGNA offers two medical plan options for full and part‑time employees through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, as well as access to dental and eye care coverage; fertility, surrogacy and adoption assistance; disability and life insurance. Our 401(k) program offers full, part‑time and temporary employees the opportunity to contribute 1% - 80% of their pay on a pre‑tax basis to TEGNA’s 401(k). Contributions made up to the first 4% of pay are eligible for a 100% match from the company and are 100% vested from day one. Regardless of participation in TEGNA medical plans, all employees and their eligible family members receive nine free virtual doctor’s appointments with a physician through Teladoc, and 12 free annual therapy sessions with a licensed clinician through Spring Health. TEGNA offers a generous Paid Time Off (PTO) benefit as well as nine paid holidays per year.

* Some jobs are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and thus some or all of the benefits described herein may not apply. For example, some newsroom bargaining unit employees receive health and retirement benefits under plans administered by the union.

EEO Statement

TEGNA Inc. is a proud equal opportunity employer. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, hiring and developing individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences to add to our collaborative culture. We value and consider applications from all qualified candidates without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, disability, medical condition, enrollment in college or vocational school, political affiliation, military or veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. TEGNA will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law. If you are in need of an accommodation in order to submit your application, please email View email address on apply.placed-app.com

Recruiting Fraud Alert

To all candidates: your personal information and online safety are important to us. Only TEGNA Recruiters or Hiring Managers will reach out to you regarding consideration of your application or background. Communications with TEGNA employees will either come from a TEGNA email address with a domain of tegna.com or one of our affiliate station domains. Recruiters or Hiring Managers will never request payments, ask for financial account information or sensitive information such as social security numbers.