Senior Manager, AI Corporate Engineering

Role Description

As Sr. Manager, AI Engineering, you will lead a small, senior team, write the charter for what Corporate Engineering owns versus enables, and build the platform that lets the rest of Vanta adopt AI quickly without accumulating cost, risk, or duplication.

What you’ll do as a Senior Manager, AI Corporate Engineering at Vanta:

• Lead, coach, and grow a senior team spanning platform engineering and technical program management.
• Set clear direction, hold a high bar, and give the team explicit permission to push back with data.
• Own the AI access layer end to end:
  • Identity and authentication for AI tools
  • Connector and integration allowlisting
  • Tiered permissions by function
  • Guardrails that make adoption safe by default rather than safe by exception
• Own AI cost engineering:
  • Build attribution down to team and individual
  • Right-size model selection to actual need
  • Make agent and automation spend traceable
  • Set budget thresholds and alerting in partnership with Finance
• Own the MCP layer for internal tools end to end, including:
  • Commissioning and decommissioning
  • Governance
  • Downstream impact assessment before migration ships
• Own the paved path for internal applications:
  • A golden-path deployment pattern
  • Sensible defaults including private-by-default
  • Lifecycle and decommissioning policy for unused apps
  • A build-versus-buy framework
• Build the enablement layer that turns adoption into impact:
  • A skills and agent registry that cuts duplication
  • An evaluation framework for internal AI usage
  • Technical enablement on sanctioned tools
• Write and hold the charter. Define what Corporate Engineering owns, what it enables, and how work enters the team.
• Partner across Engineering, GRC, Security, Data, Finance, and People.

Qualifications

• Experience standing up an internal AI or developer platform function rather than inheriting a mature one.
• The ability to hold scope.
• Fluency in AI cost engineering: usage attribution, model right-sizing, token economics, agent cost traceability.
• An enablement-first instinct.
• Hands-on technical depth across LLM platform tooling, agent and MCP architecture, identity and OAuth, CI/CD, and infrastructure as code.
• Comfort building for an audience that is no longer only engineers.
• Data governance fluency in a regulated environment.
• Comfort operating through influence.
• 8+ years in platform, infrastructure, or systems engineering, including 3+ years managing and developing engineers.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for current or future employer sponsorship.
• Open to using AI to amplify their skills and strengthen their work.

Benefits

• Industry-competitive salary and equity
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, with 100% of employee-only benefit premiums covered for most medical plans
• 16 weeks paid Parental Leave for all new parents
• Health & wellness stipend
• Remote workspace, internet, and cellphone stipend
• Commuter benefits for team members who report to the SF and NYC office
• Family planning benefits
• Matching 401(k) contribution with immediate vesting
• Flexible PTO policy, plus 80 hours of Sick Time
• 11 company-paid holidays
• Virtual team building activities, lunch and learns, and other company-wide events!
• Offices in SF, NYC, London, Dublin, Tel Aviv, and Sydney