AI Enablement Director

Backblaze is the object storage leader in the open cloud movement, fueling customer success with cloud storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Together with our partners, we’re helping customers break free from the restrictive, overpriced legacy solutions that hold them back, and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.

Founded in 2007, we scaled the business with less than $3 million in outside funding until 2021, when we did a traditional IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Today, Backblaze generates over $100m in revenue and is the leading specialized storage cloud - managing over three billion gigabytes of data storage for 500K+ customers in 175+ countries, including businesses, developers, IT professionals, and individuals.

But while there is a lot to celebrate in our past, there is almost as much opportunity ahead of us. We are seeking an AI Enablement Director!

About the Role:

Backblaze is executing an ambitious, company-wide AI transformation program that is fundamentally reshaping how our organization operates at scale. This is not a theoretical research project - it is a live, high-impact initiative with production deployments already in production. We are driven by a commitment to operational excellence and tangible results, and this role sits at the very center of that mission. You will be responsible for shaping the path forward, ensuring that our AI initiatives deliver clear, measurable value that drives the business forward. This role sits at the center of it.

Reporting to the CHRO, you will lead the AI use case lifecycle, managing everything from initial intake to final production. Your responsibilities include scoping complex workflows, architecting innovative solutions, overseeing pilot programs, and precisely measuring the impact of these changes. Partnering closely with functional directors, you will identify high-potential areas for AI integration and process transformation, ensuring these initiatives translate into tangible operational results.

The program has a simple test: by Q3, we should be able to answer "what has AI actually delivered this year?" in a single slide with numbers. You are the person who makes that slide possible.

What You’ll Do:

• Own the use case pipeline. Triage incoming requests, refine problem statements, size value, and maintain a prioritized queue across functions. Lead each use case through discovery, scoping, pilot, and launch - coordinating functional owners, IT, Engineering, Legal, and Finance as required.
• Do the workflow work. Conduct structured current-state assessments with department teams. Map how work actually happens today. Find where volume, repetition, or research intensity make AI a strong fit - and surface the use cases that would never appear in a top-down scan.
• Design the right solution. Evaluate whether a given workflow calls for an off-the-shelf tool, a prompt layer, a vendor product, or a custom build. Engage Engineering and IT when integration or custom development is required. Document baselines before launch. Measure the delta after.
• Govern the tool stack. Own the AI vendor evaluation process end-to-end: fit assessment, security and privacy review, pilots, and build-vs-buy recommendations. Maintain the AI Tool Registry with zero ungoverned deployments. Track spend per team monthly with cost-per-outcome visibility available to the executive team.
• Keep leadership informed. Maintain a live view of every active use case, its status, its owner, and its impact. Produce outcomes reports. Surface role and change implications early - before they become problems.

The Right Fit:

• 7+ years in program management, business operations, or automation delivery - with direct experience moving AI or workflow automation initiatives from discovery to production
• Hands-on fluency across the modern AI stack: prompt engineering, RAG pipelines, LLM orchestration, tool evaluation, and governance
• Experience conducting workflow assessments with business stakeholders - not just technically, but operationally: mapping current states, identifying leverage points, designing future states
• A track record of producing outcomes framed in time saved, cost reduced, or revenue impacted - not features shipped or tools deployed
• Clear written communication: business cases, executive updates, solution design documents

Nice to Have:

• Experience running an AI program across multiple functions simultaneously
• Familiarity with AI governance in data-sensitive or PII-adjacent environments
• Background in cloud infrastructure, storage, or technical B2B businesses
• Exposure to org transitions - restructures, outsourcing programs, distributed team ramp-ups - and the workflow documentation challenges they create

Backblaze Perks: 

• Healthcare for family, including dental and vision
• Competitive compensation and 401K  
• RSU grants for full-time employees 
• ESPP program  
• Flexible vacation policy 
• Maternity & paternity leave 
• MacBook Pro to use for work plus a generous stipend to personalize your  workstation 
• Childcare bonus (human children only) 
• Fertility treatment and support 
• Learning & development program 
• Commuter benefits 
• Culture that supports a healthy work-life balance 

To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base pay ranges for all US-based job postings regardless of state. We set standard base pay ranges for all roles based on function, level, and country location, benchmarked against similar-stage growth companies. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate location, skills, depth of work experience, and relevant licenses/credentials, and may vary from the amounts listed below.

The base pay range for this position is $165,000 - $215,000.

At Backblaze, we value being fair and good to our customers, partners, and employees. That’s why diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our values. We are committed to fostering a workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic status, ability, veteran status, and education. We believe that our dedication to cultivating a diverse workspace not only allows us to better serve our customers in over 175 countries, but further reinforces our commitment to doing the right thing. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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