Director, AI/ML Engineering

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. 
 

Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

Job Title:  Director, AI/ML Engineering

Opportunity

Are you ready to lead a team that builds the innovative AI and machine learning solutions powering tomorrow’s enterprises? At F5, we’re looking for a Director of AI/ML Engineering who isn't just an expert in the field but also an inspiring leader who empowers others to think creatively, take ownership, and bring impactful ideas to life.

In this role, you will spearhead a distributed, cross-functional team to develop AI and ML initiatives that span hardware, software, and hybrid offerings. You’ll balance greenfield innovation with delivering robust technologies that align with F5’s reputation for enterprise-grade excellence.

As the Director, you'll set the tone for collaboration, rigor, and big-picture thinking. It’s about more than just delivering solutions; it’s about building a team that thrives together.

About the Team
 

At F5, we're passionate about enabling our customers to do extraordinary things with technology. Together, we embrace challenges as opportunities, design elegant solutions to sticky problems, and continuously evolve to meet the demands of an ever-changing tech landscape.  Our engineering teams are diverse, curious, and driven by the craft of building exceptional products and solutions. We prioritize growth, communication, and the power of collaboration to create industry-leading systems.

This is a small team of practitioners who value deep technical proficiency, curiosity, joy, and creating products that customers love.

How You'll Make an Impact

As a leader in this role, you will:

• Lead an Empowered Team: Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing AI/ML engineering team that thrives on trust, collaboration, and autonomy.
• Drive Strategy: Develop and execute the vision and strategic roadmap for AI/ML engineering in partnership with Product Management and Data Science teams.
• Shape Innovation: Stay at the cutting edge of AI/ML advancements and steer innovative initiatives that influence F5’s strategic direction.
• Turn Ideas into Solutions: Balance exploratory, forward-looking R&D with delivering enterprise-grade solutions that make a measurable impact for customers.
• Collaborate Across Functions: Work hand-in-hand with leaders across Engineering, Product Management, and Data Science to amplify the impact of AI/ML across F5 products.
• Foster Growth: Guide your team’s professional development through mentorship, goal setting, clear communication, and constructive feedback.

Communication

A core skill of members of the AI/ML team is the ability to not only model creative solutions but to transfer enthusiasm for the solutions to a broader community. In order to do this, one must be able to communicate effectively across a wide range of mediums. Team members are expected to have a good degree of emotional maturity, an ability to read a room effectively and embrace other’s differences. Although they may be aware of politics, they choose to be as earnest and sincere as possible. This sincerity is an important part of a director’s projection of enthusiasm into the larger organization and community.

What Will Your Day Look Like?

Your day-to-day responsibilities may include:

• Participating in brainstorming sessions to define ambitious AI product goals.
• Coaching team members on implementation strategies or design choices.
• Collaborating with senior stakeholders across multiple disciplines to shape overarching projects.
• Making informed decisions for operational effectiveness in AI/ML engineering.
• Tackling challenges with enthusiasm—whether it’s researching emerging technologies, strategizing product roadmaps, or contributing to the evaluation of ML frameworks.
• Celebrating wins, learning from setbacks, and nurturing a supportive team environment.

At F5, your work won’t just move code—it’ll move people, teams, and industries forward.

What You’ll Bring to the Team

This isn’t just a job—this is your opportunity to use your expertise to lead transformative initiatives, grow exceptional teams, and establish F5 as a leader in AI/ML engineering.

We look for someone who brings the following skills:

• Technical Acumen: Mastery of AI/ML technologies, mathematical/statistical techniques, and real-world applications. Hands-on experience with modern ML frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, and hardware acceleration platforms (CUDA, ROCm, etc.).
• Leadership Excellence: Proven ability to lead geographically distributed teams, empower junior technical staff, and offer mentorship that inspires growth.
• End-to-End Knowledge: Expertise in machine learning models, SaaS products, observability architecture, and production-scale cloud computing deployments, particularly in Kubernetes environments.
• Unwavering Curiosity: The drive to stay updated on emerging AI/ML advancements and apply them to practical business needs.
• A Team-First Mentality: A collaborative, communicative style—you know how to read a room and inspire enthusiasm across disciplines.

Your Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience.
• 5+ years as a technical leader or manager overseeing development teams.
• Track record of shaping innovative solutions in AI/ML.
• Experience building and operating distributed systems with CI/CD pipelines.
• Ability to travel up to 20% if needed.

Ready to Build What’s Next?
If you’re passionate about pushing boundaries in AI/ML engineering, working alongside a team of equally motivated individuals, and putting your leadership skills to work in impactful ways—this is your chance to make a significant difference at F5.

Join us in crafting solutions that help the world's most demanding industries deliver amazing experiences. Let’s lead the charge together toward smart, scalable, and transformative AI.

Who you are matters to us. We value curiosity, collaboration, and a hunger for challenge. If you find joy in solving problems and empowering others to succeed—you’re our kind of person.

#LI-JB1

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

The annual base pay for this position is: $253,900.00 - $380,800.00

F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change.

You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice. 

Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination.  F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting accommodations@f5.com.