Director of AI Strategy, Architecture and Solutions

What if the work you did every day could impact the lives of people you know? Or all of humanity? At Illumina, we are expanding access to genomic technology to realize health equity for billions of people around the world. Our efforts enable life-changing discoveries that are transforming human health through the early detection and diagnosis of diseases and new treatment options for patients. Working at Illumina means being part of something bigger than yourself. Every person, in every role, has the opportunity to make a difference. Surrounded by extraordinary people, inspiring leaders, and world changing projects, you will do more and become more than you ever thought possible. Location San Diego, CA. Not a remote role. Position Summary The Director, Strategy, Architecture and Solutions owns the front half of the enterprise AI lifecycle: from business intent to a designed, architected, and validated solution ready for Engineering and Delivery to build. This leader is the single point of accountability for what the function builds and why: how opportunities are surfaced and prioritized, how they are shaped into secure and scalable architectures, how they are proven through solution engineering and prototyping, how they are designed for adoption, and how their value is defined and tracked into the P&L. The role sits between the business and the build. It holds enough tec [... source excerpt omitted ...] versus native platform capability (Salesforce, SAP, Databricks, AWS and Bedrock, the Illumina Digital Workforce platform), and hand Engineering a design that survives contact with production. Four capabilities report into it: Business Partners, Architecture, Solution Engineering, and Experience (UX/UI). This is a leadership role, not a project management role. Success is measured by the quality of the portfolio entering build, the reuse of approved patterns, adoption of what ships, and the credibility of the AI function with senior business leaders. Vendor and commercial management sits with the Director, Governance, Trust and Vendors; this role is the primary internal customer of [... source excerpt omitted ...] viability, data readiness, and user fit before an initiative is funded for full build. Produce the build-ready package for each initiative: solution design, integration map, data requirements, non-functional requirements, acceptance criteria, and adoption plan. Own the handoff into Engineering and Delivery, and stay accountable for design intent through build, including design reviews, trade-off decisions, and production readiness sign-off. Decompose designs with Engineering into executable roadmaps and resolve trade-offs across speed, cost, security, scalability, and maintainability. Intervene directly on the highest-risk or highest-visibility solutions from proof of concept thr