Director, AI Transformation & Enablement

Positively disrupting an industry that has not seen any innovation in over 50 years, Tekion has challenged the paradigm with the first and fastest cloud-native automotive platform that includes the revolutionary Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC) for retailers, Automotive Enterprise Cloud (AEC) for manufacturers and other large automotive enterprises and Automotive Partner Cloud (APC) for technology and industry partners. Tekion connects the entire spectrum of the automotive retail ecosystem through one seamless platform. The transformative platform uses cutting-edge technology, big data, machine learning, and AI to seamlessly bring together OEMs, retailers/dealers and consumers. With its highly configurable integration and greater customer engagement capabilities, Tekion is enabling the best automotive retail experiences ever. Tekion employs close to 3,000 people across North America, Asia and Europe.

This is an onsite job in Pleasanton, California

AI is changing the world — and at Tekion, we're shaping how our people grow with it. 

This is not a role about replacing what Tekionites do. It's about expanding what they're capable of. 

 As our Director, AI Workforce Transformation & Enablement, you will own and drive Tek-Ascend — our company-wide AI enablement program — from strategy through execution. That means building the training architecture, community programs, change management infrastructure, and workforce frameworks that help every Tekionite across both India and the US understand, embrace, and put AI to work in their daily jobs. You'll also be someone who actively uses AI yourself — not just advocates for it but models the kind of AI-powered working you're asking others to adopt. 

 This is a brand-new role on a newly formed team, which means you're building from the ground up with the full support of the CPO and senior leadership. Tek-Ascend launched its mandatory online training on July 13, 2026 — and there's a lot of runway ahead. Live workshops, a growing Champions Network, quarterly hackathons, a Showcase program, and a Build CoE pipeline of AI agents being deployed into workflows across every function. You'll inherit real momentum and shape what comes next. 

 You'll lead a lean but capable team, partnering closely with the CIO/CISO org (our AI Build CoE), our CTO org and People Business Partners across the business. With a small team, you'll be expected to use AI — including building and deploying agents in Claude and other platforms — to multiply your impact and operate well above your headcount. 

What You'll Do 

AI Workforce Enablement & Training 

• Own and drive Tek-Ascend — Tekion's company-wide AI enablement program — across all ~3,000 Tekionites in India. EMEA, Canada and the US, from online foundations through live workshops, community programs, and ongoing learning

• Design and continuously evolve training for four distinct audiences: non-technical workforce (9 functions), technical workforce, people managers (the Manager Flagship), and senior leaders — each with function-specific content, live labs, and real work embedded in every session

• Build and run the Tek-Ascend community portfolio: AI Champions Network, AI Power Users Cohort , Monthly AI Power Hour, Quarterly Showcase, the LAUNCHPAD quarterly hackathon, and the #tek-intelligence Slack channel and Prompt Library

• Partner closely with the Build CoE (CIO/CISO org) to connect agent deployments to employee training — so every new AI tool that ships into a team's workflow is supported by onboarding, use case documentation, and adoption tracking

• Oversee the Tekion Prompt Library — the organization's growing repository of validated, team-owned AI use cases — and build the governance, contribution rituals, and quality standards that make it genuinely useful at scale

• Track and report on what's changing: AI activation rates, training completion, manager role-modeling behavior, community program health, and downstream productivity outcomes — reported monthly to the CPO and quarterly to the CEO 

Change Management & Workforce Transformation 

• Lead all change management for Tek-Ascend — from org-wide communications and manager talking points to the 30-Day Rule conversations that ensure no Tekionite is surprised by what's changing in their role – and understand that the efficiency that AI can bring is a great tool for them and for the company to scale

• Work directly with People Business Partners to implement the GROW / EVOLVE / TRANSFORM role framework across every function — mapping each role's trajectory and ensuring employees have clear career paths into an AI-augmented future

• Design and operationalize the workforce planning and job architecture frameworks that reflect how roles are evolving — with particular attention to the populations where AI is creating the most significant change so that we can enable effective for long term success

• Develop and maintain a data-driven approach to tracking AI-driven skill gaps, reskilling progress, and internal mobility outcomes across the organization

• Coach and advise senior leaders and managers on how to lead their teams through AI role evolution — providing the frameworks, talking points, and one-on-one support to help them do it well 

Team Leadership & Execution 

• Lead, develop, and grow a lean team — using AI tools and agents to multiply the team's output and operate well above headcount

• Build and deploy AI agents in Claude and other platforms to automate and accelerate team workflows, from content development to program reporting and stakeholder communications

• Set clear goals and success metrics — and track meaningful impact across all programs, reported to CPO monthly and CEO quarterly

• Operate with a startup mindset: resourceful, tenacious, comfortable with ambiguity, endlessly positive and energized by building something new

• Stay connected to the external AI transformation and future-of-work community — bringing peer benchmarks, emerging research, and what's working at other companies back into Tekion's strategy 

• 10+ years of progressive HR, People Operations, organizational development, or management consulting experience, with at least 3–5 years managing teams.

• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale transformation initiatives — with a strong change management lens and track record of real adoption outcomes, not just program completion rates

• Proven change management experience — formal methodology experience (Prosci/ADKAR, Kotter, or similar) is a genuine plus, not just a nice-to-have

• Experience personally facilitating & delivering training and workshops — not just designing them or managing others who deliver them. You've stood in front of skeptical rooms and made believers.

• Experience designing training curricula and capability programs, with the ability to build and iterate content rapidly based on learner feedback and what's working

• Demonstrated ability to build and use AI agents (in Claude, OpenAI, or similar platforms) to automate workflows and deliver better outcomes with a small team

• Active, hands-on use of AI tools as a meaningful, daily part of how you work — not something you learned for interviews

• Critical - Experience in workforce planning, job architecture redesign, and/or organizational design

• Experience working with and coaching senior leaders and executives through significant change

• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills — you can inspire, align, and influence at all levels without always having direct authority

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Organizational Development, Business, or related field — or equivalent professional experience 

• Background in a large management consulting or HR consulting firm (Deloitte, McKinsey, Mercer, Accenture, Korn Ferry) PLUS hands-on, in-house experience at a mid-size, high-growth tech company — the combination matters

• A strong, active external network in the AI transformation and future-of-work community — not just LinkedIn connections, but real relationships with people doing leading-edge internal AI adoption work at peer companies

• Experience designing and scaling enterprise capability academies, understanding of AI literacy programs, or large-scale learning journeys across a global workforce

• Track record of building people programs from scratch in a resource-constrained, fast-moving tech environment

• Exposure to automotive, enterprise SaaS, or B2B technology industries — a genuine plus, not a requirement 

Who You Are 

You're a builder, a connector, and someone who genuinely believes that the most important thing a company can do during a transformation is take its people with it. 

You've sat in boardrooms and spoken the language of strategy. You've also spent enough time with front-line teams to know that lasting change only happens when people feel seen, heard, and supported through it — not managed through it. 

You're excited about AI — not as a concept you advocate for, but as a tool you actively use, explore with real curiosity, and love helping other people demystify. You've personally stood in front of rooms full of skeptics and turned hesitation into enthusiasm. You know that the most effective change leaders don't mandate adoption. They make the path feel worth walking. 

You're comfortable not having a perfect playbook. This is a new function at a fast-moving company, and some things are still being defined — intentionally. You bring structure where it's needed, stay flexible when it's not, and remain focused on what actually matters. You know how to use AI to make a small team feel like a much larger one. 

You're well-connected in the AI transformation community. You know who else is doing this work well, you're in real conversations with peers at other companies, and you bring those insights back to inform what Tekion builds. You're not just following trends — you're helping shape them. 

At Tekion, you'll need all of that — and we can't wait to see what you build. 

• Competitive compensation and generous stock options

• 100% employer-paid top-of-the-line medical, dental and vision coverage

• Great benefits including unlimited PTO, parental leave and free snacks and beverages

• The opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds from Silicon Valley's most dominant and successful companies

• Be part of an early stage, hyper-growth start-up with the opportunity to grow and prosper

• Work on the latest and coolest technologies – everything is home-grown and built ground-up

• A dynamic work environment with a strong sense of community and collaboration

• The open and transparent culture that encourages innovation, rewards performance and discourages hierarchy

• Exciting opportunities for career growth and development 

No Sponsorship for this role 

Current Tekion Employees: Please apply via the Internal Job Board in Ashby.

Note: Tekion recently transitioned to a new recruiting tool and we appreciate your patience and feedback as we adjust to our new system!

Tekion is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, victim of violence or having a family member who is a victim of violence, the intersectionality of two or more protected categories, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

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