Denali Therapeutics Inc. is a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of biotherapeutics designed to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) using its proprietary TransportVehicle™ platform. With the first FDA-approved biologic specifically designed to cross the BBB, a clinically validated delivery platform and a growing portfolio of therapeutic candidates across all stages of development, we are advancing toward our goal of delivering effective medicines to transform the lives of people living with neurodegenerative diseases, lysosomal storage disorders and other serious diseases.
We invite you to consider an opportunity with Denali to help achieve our goal of delivering meaningful therapeutics to patients.
We are seeking a Director, Applied AI to establish and lead an Applied AI function. This role sets Denali's AI strategy, directs the delivery of our AI capabilities, and is accountable to the executive team in the delivery of AI's outcomes for the organization. This role reports to the VP of Denali's technology organization and will work directly with functional leaders, Denali's executive team and others across the enterprise.
Key Accountabilities / Core Job Responsibilities
- Set Denali's applied-AI strategy — including a multi-year (3–5 year) view of where the function is headed — such as determining where frontier models belong, their use in solving Denali's applied AI needs, and what success looks like.
- Report results, risks, and tradeoffs to the executive team.
- Build organizational capability so teams can develop and operate AI systems.
- Embed with teams in R&D, clinical development, regulatory, manufacturing, and commercial to understand how our work is practiced.
- Own model-provider and platform relationships and build-versus-buy decisions.
- Assemble and lead the teams that build these systems, including internal engineering, external partners, and vendors. In the function's early stages, this may mean working directly through partners and vendors before a direct team is in place.
- Direct the design and delivery of production systems with frontier models, from prototype through adoption including agentic workflows, tool use, retrieval, evaluation, and monitoring.
- Deliver production systems that a scientific, clinical, or operational functions depend on with measured results.
- Identify and deliver one or two high-visibility, lower-effort use cases within the first 90–120 days to build early credibility and momentum alongside longer-term platform investments.
- Establish the platform layer including pathways for internal data to reach frontier models, an evaluation harness, and shared components that scale across use cases.
- Define the evaluation, safety, and validation practices that allow AI to operate under GxP, in partnership with Legal, Quality, and Regulatory.
Qualifications/Skills
- Experience operating at the executive level including setting direction, securing investment, and leading through influence across organizations.
- A track record of proactively identifying and pitching AI opportunities to stakeholders who hadn't already asked for them — not only executing a defined backlog of use cases.
- The ability to explain model capabilities and limits credibly to scientists, executives, and regulators.
- A record of leading technical teams, including delivery through partners and vendors and situations with limited or no direct headcount.
- A record of taking AI from concept to adopted system inside a complex organization.
- 10+ years in software, machine learning, applied AI, or AI solution development, including a track record of delivering production solutions with measurable business impact.
- At least 2–3 years of hands-on experience deploying frontier models or LLMs in production, including in life sciences or other regulated, safety-critical settings.
- Deep technical fluency with frontier-model systems and enterprise AI use cases — sufficient to set architecture, evaluate the work of engineers and partners, and hold delivery to a production standard.
- Experience operating AI systems at scale, including reliability, evaluation, and controlled rollout.
- Experience in pharma, biotech, or healthcare, and familiarity with GxP, are strong advantages, not requirements.
- Minimum education: Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience; advanced degree preferred
- Required field of study: A field relevant to the role as demonstrated through coursework, training, or professional experience
Salary Range: $204,000.00 to $265,000.00 . Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Denali offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k, healthcare coverage, ESPP and a broad range of other benefits. Learn more at https://www.denalitherapeutics.com/careers
This compensation and benefits information is based on Denali’s good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.
Denali is committed to its core company value of unity by creating a diverse and inclusive environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, basis of disability, or any other federal, state, or local protected class.