Head of AI & Automation

🎯 Your main goal will be to drive company-wide adoption of AI and automation to create a modern, efficient, and enjoyable workplace, and turn n8n into a visible exemplar of how SaaS companies work with AI.You will combine strategic leadership, hands-on automation expertise, governance rigor, and strong executive influence to scale AI impact responsibly across the company.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIESInternal adoption & transformation programsDesign and run company-wide AI and automation programs, including hackathons, enablement tracks, and structured dogfooding initiatives that increase meaningful daily usage.Build repeatable adoption frameworks with clear success metrics, covering participation, satisfaction, and measurable business impact.Act as an internal consultant to leadership and functional teams, identifying high-leverage opportunities and guiding them from idea to implementation.Partner with People Ops to embed AI and automation capabilities into onboarding, learning and development, performance rituals, and leadership expectations.Influence teams that do not report to you, driving alignment and navigating tradeoffs at executive level.Business impact, measurement & ROI disciplineDefine and track impact metrics beyond adoption, including cycle time reduction, quality improvements, error rate reduction, cost avoidance, and productivity gains.Establish a clear ROI framework for AI and automation initiatives.Ensure pilots transition into scalable, production-grade workflows with measurable outcomes.Regularly communicate impact and tradeoffs to executive stakeholders.AI governance, security & risk managementDefine and implement guardrails for responsible AI and automation usage.Oversee data handling practices, vendor risk assessment, access controls, and prompt or data leakage prevention.Ensure auditability and traceability of AI-driven workflows where required.Balance speed and experimentation with privacy, compliance, and long-term scalability.Partner with Security, Legal, and IT to align on policies and standards.AI watch & strategic insightsLead a structured AI watch to track market trends, peer practices, regulatory evolution, and emerging tools.Translate insights into prioritized pilots, internal playbooks, and process improvements.Provide executive guidance on tool selection, vendor strategy, and build versus buy decisions.Content, storytelling & evangelismEnsure the creation of reusable internal assets, playbooks, and reference implementations.Collaborate with Marketing to showcase internal AI and automation practices externally.Equip Sales and GTM with narratives, demos, and artifacts that demonstrate modern ways of working at n8n.Team leadership, hiring & org designLead the Automation team, directly managing one manager and team while scaling from 2 to 15+ in 2026.Own hiring strategy, org design, role clarity, and leveling as the function scales.Set vision, OKRs, and performance standards, and coach leaders and ICs for impact.Build a high-trust, experimentation-driven culture while maintaining delivery discipline.Ensure strong cross-functional execution with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Biz Ops, Security, and People.
REQUIREMENTSMust-haves👥 Proven team leadership: You have led managers and ICs, scaled teams, hired at multiple levels, and built performance systems that drive excellence.🧠 AI fluency: You are technically conversant in AI concepts and can evaluate tools, risks, tradeoffs, and architectural implications.🛠 Workflow automation expertise: You have hands-on experience with automation platforms, ideally n8n or similar, and have shipped real business-critical workflows.🛡 Governance mindset: You understand security, privacy, data handling, and vendor risk considerations in AI-driven environments.📊 ROI and impact orientation: You measure success through business outcomes, not just usage metrics.🧭 Executive stakeholder management: You are comfortable driving alignment at leadership level, influencing without authority, and saying no when needed.🚀 Change leadership: You have driven behavioral and operational change at scale within organizations.
Nice-to-haves💼 B2B SaaS experience: You have operated in a high-growth SaaS environment at a similar stage.🧑 💻 Engineering background: You are comfortable diving into architecture and technical design discussions.✍ Storytelling and content: You create clear, engaging internal and external content.🎉 Program facilitation: You have run hackathons, enablement tracks, or internal innovation programs.
Why join us?At n8n, your work will not disappear into a slide deck. You will define how a $2.5B B2B SaaS company adopts AI and automation responsibly and at scale, shaping culture, governance, tooling, and measurable impact across every function.You will join and grow a high-trust, remote-first team inside one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, with the autonomy to experiment, ship, measure real outcomes, and tell the story of what great looks like.Sound like a challenge you are excited to take on?Apply now and help us build the future of automation.