Director of Applied AI Artificial Intelligence Summary Covingtons Applied AI function exists to leverage advanced technology to positively impact the organization the business and client service delivery. The Applied AI team is responsible for designing building and deploying AI -enabled workflows automat ion and matter -support tools across the firms legal practice areas. The Director of Applied AI will report to the Senior Director of AI to lead day -to-day delivery of the firms applied AI roadmap supervising practice -aligned Applied AI Managers across Corporate Litigation Regulatory and White Collar. The Director will partner closely with the Director of Knowledge Management KM and Practice Technology to ensure that AI workflows and the underlying knowledge content advance in lockstep and will wor k directly with practice group leadership to identify prioritize and scale high -impact use cases that strengthen matter execution attorney leverage and client service delivery. Apply Qualifications Knowledge Skills and Ability Required Minimum of 8 years of transferable professional experience with a meaningful portion in applied AI machine learning or legal technology delivery within a law firm professional services organization or comparable environment including demonstrated exp erience leading teams and interfacing with senior leadership. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Primary duties and responsibilities necessary for successful job performance include Lead and develop the Applied AI Manager team across Corporate Litigation Regulatory and White Collar practice areas establishing clear delivery expectations and a high -performance learning -oriented culture. Define and maintain firm -wide applied AI delivery standards including reusable workflow patterns prompt and agent design conventions evaluation methods and quality controls that ensure consistent defensible AI -enabled work product across practices. Partner with practice group leadership to identify prioritize and sequence AI use cases that improve matter execution attorney leverage and client service delivery ensuring the highest -impact opportunities receive concentrated team focus. Oversee the design build and deployment of AI -enabled tools spanning document review drafting diligence discovery regulatory monitoring investigations support and related legal workflows scaling proven solutions from one practice area to others wh erever feasible. Drive firm -wide adoption of applied AI through training demos office hours internal communications and sustained enablement partnering with practice group leadership Learning & Development and Communications to bring lawyers and business professiona ls along the learning curve. Establish and report on adoption performance and value metrics for the firms applied AI portfolio surfacing actionable insights to the Senior Director of AI CIO and firm leadership. Qualifications continued Track record of shipping AI -enabled tools or workflows into production with measurable adoption and impact experience with LLM -based applications retrieval -augmented generation evaluation methods and modern AI tooling strongly preferred. Working understanding of legal workflows across transactional litigation regulatory and investigations matters sufficient to converse credibly with practice group leadership and translate legal requirements into technical solutions. Demonstrated initiative and bias for action with the willingness to own outcomes through to delivery and the judgment to know when to ship when to iterate and when to escalate. Genuine intellectual curiosity with a habit of staying ahead of developments in AI and a track record of bringing fresh ideas and approaches forward to leadership. Solution - and objective -oriented mindset with the discipline to anchor every project to a clear business or client -service outcome and the persistence to drive it through to delivery. Strong listener genuinely curious about how attorneys work and what clients need with the ability to surface root problems before proposing solutions and the patience to push past the first ask to understand the underlying objective. Duties and Responsibilities continued Partner with the Director of KM and Practice Technology to ensure AI workflows are grounded in high -quality AI -ready knowledge content taxonomies and practice -area data sources. Coordinate with Information Security Risk and the Office of General Counsel on the responsible deployment of AI tools including data handling privilege protection vendor due diligence and AI governance. Evaluate and manage external AI vendors and platforms advising on build -versus -buy decisions and ensuring tools selected meet the firms quality security and integration requirements. Stay actively informed of developments in legal AI large language models agentic systems and adjacent technologies and proactively bring forward new opportunities pilots and pattern improvements. Serve as a credible point of contact for partners practice group leaders and clients on the firms applied AI capabilities communicating in terms that resonate with legal and business audiences. Uphold high standards of confidentiality discretion and integrity particularly with respect to all sensitive andor confidential firm and client information to which this position will have access. Status Exempt Reports To Senior Director of AI Workplace Type Hybrid Salary range of 309 000 - 438 000 dependent on candidate experience. Candidates hired for staff positions with a minimum work schedule of 30 hours per week are eligible for a comprehensive benefits package including healthcare insurance. Learn more about benefits at Covington. httpswww.cov.comencareersstaffbenefits View Covington job applicant privacy notice here httpswww.cov.comenjob -applicant -privacy -notice Qualifications continued Comfortable as a teacher able to demonstrate train and bring along attorneys and business professionals at all levels of technical fluency with patience for the realities of change management in a partnership. Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships across practices and functions - with attorneys business professionals technology partners and operations teams - and to operate as a credible cross -practice and cross -functional connector. Ability to navigate and influence at all levels of the organization with the confidence to advocate for AI -enabled approaches and the credibility to earn partner trust. Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent priorities drive projects through to completion and lead effectively and with professionalism in a fast -paced environment. Strong written and verbal communication skills able to communicate complex AI concepts in terms that resonate with legal and business audiences and to demonstrate a grasp of the strategic intent of a subject matter. Bachelors degree required advanced degree in a relevant technical legal or business discipline preferred. Qualifications continued Position requires access to equipment software or technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. To be granted access pursuant to US Export Control laws candidate must be either a a United States citizen or national b a person lawfully admitte d for permanent residence of the United States i.e. Green Card" holder or c an INS -approved refugee or asylum holder who has applied for naturalization within six months of the date the individual first became eligible and if not yet naturalized i s still actively pursuing naturalization if 2 years have passed since the date of application to be granted access pursuant to US Export Control laws. Candidates will be required to submit appropriate documentation to determine whether access can be grante d before proceeding further through the application process. Covington & Burling LLP is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in any aspect of employment including hir ing salary promotion discipline termination and benefits on the basis of race color ethnicity religion national origin g ender gender identity or expression age marital status sexual orientation family responsibility disability including physical handicap or any other improper criterion. Covington will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with applicable l aws including the California Fair Chance Act the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Fair Chance Ordinance the Los Ang eles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.