About the Director, AI Enablement at Headspace:
Headspace is building an AI-first operating model grounded in member safety, privacy, and measurable business impact. As Director, AI Enablement, you will define and drive the strategy that helps Headspace adopt AI thoughtfully, responsibly, and at scale across the enterprise.
This is a highly visible role, reporting to the COO/Founder, with the opportunity to shape how teams across Headspace evaluate, build, govern, and scale AI-powered workflows, tools, and operating practices. You will partner closely with executive leaders and senior stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Legal, Privacy, Security, Procurement, Care, and Go-to-Market to translate company priorities into an AI roadmap that delivers meaningful outcomes for our teams and the members we serve.
This role is ideal for a strategic and hands-on leader who can move fluidly from vision to execution: setting direction, building operating mechanisms, developing talent, and leading cross-functional change in a fast-moving environment. You bring strong judgment, a bias toward learning, and a commitment to responsible AI. You’re willing to challenge defaults, run smart experiments, and unblock teams while staying inside responsible AI guardrails. In doing so, you will help Headspace build the capabilities, guardrails, and cultural momentum needed to make AI a durable advantage in service of our mission to provide every person access to lifelong mental health support.
What you will do:
- Define and lead Headspace’s enterprise AI enablement strategy, roadmap, and operating model, aligning investments and priorities to company goals, member outcomes, and measurable business impact.
- Partner with the COO/Founder, executive team, and senior leadership team to identify high-value opportunities for AI across the business and turn them into a focused, transparent, and scalable portfolio of work.
- Own AI intake and prioritization: triage requests, refine problem statements, size value, and maintain a transparent queue.
- Lead AI initiatives end-to-end (discovery → pilot → launch), aligning scope, milestones, success metrics, and stakeholders. Own the outcome and drive real impact by building.
- Lead a high-impact team, while also leading/influencing crossfunctionally to coach talent and build the organizational muscle needed to scale AI adoption, experimentation, and responsible execution over time.
- Drive cross-functional alignment with senior stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Legal, Privacy, Security, Procurement, and functional leadership to accelerate delivery while managing risk appropriately.
- Define the enterprise standards, frameworks, and guardrails for AI vendor evaluation, implementation, and use, including build-versus-buy recommendations, governance pathways, and responsible AI practices.
- Drive Headspace’s AI enablement capability through scalable programs such as leadership engagement, functional playbooks, training, office hours, and champion networks that increase fluency and adoption across teams.
- Oversee a portfolio of AI initiatives and ensure teams are delivering against clear business cases, adoption metrics, operational improvements, and lessons learned that inform future investment.
- Unblock high-leverage technical/integration work and identify next-wave AI opportunities to scale adoption and cultural change.
- Deliver executive-ready communication, recommendations, and reporting on AI strategy, portfolio health, risks, trade-offs, and realized impact.
- Act as a strategic thought partner and visible leader for AI adoption at Headspace, helping shape a culture that is ambitious, practical, and grounded in safety, privacy, and our values.
Required Skills:
- 7+ years of experience in product management/operations, technical program management, business operations, strategy, digital transformation, or related roles delivering software/AI projects end-to-end.
- Significant experience leading cross-functional, enterprise-level transformation work with demonstrated impact across multiple functions or business units.
- Experience setting strategy, building roadmaps, and establishing operating mechanisms for AI, automation, or other emerging technology initiatives in a fast-paced environment.
- Demonstrated success influencing and partnering with executive leaders and senior stakeholders in a highly matrixed organization.
- People leadership experience, including building, managing, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams and/or standing up a new function or capability.
- Strong aptitude of AI concepts (LLMs/agents, common tradeoffs, prototype→pilot→scale lifecycle) and ability to translate technical constraints into clear timelines and decision points.
- Ability to design, evaluate, and iterate on prompts for LLM-based workflows; essential for building and reviewing AI agents
- Ability to define, interpret, and act on adoption and outcome metrics; comfort with dashboards (Looker, Tableau, etc.)
- Experience evaluating AI use cases through a business lens, including feasibility, value, risk, adoption readiness, and return on investment.
- Experience partnering with Legal, Privacy, Security, and Procurement or equivalent functions to implement AI responsibly in regulated or high-trust environments.
- Strong analytical and operational rigor, with the ability to define success metrics, assess outcomes, and make clear prioritization decisions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complexity into crisp recommendations, executive updates, and change-ready messaging.
Preferred Skills:
- Experience leading AI enablement, transformation, or internal adoption work in healthcare, digital health, wellness, or another privacy- and safety-sensitive environment.
- Experience building enterprise enablement programs such as champion networks, training curricula, playbooks, and adoption frameworks.
- Experience with vendor selection, contract evaluation, and budget or portfolio management for AI tools and platforms.
- Experience balancing strategic leadership with hands-on prototyping, workflow design, prompt iteration, or early-stage solution development.
- Familiarity with change management approaches that help organizations adopt new tools and ways of working at scale.
- Relevant certifications in program management, product management, change management, or AI-related disciplines (PMP/CSM/AI certificates).
Location:
We are currently hiring this role remotely in the US and Hybrid for San Francisco (SF). Candidates must permanently reside in the US full-time.
For candidates with a primary residence in the greater SF area, this role will follow our hybrid model. You’ll work 3 days per week from our office, allowing for impactful in-office collaboration and connection, while enjoying the flexibility of remote work for the rest of the week. Your recruiter will share more details about our hybrid model.
Pay & Benefits:
The anticipated new hire base salary range for this full-time position is $138,600-$220,000 + equity + benefits.
For roles based in San Francisco, New York City, or Seattle, a separate salary range of $177,100-$250,000 applies, consistent with our location-based compensation philosophy.
Our salary ranges are based on the job, level, and location, and reflect the lowest to highest geographic markets where we are hiring for this role within the United States. Within this range, individual compensation is determined by a candidate’s location as well as a range of factors including but not limited to: unique relevant experience, job-related skills, and education or training.
Your recruiter will provide more details on the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.
At Headspace, base salary is but one component of our Total Rewards package. We’re proud of our robust package inclusive of: base salary, stock awards, comprehensive healthcare coverage, monthly wellness stipend, retirement savings match, lifetime Headspace membership, generous parental leave, and more. Additional details about our Total Rewards package will be provided during the recruitment process.
About Headspace
Headspace exists to provide every person access to lifelong mental health support. We combine evidence-based content, clinical care, and innovative technology to help millions of members around the world get support that’s effective, personalized, and truly accessible whenever and wherever they need it.
At Headspace, our values aren’t just what we believe, they’re how we work, grow, and make an impact together. We live them daily: Make the Mission Matter, Iterate to Great, Own the Outcome, and Connect with Courage. These values shape our decisions, guide our collaborations, and define our culture. They’re our shared commitment to building a more connected, human-centered team—one that’s redefining how mental health care supports people today and for generations to come.
Why You’ll Love Working Here:
- A mission that matters—with impact you can see and feel
- A culture that’s collaborative, inclusive, and grounded in our values
- The chance to shape what mental health care looks like next
- Competitive pay and benefits that support your whole self
How we feel about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging:
Headspace is committed to bringing together humans from different backgrounds and perspectives, providing employees with a safe and welcoming work environment free of discrimination and harassment. We strive to create a diverse & inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, feel a sense of belonging, and do impactful work together.
As an equal opportunity employer, we prohibit any unlawful discrimination against a job applicant on the basis of their race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, family or parental status, disability*, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We respect the laws enforced by the EEOC and are dedicated to going above and beyond in fostering diversity across our workplace.
*Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship on Headspace. Please inform our Talent team by filling out this form if you need any assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application or interview process.
Headspace participates in the E-Verify Program.
Privacy Statement
All member records are protected according to our Privacy Policy. Further, while employees of Headspace (formerly Ginger) cannot access Headspace products/services, they will be offered benefits according to the company's benefit plan. To ensure we are adhering to best practice and ethical guidelines in the field of mental health, we take care to avoid dual relationships. A dual relationship occurs when a mental health care provider has a second, significantly different relationship with their client in addition to the traditional client-therapist relationship—including, for example, a managerial relationship.
As such, Headspace requests that individuals who have received coaching or clinical services at Headspace wait until their care with Headspace is complete before applying for a position. If someone with a Headspace account is hired for a position, please note their account will be deactivated and they will not be able to use Headspace services for the duration of their employment.
Further, if Headspace cannot find a role that fails to resolve an ethical issue associated with a dual relationship, Headspace may need to take steps to ensure ethical obligations are being adhered to, including a delayed start date or a potential leave of absence. Such steps would be taken to protect both the former member, as well as any relevant individuals from their care team, from impairment, risk of exploitation, or harm.
For how how we will use the personal information you provide as part of the application process, please see: https://www.headspace.com/applicant-notice
#LI-Hybrid
