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Job Description:
Job Title: Director and Assistant General Counsel, Global Privacy, AI and Cybersecurity
Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World
Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.
This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.
The Impact You’ll Make in this Role
As a Director and Assistant General Counsel, Global Privacy, AI and Cybersecurity, you will have the opportunity to tap into your curiosity and collaborate with some of the most innovative people around the world. Here, you will make an impact by:
- Provide global legal advisory services to 3M’s IT, cybersecurity and business stakeholders on applicable technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, data protection and data laws.
- Advise on the development, implementation and ongoing enhancement of 3M’s AI governance framework, including policies, standards, controls, risk assessment processes, escalation pathways and oversight mechanisms for responsible AI use.
- Oversee 3M’s global external messaging applications governance program, including policies, standards, controls, processes and mechanisms for appropriate business communications governance measures.
- Translate complex and evolving global legal and regulatory requirements into actionable guidance for information technology, cybersecurity, global business services, procurement, human resources, ethics, compliance and business teams.
- Partner with cross-functional leaders to embed legal, privacy, cybersecurity, technology governance and responsible AI requirements into technology design, procurement, deployment, monitoring and lifecycle management processes.
- Advise on legal, regulatory and governance matters involving hyperscale cloud environments to support secure, compliant and responsible adoption of AI, machine learning and advanced analytics across the enterprise.
- Support major enterprise technology transformations, including ERP modernization, cloud migration and digital platform initiatives, translating complex technical, operational and security requirements into practical, risk-based legal solutions.
- Support governance and compliance for enterprise digital initiatives, including cloud services, websites, accessibility, software platforms, ERP systems, data analytics, automation, generative AI, machine learning, digital products and emerging technologies.
- Advise on cybersecurity legal matters, including incident response readiness, regulatory notification considerations, security governance, third-party risk, vulnerability management and related legal risk mitigation strategies.
- Oversee legal support for privacy and data protection compliance programs, including privacy-by-design, data protection impact assessments, data processing agreements, cross-border data transfers, data subject rights, records of processing and related data minimization considerations.
- Monitor and assess global legal developments, enforcement trends and regulatory expectations, including AI regulation, cybersecurity requirements, privacy and data protection laws, data localization rules and sector-specific digital requirements.
- Advise on digital, AI, cybersecurity, privacy and data-related contractual terms, supplier diligence, technology transactions, data sharing arrangements and third-party risk controls.
- Prepare and deliver clear legal guidance, executive updates, risk assessments, training and governance materials for senior leaders, committees and cross-functional working groups.
- Manage, develop and mentor a global team of legal professionals, ensuring consistent global legal support, effective prioritization, strong stakeholder service and professional growth.
- Coordinate with regional counsel and 3M Legal Affairs colleagues, outside counsel and enterprise risk, compliance, audit and government affairs stakeholders to support consistent legal positions and effective risk management.
Your Skills and Expertise
To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:
- Juris Doctor degree or higher (completed and verified prior to start)
- Ten (10) years of legal counsel experience in a private, public, government or military environment
- Member of at least one state bar (United States) in good standing
Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:
- Prior in-house experience in a Fortune 500, multinational or technology-intensive company.
- Experience advising on AI governance frameworks, responsible AI use, generative AI, machine learning, model risk, algorithmic accountability, transparency, human oversight and AI lifecycle controls.
- Experience supporting AI adoption within hyperscale cloud environments and advising on associated cybersecurity, privacy, compliance and technology governance considerations.
- Experience advising on large-scale ERP transformation programs, cloud migrations and enterprise technology modernization initiatives.
- Experience with cybersecurity incident response, cybersecurity governance, product security lifecycle management, regulatory inquiries, third-party technology risk, cloud services and enterprise technology transactions.
- Familiarity with global laws and frameworks such as GDPR, UK GDPR, China PIPL, Brazil LGPD, U.S. state privacy laws, HIPAA, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO 27001, EU AI Act and other emerging AI, data and cybersecurity requirements.
- Professional certifications such as CIPP, CIPM, CIPT, AIGP, CISSP or other relevant privacy, AI governance, cybersecurity or information governance credentials.
- Experience working with executive committees, enterprise governance bodies, regulators, auditors, procurement teams and technology leadership.
Work location: This role follows an on-site working model, requiring the employee to work at least four days a week at the 3M Center in Maplewood, MN.
Travel: May include up to 10% domestic/international
Relocation: May be authorized
Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).
Responsibilities of this position may include direct and/or indirect physical or logical access to information, systems, technologies subjected to the regulations/compliance with U.S. Export Control Laws.
U.S. Export Control laws and U.S. Government Department of Defense contracts and sub-contracts impose certain restrictions on companies and their ability to share export-controlled and other technology and services with certain "non-U.S. persons" (persons who are not U.S. citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents of the U.S., refugees, "Temporary Residents" (granted Amnesty or Special Agricultural Worker provisions), or persons granted asylum.
To comply with these laws, 3M must help assess candidates' U.S. person status.
The questions asked in this application are intended to assess this and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Failure to provide the necessary information in this regard will result in our inability to consider you further for this particular position.
Supporting Your Well-being
3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.
Chat with Max
For assistance with searching through our current job openings or for more information about all things 3M, visit Max, our virtual recruiting assistant on 3M.com/careers.
Applicable to US Applicants Only:The expected compensation range for this position is $250,253 - $305,864, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/. Good Faith Posting Date Range 10/13/2026 To 11/12/2026 Or until filled All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M. Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M. Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties. Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement. Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/ 3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.
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Salary Context
This $250K-$305K range is above the 75th percentile for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $180K across 2094 roles with salary data).
View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 10,827 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 77% of the market. At 3M, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills in Demand for This Role
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $212,160 based on 13,809 positions with disclosed compensation. Director-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $272,300. This role's midpoint ($278K) sits 31% above the category median. Disclosed range: $250K to $305K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,111. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($266,050) and AI Engineering Manager ($253,461). By seniority level: Entry: $112,320; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,300; VP: $236,450.
3M AI Hiring
3M has 6 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Engineer. Positions span Maplewood, MN, US, Austin, TX, Austin, TX, US. Compensation range: $100K - $351K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (665 positions) offer remote work, while 10,097 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (3,262 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,767 roles, $260,600 median); Los Angeles (1,585 roles, $210,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 10,827 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 122 entry-level, 5,256 mid-level, 3,922 senior, and 1,527 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (665 positions). The remaining 10,097 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,111. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($266,050 median, 70 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($253,461 median, 58 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 476 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 10,827 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (8,288), AI Software Engineer (548), AI Product Manager (471). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (122) are outnumbered by mid-level (5,256) and senior (3,922) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,527 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (665 positions), with 10,097 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,480. Top-quartile roles start at $264,111, and the 90th percentile reaches $318,400. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $266,050 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (2,093 postings), Aws (1,100 postings), Azure (910 postings), Rag (863 postings), Gcp (680 postings), Pytorch (549 postings), Claude (532 postings), Kubernetes (511 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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