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About This Role
Who We Are:
WHY Brands Inc., a parent company of Munchkin (https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.munchkin.com%2F&esheet=53879262&newsitemid=20240109983910&lan=en-US&anchor=Munchkin&index=1&md5=f5d34a579523d47489a9ecb665b62dc5), Inc., focuses on creating, incubating, and growing the next generation of consumer lifestyle brands. Founded in 1990, Munchkin is the leading consumer product company and most loved baby lifestyle brand behind the innovative gear and products for children, mothers, and caregivers. Munchkin has sold billions of dollars of products through our key retail partners: Target, Walmart, and Amazon and has global distribution in over 50 countries. With over 350+ patents under our belt and over 250 international product and brand design awards, we continue to create solutions that leave our customers asking, "how did I ever live without this?" Innovation is the core of our company DNA and has been driving our designs for over 30 years! Recognized as #8 on America’s Most Innovative Companies list by Fortune Magazine, innovation is the core of our company DNA and has been driving our designs for 30 years!
We lead with our core values and believe that investing in the community is our responsibility. We create opportunities for every child’s potential and well-being through the Radiant Colors program, work to create a sustainable future, and in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare have committed to animal conservation.
There is no better time than now to join WHY Brands as we embark on our next and biggest growth journey, and you could be the next influential leader to play a key role in driving enormous customer-centered value and rapid growth.
Position Summary:
WHY Brands is at an inflection point. As we accelerate our growth and digital transformation, we are seeking our first VP, AI and Digital Technology to define the future of technology across our global portfolio of brands. Reporting directly to the CEO, this executive will architect and lead an AI-first enterprise that transforms how we innovate, manufacture, market, sell, and operate—creating a sustainable competitive advantage through technology, data, and artificial intelligence.
Reporting directly to the CEO, this executive will define the technology and artificial intelligence strategy that transforms how we innovate, manufacture, market, sell, and operate to drive profitable growth.
The VP, AI and Digital Technology will lead WHY Brands' transformation into an AI-first, digitally enabled consumer products company by integrating enterprise technology, artificial intelligence, digital commerce, cybersecurity, software engineering, data, and automation into a single strategic function that accelerates innovation, operational excellence, and profitable growth.
This is more than a technology leadership role. It is an opportunity to architect an AI-first enterprise where intelligent automation, data, software, digital commerce, and emerging technologies become catalysts for growth, employee productivity, and exceptional consumer experiences.
What You’ll Do:
AI-First Enterprise
- Lead the company's AI vision and roadmap, embedding artificial intelligence and intelligent automation across every function—from product development, ecommerce, and supply chain to customer experience, HR, finance, marketing, and operations
- Develop the Company's multi-year AI strategy and investment roadmap
- Establish enterprise AI governance, policies, and responsible AI standards
- Drive adoption of: Generative AI; AI Agents; Intelligent Automation; Machine Learning; Predictive Analytics; Knowledge Management; Digital Assistants; and Responsible AI Governance
Define Enterprise Technology Strategy
- Lead modernization of: + Enterprise applications and Cloud infrastructure + Integration architecture + Data platforms + Business intelligence + Software development + APIs + Enterprise architecture + Evaluate emerging technologies and translate innovation into measurable business value
Lead Digital Transformation
- Own technology supporting our digital ecosystem including:
+ DTC / Ecommerce + Digital consumer experiences + Mobile technologies + Marketing technology + Customer data platforms + CRM + Consumer engagement technologies
- Identify emerging technologies that can create competitive differentiation
- Lead technology due diligence for acquisitions and strategic partnerships
- Partner with Digital, Marketing, Product, and Commercial teams to accelerate revenue growth through technology
- Develop scalable technology platforms supporting global product development, engineering, distribution, sourcing, and commercial operations
Build a Data-Driven Organization
- Develop enterprise capabilities around: + Data strategy + Master data + Data governance + Analytics + AI-ready architecture + Self-service reporting + Executive dashboards
- Transform data into a strategic business asset
Lead Product & Software Development
- Oversee internal technology development including:
- Enterprise applications
- Custom software
- Integrations
- APIs
- Consumer-facing platforms
- Mobile applications
- Digital products
- Drive modern software engineering practices
- Own the global technology operating and capital budgets, ensuring disciplined investment and measurable ROI
Cybersecurity & Risk
- Ensure world-class security across the enterprise
- Lead: + Cybersecurity strategy + Information security + Identity & Access Management + Infrastructure security + Incident response + Business continuity and Disaster recovery + Privacy & regulatory compliance + Protect consumer, employee, and company data while enabling innovation
Leadership
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team
- Provide strategic guidance on: + Technology investments + Digital transformation + AI opportunities + Innovation + M&A technology integration + Enterprise risk + Future technology trends
- Represent technology at the Board level when appropriate
- Oversee, direct, and organize the work of the Global IT and Technology Teams
- Build, mentor, and motivate high-performing cross-functional teams
- Collaborate with executive leadership to define company strategy and roadmap
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement; lead organizational change initiatives to support evolving business needs
Bring It!
- 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in enterprise technology, software engineering, digital transformation, data, and AI
- Experience leading enterprise IT organizations in consumer products, retail, ecommerce, manufacturing, or similarly complex industries
- Experience in consumer-packaged goods (CPG); ideally with e-commerce, and/or direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses
- Deep AI & Digital Expertise with: Enterprise AI strategy; Generative AI; AI Agents; Intelligent Automation; Large Language Models; Microsoft Copilot ecosystem; Claude and OpenAI technologies; AI governance; Data platforms; Machine learning applications
- Ability to identify practical AI opportunities that create measurable business impact and outcomes
- Proven experience serving as CTO, CIO, CDO, or equivalent executive leader
- Demonstrated success leading enterprise-wide digital transformation that translate to business outcomes
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex technology and AI concepts into clear business strategies for executive leadership and Boards of Directors
- Experience building modern cloud-based technology organizations.
- Strong understanding of enterprise architecture and software development
- Experience leading cybersecurity and enterprise risk initiatives
- Track record of building high-performing global technology teams
- Proven ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing cross-functional teams, both directly and through influence
- Able to translate operational insights into business impact and make data-driven recommendations aligned with financial goals
- Entrepreneurial, nimble, and comfortable in a hands-on, fast-moving environment
- A collaborative team player who leads with humility, drives accountability, and fosters a culture of trust and performance
- Superior management skills: ability to influence and engage direct and indirect reports and peers
- Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills and the ability to effectively interface with senior management, the Company’s board of directors, and staff
- Ability to operate as an effective tactical as well as strategic thinker
We Got You Covered!
As a Great Place to Work Certified™ company, we are committed to offering the best to our employees. We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, vision, dental, prescription drug coverage, life insurance, wellness benefits, generous employer-matched 401(k) plan, Paid Childcare Leave, among other benefit plans. Our total rewards are top of market and include competitive salary, bonus, and opportunities to earn equity. We focus on supporting employee development and growth.
We regularly hold social functions to foster a genuine camaraderie that enhances teamwork. At our company-wide award functions, we take time to recognize the talent and dedication of the people who make Munchkin the most loved baby lifestyle brand in the world.
To learn more, visit us at www.munchkin.com (http://www.munchkin.com/).
Salary range: $285,000 - $350,000
Munchkin welcomes and values what makes everyone unique. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All hires for our team are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We recruit, employ, train, and promote regardless of race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, genetic characteristic, or any other protected status.
Applicant Privacy Statement (https://www.munchkin.com/applicant-privacy-statement)
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.
Salary Context
This $285K-$350K range is above the 75th percentile for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $176K across 1540 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 9,653 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 76% of the market. At Munchkin, Inc., 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 Required
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 $212,000 based on 11,857 positions with disclosed compensation. This role's midpoint ($317K) sits 50% above the category median. Disclosed range: $285K to $350K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,275; VP: $235,000.
Munchkin, Inc. AI Hiring
Munchkin, Inc. has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer. Based in Van Nuys, CA, US. Compensation range: $350K - $350K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (568 positions) offer remote work, while 9,010 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,878 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,413 roles, $264,500 median); Los Angeles (1,340 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 9,653 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 193 entry-level, 4,500 mid-level, 3,455 senior, and 1,505 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (568 positions). The remaining 9,010 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 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 9,653 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (7,301), Data Scientist (441), AI Software Engineer (438). 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 (193) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,500) and senior (3,455) 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 1,505 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (568 positions), with 9,010 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 $213,400. Top-quartile roles start at $264,230, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,400. 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 $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. 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 (1,605 postings), Aws (916 postings), Azure (724 postings), Rag (634 postings), Gcp (522 postings), Pytorch (495 postings), Kubernetes (384 postings), Claude (383 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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