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- 540972
- PHOENIX
- REMOTE OPTIONS
- TUCSON
- DEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
- Full\-time
DEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
=================================
*We are looking for results\-oriented, driven individuals with a thirst for problem solving.*
*At Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) our mission is to protect and enhance public health and the environment in Arizona. Through consistent, science\-based environmental regulation; and clear, equitable engagement and communication; with integrity, respect and the highest standards of effectiveness and efficiency. Because Arizonans treasure the unique environment of our state and its essential role in sustaining well\-being and economic vitality, today and for future generations.*
*We are currently looking for employees who are committed to our Agency, passionate to excel in their career and engaged in our mission. Only this caliber of employee will be successful in driving our Agency towards accomplishing our mission*
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### AI Product Manager
### AI Center of Excellence (AI COE)
Job Location:
#### Address: 1110 W. Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007
Posting Details:
#### Salary: $130k \- $135k
#### Grade: 29
#### Closing Date: Open Until Filled
Job Summary:
We are seeking a forward\-thinking leader to spearhead our organization's emerging technology initiatives and shape the future of our digital services. The IT Program Manager (AI Product Manager) leads the planning, development, and ongoing management of artificial intelligence and data\-driven solutions that support agency programs and mission goals. This position provides centralized coordination for AI use cases, training, and governance to ensure consistent, secure, and ethical use across programs, while serving as the primary link between business programs, technical teams, and governance partners to deliver measurable public value, reduce duplication of efforts, and strengthen the agency's internal AI capability. This role is essential for an expert ready to champion strategic AI adoption while maintaining high standards of data integrity and ethical governance.
*This position is available for remote work on a full\-time basis within Arizona (including virtual office arrangements).*
*The State of Arizona strives for a work culture that affords employees flexibility, autonomy, and trust. Across our many agencies, boards, and commissions, many State employees participate in the State’s Remote Work Program and are able to work remotely in their homes, in offices, and in hoteling spaces. All work, including remote work, should be performed within Arizona unless an exception is properly authorized in advance.*
Job Duties:
- Manages the intake and review of proposed AI initiatives in alignment with agency goals. Evaluates business value, data readiness, risk, and ethical considerations to prioritize and approve AI use cases for development.
- Leads the planning, development, and delivery of approved AI solutions. Coordinates with IT teams, vendors, and program staff to ensure successful, secure, and ethical implementation.
- Ensures AI solutions meet privacy, security, legal, records, and ethical AI standards. Supports governance reviews, bias mitigation transparency, and risk assessments.
- Serves as a liaison between technical teams and business programs. Supports communication, training, and user adoption activities, including responsible and ethical AI use.
- Defines performance measures, monitors results, and leads improvements to ensure AI solutions meet business needs.
- Monitors AI trends and helps plan future AI initiatives.
- Other duties as assigned as related to the position (typically 5% \- 10%)
Knowledge, Skills \& Abilities (KSAs):
Knowledge
- Comprehensive knowledge of AI concepts, automation, and data analytics, including data quality standards, lifecycle management, and governance.
- Proficient in both theoretical and practical project management, alongside product management and solution lifecycle practices.
- Well\-versed in privacy, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance requirements, including state statutes, rules and regulations as they pertain to the Department and section.
- Deep understanding of state government and departmental structures.
- Proficient in researching and compiling complex information.
- Proficiency of Microsoft Office and G\-Suite/Google Workspace.
Skills
- Expert at translating business needs into AI and data solution requirements, evaluating data readiness and risk, and identifying high\-value AI use cases.
- Skilled in articulating complex AI concepts in clear, non\-technical language through strong verbal and written communication.
- Proficient in gathering facts, performing statistical and abstract analysis, and synthesizing information for informed decision\-making.
- Extensive experience in customer service with the ability to interact effectively with a wide range of internal and external customers.
- Highly effective at managing time and resources to meet project milestones and organizational objectives.
Abilities
- Ability to deliver innovative AI solutions while balancing ethics, privacy, and security; analyze complex data risks and coordinating cross\-functional teams.
- An organized, analytical professional who works independently with minimal supervision to deliver accurate results and solve problems effectively.
- Proven ability to manage multiple tasks and shifting priorities under pressure, ensuring all deadlines are met with sound judgment.
- Responds to inquiries with tact and diplomacy, providing timely status reports and essential information to stakeholders.
- A dedicated team player who establishes positive and effective relationships with agency staff and the public.
Selective Preference(s):
- Bachelor's degree plus 10 or more years of experience in AI, project coordination, project management and program management (or equivalent experience); Project Management Professional (PMP) preferred; AI, machine learning, or data analytics certification is a plus
Pre\-Employment Requirements:
*If this position requires driving or the use of a vehicle as an essential function of the job to conduct State business, then the following requirements apply:* *Driver’s License Requirements.*
*All newly hired State employees are subject to and must successfully complete the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E\-Verify).*
Benefits:
Among the many benefits of a career with the State of Arizona, there are:
- 10 paid holidays per year
- Accrual of sick and annual leave beginning at 12 and 13 days per year respectively for full\-time employees
- Paid Parental Leave\-Up to 12 weeks per year paid leave for newborn or newly\-placed foster/adopted child (pilot program).
- A top\-ranked retirement program with lifetime pension benefits
- A robust and affordable insurance plan to include medical, dental, life, short\-term and long\-term disability
- An incentivized commuter club and public transportation subsidy program
- We promote the importance of work/life balance by offering workplace flexibility
- We offer a variety of learning and career development opportunities
*By providing the option of a full\-time or part\-time remote work schedule, employees enjoy improved work/life balance, report higher job satisfaction, and are more productive. Remote work is a management option and not an employee entitlement or right. An agency may terminate a remote work agreement at its discretion.*
*Learn more about the Paid Parental Leave program* *here**. For a complete list of benefits provided by The State of Arizona, please visit our* *benefits page*
Retirement:
ASRS Lifetime Benefits
Contact Us:
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation such as a sign language interpreter or an alternative format by contacting [email protected].
Requests should be made as early as possible to allow time to arrange the accommodation. The State of Arizona is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer.
Salary Context
This $130K-$135K range is in the lower quartile for AI Product Manager roles in our dataset (median: $189K across 161 roles with salary data).
View full AI Product Manager salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI Product Managers define what AI features get built and why. They translate business problems into ML-solvable tasks, work with engineering to scope model requirements, and own the metrics that determine if an AI feature is working. The role requires a rare combination of technical fluency and product instinct.
Unlike traditional product management, AI PM work involves managing uncertainty at a fundamental level. Your model might work 90% of the time. What happens the other 10%? What's the user experience when the AI is wrong? How do you measure 'good enough' for a probabilistic system? These questions don't have easy answers, and the AI PM is the person responsible for finding them.
Across the 3,823 AI roles we're tracking, AI Product Manager positions make up 5% of the market. At State of Arizona, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
AI Product Manager roles are growing as companies realize that shipping AI features requires different product thinking than traditional software. The best candidates combine product management experience with enough technical depth to have productive conversations with ML engineers about model capabilities and limitations.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: reviewing model evaluation results with the ML team, defining success metrics for a new AI feature, conducting user research on how customers respond to AI-generated outputs, writing product requirements that include accuracy thresholds and fallback behaviors, and presenting the AI roadmap to leadership. You're the translator between technical capability and business value.
AI Product Manager roles are growing as companies realize that shipping AI features requires different product thinking than traditional software. The best candidates combine product management experience with enough technical depth to have productive conversations with ML engineers about model capabilities and limitations.
Skills in Demand for This Role
Technical fluency with ML concepts is essential, though you won't be writing models. Expect to understand training data, evaluation metrics, model limitations, and responsible AI practices. SQL and basic Python are increasingly expected. Experience with A/B testing, data analysis, and product analytics is baseline. Understanding LLM capabilities and limitations is now a core requirement.
The differentiator is AI-specific product thinking: knowing when to use ML vs. heuristics, understanding the cost of training data collection, designing graceful degradation for model failures, and building products that improve with usage data. Experience with AI safety, bias mitigation, and responsible AI deployment is increasingly important.
Strong postings describe specific AI products the PM will own, mention the ML team structure, and talk about measurement methodology. Look for companies that have already shipped AI features. Roles at companies that are 'exploring AI' often mean you'll spend a year defining the strategy before any building happens.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI Product Manager roles pay a median of $213,800 based on 583 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $165,000. This role's midpoint ($132K) sits 38% below the category median. Disclosed range: $130K to $135K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $200,100. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,500. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Engineering Manager ($275,000) and AI Safety ($274,200). By seniority level: Entry: $97,880; Mid: $165,000; Senior: $227,400; Director: $247,800; VP: $250,000.
State of Arizona AI Hiring
State of Arizona has 2 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI Product Manager, AI/ML Engineer. Based in Phoenix, AZ, US. Compensation range: $105K - $135K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 15% (590 positions) offer remote work, while 3,217 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,643 roles, $211,000 median); San Francisco (2,168 roles, $253,000 median); Los Angeles (1,792 roles, $191,580 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI Product Manager roles include Product Manager, Data Analyst, Technical Program Manager.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Director of AI Product, VP Product, Head of AI.
The most effective path is PM experience plus self-directed AI education. Take Andrew Ng's courses, build a small ML project, and learn enough Python to read model evaluation code. The goal isn't to become an ML engineer. It's to have credibility in technical conversations and to understand what's possible, what's hard, and what's a bad idea.
What to Expect in Interviews
AI interviews typically combine coding challenges (Python-focused), system design questions tailored to the role, and discussions about your experience with relevant tools and frameworks. Strong candidates demonstrate both technical depth and the ability to make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs. Prepare portfolio projects that demonstrate end-to-end capability rather than isolated skills.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings describe specific AI products the PM will own, mention the ML team structure, and talk about measurement methodology. Look for companies that have already shipped AI features. Roles at companies that are 'exploring AI' often mean you'll spend a year defining the strategy before any building happens.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 3,823 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 112 entry-level, 1,798 mid-level, 1,516 senior, and 397 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 15% of the market (590 positions). The remaining 3,217 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $200,100. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,500. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. Highest-paying categories: AI Engineering Manager ($275,000 median, 41 roles); AI Safety ($274,200 median, 55 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 434 roles).
AI Product Manager roles are growing as companies realize that shipping AI features requires different product thinking than traditional software. The best candidates combine product management experience with enough technical depth to have productive conversations with ML engineers about model capabilities and limitations.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 3,823 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,629), Data Scientist (322), AI Software Engineer (279). 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 (112) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,798) and senior (1,516) 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 397 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 15% of all AI roles (590 positions), with 3,217 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 $200,100. Top-quartile roles start at $253,500, and the 90th percentile reaches $307,500. 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 Engineering Manager roles lead at $275,000 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 (1,979 postings), Aws (1,190 postings), Azure (899 postings), Rag (839 postings), Gcp (726 postings), Pytorch (595 postings), Prompt Engineering (595 postings), Claude (540 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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