[Hiring] Head of AI & Automation @n8n

Role Description

Your main goal will be to drive company-wide adoption of AI and automation to create a modern, efficient, and enjoyable workplace, and turn n8n into a visible exemplar of how SaaS companies work with AI. You will combine strategic leadership, hands-on automation expertise, governance rigor, and strong executive influence to scale AI impact responsibly across the company.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Internal adoption & transformation programs
  • Design and run company-wide AI and automation programs, including hackathons, enablement tracks, and structured dogfooding initiatives that increase meaningful daily usage.
  • Build repeatable adoption frameworks with clear success metrics, covering participation, satisfaction, and measurable business impact.
  • Act as an internal consultant to leadership and functional teams, identifying high-leverage opportunities and guiding them from idea to implementation.
  • Partner with People Ops to embed AI and automation capabilities into onboarding, learning and development, performance rituals, and leadership expectations.
  • Influence teams that do not report to you, driving alignment and navigating tradeoffs at executive level.
• Business impact, measurement & ROI discipline
  • Define and track impact metrics beyond adoption, including cycle time reduction, quality improvements, error rate reduction, cost avoidance, and productivity gains.
  • Establish a clear ROI framework for AI and automation initiatives.
  • Ensure pilots transition into scalable, production-grade workflows with measurable outcomes.
  • Regularly communicate impact and tradeoffs to executive stakeholders.
• AI governance, security & risk management
  • Define and implement guardrails for responsible AI and automation usage.
  • Oversee data handling practices, vendor risk assessment, access controls, and prompt or data leakage prevention.
  • Ensure auditability and traceability of AI-driven workflows where required.
  • Balance speed and experimentation with privacy, compliance, and long-term scalability.
  • Partner with Security, Legal, and IT to align on policies and standards.
• AI watch & strategic insights
  • Lead a structured AI watch to track market trends, peer practices, regulatory evolution, and emerging tools.
  • Translate insights into prioritized pilots, internal playbooks, and process improvements.
  • Provide executive guidance on tool selection, vendor strategy, and build versus buy decisions.
• Content, storytelling & evangelism
  • Ensure the creation of reusable internal assets, playbooks, and reference implementations.
  • Collaborate with Marketing to showcase internal AI and automation practices externally.
  • Equip Sales and GTM with narratives, demos, and artifacts that demonstrate modern ways of working at n8n.
• Team leadership, hiring & org design
  • Lead the Automation team, directly managing one manager and team while scaling from 2 to 15+ in 2026.
  • Own hiring strategy, org design, role clarity, and leveling as the function scales.
  • Set vision, OKRs, and performance standards, and coach leaders and ICs for impact.
  • Build a high-trust, experimentation-driven culture while maintaining delivery discipline.
  • Ensure strong cross-functional execution with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Biz Ops, Security, and People.

Qualifications

• Proven team leadership: You have led managers and ICs, scaled teams, hired at multiple levels, and built performance systems that drive excellence.
• AI fluency: You are technically conversant in AI concepts and can evaluate tools, risks, tradeoffs, and architectural implications.
• Workflow automation expertise: You have hands-on experience with automation platforms, ideally n8n or similar, and have shipped real business-critical workflows.
• Governance mindset: You understand security, privacy, data handling, and vendor risk considerations in AI-driven environments.
• ROI and impact orientation: You measure success through business outcomes, not just usage metrics.
• Executive stakeholder management: You are comfortable driving alignment at leadership level, influencing without authority, and saying no when needed.
• Change leadership: You have driven behavioral and operational change at scale within organizations.

Requirements

• B2B SaaS experience: You have operated in a high-growth SaaS environment at a similar stage.
• Engineering background: You are comfortable diving into architecture and technical design discussions.
• Storytelling and content: You create clear, engaging internal and external content.
• Program facilitation: You have run hackathons, enablement tracks, or internal innovation programs.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation: We offer fair and attractive pay.
• Ownership: Our core value is to “empower others,” and we mean it—you’ll get a slice of n8n with equity.
• Work/life balance:
  • Europe: 30 days of vacation, plus public holidays wherever you are.
  • US: 20 vacation days, 8 sick days, plus public holidays wherever you are.
• Health & wellness:
  • Europe: We provide benefits according to local country norms.
  • US: Multiple low-premium, low-deductible medical plans with coverage for individuals and families—plus a no-cost premium HDHP option with a pre-seeded HSA—along with dental and vision coverage.
• Future planning:
  • Europe: We provide pension contributions according to local country norms.
  • US: 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% employer match.
• Financial security:
  • Europe: We provide benefits according to local country norms.
  • US: Company-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance, plus life insurance to support you and your loved ones.
• Career growth: We hire rising stars who grow with us! You’ll get €1K (or equivalent) per year to spend on courses, books, events, or coaching to level up your skills.
• A passionate team: We love our product, and we prove it with regular hackathons where we see who can build the coolest thing with it!
• Remote-first: Our team works remotely across Europe, with regular off-sites for team bonding. Some roles, like sales in the US, are hybrid—please check the job description.
• Giving back: We're big fans of open source, and you'll get $100 per month to support projects you care about.
• AI enablement: We believe in working smarter—everyone gets an unlimited AI budget to explore and use the best tools to boost productivity and creativity.
• Transparency: We all know what everyone’s working on, how the company is doing—the whole shebang.
• An ambitious but kind culture: People love working here—our eNPS for 2024 is 94!