Artificial Intelligence (AI) Product Manager - Merriam, KS

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YOUR OPPORTUNITY

The AI Product Manager owns the delivery of AIdriven products and capabilities across Seaboard Foods at our office in Merriam, Kansas. This role sits at the intersection of business operations, technology, and external partners, leading initiatives from discovery through adoption. The AI Product Manager spends as much time understanding the problem as managing the solution: running discovery with end users, defining what success looks like, owning the product backlog, and making the daily prioritization calls that keep engineering focused on the highestvalue work. This person brings enough technical fluency to engage in architecture and design conversations, ask the right questions, and then step back so the delivery team owns execution. They combine product discipline with program rigor, building realistic plans with builtin contingency, holding all parties accountable, and adapting their communication and management style to each team member's needs.

ABOUT US

At Seaboard Foods, we create the most sought-after pork. As a top U.S. pork producer/processor and leading exporter to 30+ countries, we are committed to excellence in every step from our farms to family tables. Our more than 5,400 employees work across farms, feed mills, and processing plants to produce Prairie Fresh pork, ensuring the well-being of our animals, the environment, our employees, and the communities we call home. We are a Fortune 500 employer and a "Best Places to Work" honoree, representing our dynamic culture where every employee understands their impact and can contribute to our mission.

RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES

• Define and communicate the product strategy for AI initiatives, ensuring alignment with Seaboard Foods' business objectives and operational priorities.
• Lead discovery efforts including stakeholder interviews, operational ridealongs, data analysis, and user feedback sessions to deeply understand problems before committing engineering resources.
• Own the product backlog: write clear acceptance criteria, make daily prioritization decisions, and ensure the team is always working on the highestvalue items.
• Operate in an iterative delivery model: lead backlog refinement, sprint planning, and sprint reviews; partner with engineering to deliver incremental value frequently and adjust priorities based on learning.
• Establish and maintain a prioritization framework that balances business impact, technical feasibility, and operational urgency, giving stakeholders a transparent basis for what gets built and what does not.
• Define product success metrics for each initiative, track adoption and outcomes postlaunch, and use data to inform iteration and future investment decisions.
• Build business cases for new AI investments, quantify expected value, and report back on realized outcomes to justify continued funding and resources.
• Foster crossfunctional collaboration across IT, live operations, business units, and external vendors, ensuring all parties stay aligned on priorities, timelines, and outcomes.
• Translate highlevel solution architecture and design into executable delivery plans and implementation increments, partnering closely with IT Engineering and Information Security to align on standards, controls, and deployment readiness.
• Manage the coordination cadence with external vendors and integration partners, ensuring deliverables are on track, blockers are surfaced early, and contractual commitments are met.
• Own the integrated program plan for AI initiatives, defining milestones, dependencies, and deliverables across workstreams while building deliberate contingency into schedules.
• Drive accountability across all parties by setting clear expectations, tracking commitments, and following up persistently until items are closed, not allowing work to sit idle.
• Close the loop after every release: collect user feedback, measure what's working, identify what isn't, and feed learnings back into the backlog for continuous improvement.
• Drive stakeholder alignment through clear, concise communication, tailoring the message for executives, business owners, and technical teams alike.
• Stay current on AI trends, emerging tools, and industry practices relevant to food production and supply chain, bringing an informed outsidein perspective to product decisions.
• Lead change management and rollout planning for AI solutions, partnering with business teams to ensure training readiness, adoption, and a smooth operational handoff.
  
  

CORE COMPETENCIES FOR SUCCESS IN ALL ROLES: instills trust, communicates effectively, action-oriented, ensures accountability, and drives results.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

• Experience in product management, program management, or technical delivery leadership, with a track record of taking products or capabilities from concept through adoption.
• Demonstrated product ownership: experience defining product vision, writing sucess criteria, owning a backlog, and making prioritization tradeoffs.
• Strong discovery skills: ability to run user research, analyze operational data, and validate assumptions before committing resources.
• Technical fluency sufficient to engage in architecture and design conversations, understand integration points, and evaluate technical risk, without needing to write the code.
• Experience defining and tracking product metrics, using data to measure outcomes and inform iteration.
• Proven ability to build realistic plans with builtin contingency, and to replan quickly when circumstances change.
• Experience managing external vendors and thirdparty delivery partners, including contract deliverables and escalation.
• Demonstrated ability to hold teams and vendors accountable by following up tenaciously, escalating appropriately, and not allowing work to stall.
• Excellent crossfunctional collaboration and communication skills with the ability to adapt style and detail level to the audience, whether executives, business users, or engineers.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and driving decisions with incomplete information.
• Experience tailoring management approach to individual contributors, providing clear daily direction to those who need it while giving autonomy to selfdirected team members.
• Handson experience with iterative development (Agile/Scrum), including sprint planning, backlog refinement, and incremental release delivery.

Preferred:

• Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or related field.
• Experience with AI/ML products, data platforms, or modern cloud development environments.
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Pragmatic Institute, or equivalent product management certification.
• Experience in manufacturing, agriculture, food & beverage, or other processdriven industries.
• Background coordinating across live operations environments where production continuity is critical.
• Experience building business cases and quantifying ROI for technology investments.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical and work demands listed here represent those an employee should possess to successfully perform the job's essential functions. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Primarily an office environment with some need to work in the field.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee occasionally works near moving mechanical parts; and in outside weather conditions and is occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles and vibration.
• The noise level in the work environment is dependent on which environment you are in
• The hours and days of work are established by departmental needs and at the discretion of management. After-hours, weekends, and overnight travel as requested.

WHY SEABOARD FOODS?

• Medical, vision & dental benefits upon hire
• 401K with company match
• Paid Time Off & Company Holidays
• Wellness Program
• Tuition reimbursement
• Employee pork purchase program

For a complete list of our benefits please visit our career site: https://www.seaboardfoods.com/careers/why-sbf/

Seaboard Foods is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, gender identity, protected veterans' status, status as a disabled individual, or any other status protected by law.