Head of AI & Automation (internal)
The AI orchestration of your wildest imagination.
n8n is the open workflow orchestration platform built for the new era of AI. We give technical teams the freedom of code with the speed of no-code, so they can automate faster, smarter, and without limits. Backed by a fiercely inventive community and 500+ builder-approved integrations, we’re changing the way people bring systems together and scale ideas for impact.
Since our founding in 2019, we’ve grown into a diverse team of over 160 - working across Europe and the US, connected by a shared builder spirit and with our centre of gravity in Berlin. Along the way, we’ve:
Cultivated a community of more than 650,000 active developers and builders
Earned 145k+ GitHub stars, making us one of the world’s Top 40 most popular projects
Been ranked as one of Europe’s most promising privately held SaaS startups (4th in Sifted’s 2025 B2B SaaS Rising 100)
Raised $240m to date, from Sequoia’s first German seed to our recent $180m Series C - bringing us to a $2.5bn valuation
And are grateful for our 94 eNPS score (most companies would call 70 excellent)
That’s the company we’ve built. Now we’d love to see what you can build. If you’re applying, try n8n out - whether you’re technical or not - and share a screenshot of your first workflow with us. The easiest place to start is here: app.n8n.cloud/register.
We’re in a defining moment of an incredible journey. Come and build with us.
🎯 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.
REQUIREMENTS
Must-haves
👥 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.
Nice-to-haves
💼 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.
Why join us?
At n8n, your work will not disappear into a slide deck. You will define how a $2.5B B2B SaaS company adopts AI and automation responsibly and at scale, shaping culture, governance, tooling, and measurable impact across every function.
You will join and grow a high-trust, remote-first team inside one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, with the autonomy to experiment, ship, measure real outcomes, and tell the story of what great looks like.
Sound like a challenge you are excited to take on?
Apply now and help us build the future of automation.
n8n is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
We can sponsor visas to Germany; for any other country, you need to have existing right to work.
Our company language is English.
You care about diversity and inclusion? We do too! Check out our Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging initiatives at n8n (https://www.notion.so/n8n/Diversity-inclusion-and-belonging-n8n-c1bec2fff536422d868b1a438d990e35).
Location disclaimer: If you see multiple job postings for the same role, it is most likely because we're hiring remotely for this role and posting in different locations to make sure every potential candidate can see the role. Please apply to the location you're the most likely to work from in the future.
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 🏖️ – We work hard but ensure you have time to recharge:
Europe: 30 days of vacation, plus public holidays wherever you are.
US: 15 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!
* Country-specific details are provided in your contract.