Applied AI Specialist

CNN

Atlanta

Description

Welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery… the stuff dreams are made of.

Who We Are…

When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next…

From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive.

We are the now and the next. The power behind the people building the future. We are born from the spirit of innovation. We are created from the idea that people around the world want more, need more, deserve more. We are the home of the global digital revolution. We are CNN.

To see what it’s like to work at CNN, follow @WBDLife on Instagram and X!

With deep domain expertise, advanced technical capabilities, and a proven track record of successful collaborations, the AI Enablement & Machine Learning team at CNN is accelerating our digital transformation through strategic applications of machine learning and AI technologies.

The AI Systems & Enablement group within this team builds and operates AI-powered applications for CNN's audiences and internal teams, and drives AI adoption across the organization through tool governance, training, and enablement programs. Current products include article summaries, content and product classification, weather summaries, and brand safety classification. The team also leads CNN's AI enablement efforts — including AI Practices Guild leadership, Claude Code rollout, foundation model governance, and productivity measurement.

Our vision is that CNN delivers AI-powered features that enhance user experience and internal productivity with systems that are reliable, accurate, and trustworthy — meeting the high standards our audiences expect from a news organization — while equipping the broader organization with the tools, governance, and skills to work effectively with AI.

Your New Role...

The Applied AI Specialist is a non-traditional Business Analyst role within the AI Systems workstream, reporting to a Software Engineering Manager. Rather than traditional requirements gathering and process documentation, this role focuses on the critical intersection of AI capabilities and CNN's content, editorial standards, and product experiences. You will be hands-on with our AI-powered features — designing and refining prompts, building evaluation frameworks, structuring human feedback workflows, and working directly with engineering and editorial partners to ensure AI outputs meet CNN's standards for accuracy and trustworthiness.

This role is ideal for someone with deep knowledge of content operations, editorial standards, or content classification — combined with a strong understanding of how AI and large language models work. You will work alongside software engineers who handle code, infrastructure, and optimization. Your focus is on the quality, accuracy, and appropriateness of what our AI features produce.

Key areas you will work on

Prompt Engineering: Design, build, iterate on, and maintain prompts for production AI features including article summaries, content classification, brand safety classification, and new features as they launch. Develop and document prompting patterns and templates that can be reused across projects.

Evaluation & Quality: Design evaluation criteria and workflows for AI features. Define what "good" looks like for each use case, build evaluation datasets, run quality assessments, and track accuracy over time. Identify when and where AI outputs need human review.

Human-in-the-Loop Workflows: Design and execute workflows for human feedback on AI outputs. Determine when human intervention is necessary, structure how that feedback is systematically captured, and work with ML and engineering partners to feed it back into prompt and model improvement cycles.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with engineers on your team who own the technical implementation of AI features, as well as editorial stakeholders on assigned projects. Help translate AI capabilities and limitations into terms that inform feature decisions and editorial guidelines. Communicate what's feasible, what the tradeoffs are, and what's needed to improve quality for specific use cases.

Your Role Accountabilities...

Own the prompt engineering lifecycle for assigned AI features — from initial design through iteration, testing, and production maintenance

  • Own the prompt engineering lifecycle for assigned AI features — from initial design through iteration, testing, and production maintenance

Build and maintain evaluation frameworks that measure AI output quality against CNN's editorial and accuracy standards

  • Build and maintain evaluation frameworks that measure AI output quality against CNN's editorial and accuracy standards

Design and run human review workflows, ensuring feedback is structured and actionable for engineering and ML partners

  • Design and run human review workflows, ensuring feedback is structured and actionable for engineering and ML partners

Partner closely with engineers on your team who handle code, architecture, caching, optimization, and deployment — providing the content expertise, evaluation data, and quality guidance that shapes what the system produces

  • Partner closely with engineers on your team who handle code, architecture, caching, optimization, and deployment — providing the content expertise, evaluation data, and quality guidance that shapes what the system produces

Work directly with editorial partners on assigned projects as a primary point of contact for AI output quality, helping them understand what AI can and can't do and what is needed to improve results

  • Work directly with editorial partners on assigned projects as a primary point of contact for AI output quality, helping them understand what AI can and can't do and what is needed to improve results

Communicate the nuances of working with LLMs — including their stochastic nature, cost considerations, and the importance of evaluation — to engineering and editorial teammates in clear, practical terms

  • Communicate the nuances of working with LLMs — including their stochastic nature, cost considerations, and the importance of evaluation — to engineering and editorial teammates in clear, practical terms

Contribute to documentation of prompting patterns, evaluation approaches, and quality standards that the team can build on over time

  • Contribute to documentation of prompting patterns, evaluation approaches, and quality standards that the team can build on over time

Stay current with developments in prompt engineering, LLM capabilities, and AI evaluation practices

  • Stay current with developments in prompt engineering, LLM capabilities, and AI evaluation practices

Here Is the Approach We Value:

Demonstrate meticulous attention to detail and a deep sense of responsibility for the accuracy and quality of AI-generated content

  • Demonstrate meticulous attention to detail and a deep sense of responsibility for the accuracy and quality of AI-generated content

Bring strong domain knowledge of content, editorial processes, or classification systems — and apply that expertise to make AI features better

  • Bring strong domain knowledge of content, editorial processes, or classification systems — and apply that expertise to make AI features better

Embrace experimentation and iteration — prompt engineering and evaluation are evolving disciplines, and the best results come from systematic testing and refinement

  • Embrace experimentation and iteration — prompt engineering and evaluation are evolving disciplines, and the best results come from systematic testing and refinement

Communicate complex AI concepts in simple, practical terms to partners across editorial and engineering

  • Communicate complex AI concepts in simple, practical terms to partners across editorial and engineering

Take ownership of quality for the features you support, proactively identifying issues and proposing improvements

  • Take ownership of quality for the features you support, proactively identifying issues and proposing improvements

Collaborate effectively across functions, understanding that great AI features require tight partnership between content experts, engineers, and editorial teams

  • Collaborate effectively across functions, understanding that great AI features require tight partnership between content experts, engineers, and editorial teams

Approach ambiguity with curiosity rather than hesitation — best practices in applied AI are still being established, and you will help define them

  • Approach ambiguity with curiosity rather than hesitation — best practices in applied AI are still being established, and you will help define them

Qualifications & Experience...

2–4 years of experience in content operations, content classification, editorial workflows, taxonomy management, or a related field

  • 2–4 years of experience in content operations, content classification, editorial workflows, taxonomy management, or a related field

Demonstrated experience with prompt engineering for large language models in a professional or academic setting

  • Demonstrated experience with prompt engineering for large language models in a professional or academic setting

Experience designing evaluation criteria or quality assessment workflows for content or AI outputs

  • Experience designing evaluation criteria or quality assessment workflows for content or AI outputs

Strong understanding of how LLMs work — including their capabilities, limitations, stochastic behavior, and cost implications

  • Strong understanding of how LLMs work — including their capabilities, limitations, stochastic behavior, and cost implications

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical AI concepts to non-technical audiences

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical AI concepts to non-technical audiences

Detail-oriented with strong analytical skills and comfort working with evaluation data and quality metrics

  • Detail-oriented with strong analytical skills and comfort working with evaluation data and quality metrics

A collaborative mindset and comfort working closely with software engineers and editorial stakeholders

  • A collaborative mindset and comfort working closely with software engineers and editorial stakeholders

Comfort navigating ambiguity in a fast-evolving space — applied AI best practices are still being established

  • Comfort navigating ambiguity in a fast-evolving space — applied AI best practices are still being established

The Nice to Haves...

Degree or certification in AI, machine learning, data science, or a related field

  • Degree or certification in AI, machine learning, data science, or a related field

Experience with content classification, taxonomy, or content management systems

  • Experience with content classification, taxonomy, or content management systems

Experience in a news, media, or content-heavy environment where accuracy and trust are paramount

  • Experience in a news, media, or content-heavy environment where accuracy and trust are paramount

Familiarity with AI evaluation frameworks, annotation tools, or human-in-the-loop methodologies

  • Familiarity with AI evaluation frameworks, annotation tools, or human-in-the-loop methodologies

Experience working with cross-functional teams that include editorial and engineering stakeholders

  • Experience working with cross-functional teams that include editorial and engineering stakeholders

Understanding of information retrieval concepts and how they apply to AI-powered features

  • Understanding of information retrieval concepts and how they apply to AI-powered features

Basic scripting skills (e.g., Python) for data analysis or automation of evaluation workflows

  • Basic scripting skills (e.g., Python) for data analysis or automation of evaluation workflows

Experience with requirements gathering, process documentation, or business analysis in a technical environment

  • Experience with requirements gathering, process documentation, or business analysis in a technical environment

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.