Head of AI Strategy & Innovation (US) – Financial Services
About the role
Our client is a global financial services firm. It’s hiring a senior AI leader to work directly alongside its Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and own the AI agenda across the US. The role combines strategy, building, and operations. You’ll shape where the organization invests in AI, set up the practice to deliver it, and make sure what gets built works in production and at scale.
You’ll be the CAIO’s main partner in defining and carrying out the US AI strategy, turning vision into an operational roadmap. You’ll build and manage an external innovation pipeline, engaging vendors, research groups, and emerging technology providers that fit the firm’s priorities. Internally, you’ll lead the productization of AI initiatives, taking agentic pilots and proofs of concept through to scalable, reusable tools. You’ll also coordinate with infrastructure, data, and compliance teams to embed them in core enterprise platforms.
Evaluating the enterprise AI landscape is a core part of the role, including LLM platforms, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures, vector databases, and agentic frameworks. You’ll also own commercial oversight of the program, covering vendor contracts, SLAs, budget governance, and delivery frameworks.
Governance is built in from the start. You’ll define and maintain the firm’s responsible AI standards for external partnerships, covering model risk, data privacy, regulatory alignment, and governance. In US financial services, this work commonly draws on model risk guidance such as SR 11-7 and frameworks like the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, alongside evolving SEC guidance and, for global firms, the EU AI Act. You’ll represent the AI function across US business units and with external partners.
Main responsibilities
- Serve as the CAIO’s primary partner in defining and executing the US AI strategy, translating vision into an operational roadmap
- Build and manage an external AI innovation pipeline, engaging vendors, research groups, and emerging technology providers aligned to the firm’s priorities
- Lead the productization of internal AI initiatives, taking agentic pilots and proofs of concept through to scalable, reusable internal tools
- Coordinate with infrastructure, data, and compliance teams to embed AI innovations into core enterprise platforms
- Own commercial oversight, including vendor contracts, SLAs, budget governance, and delivery frameworks
- Define and maintain responsible AI standards for external partnerships, covering model risk, data privacy, regulatory alignment, and governance
- Represent the AI function across US business units and externally with ecosystem partners
Requirements
- Background in fund administration, asset management, or financial services
- 15+ years in AI, technology strategy, or innovation leadership, with a track record of taking AI solutions from strategy to production
- Deep familiarity with the enterprise AI vendor landscape, including LLM platforms, RAG architectures, vector databases, and agentic frameworks, with the technical credibility to evaluate them
- Experience embedding AI into large, complex, regulated enterprise environments, such as financial services or professional services
- Strong commercial skills, including negotiating vendor agreements, defining KPIs, managing budgets, and holding partners to delivery standards
- Proven ability to balance AI innovation with enterprise governance, including responsible AI, model risk, compliance, and data privacy
- Executive communication and stakeholder management skills, including presenting AI strategy to the C-suite, board, and business unit leaders
- Track record of leading cross-functional AI programs from pilot to scale
Nice to have:
- Experience building or scaling an internal AI Center of Excellence or practice
- Hands-on exposure to agentic AI systems, multi-model orchestration, or AI workflow automation in enterprise settings
- Familiarity with global AI regulatory developments, such as the EU AI Act, SEC guidance, and model risk management frameworks
- Prior experience as a CAIO, VP of AI, or in a senior AI strategy role within a complex, matrixed organization
This role suits a senior AI leader from financial services who has taken AI from pilot to production at scale and wants to own the agenda across the US. If that sounds like you, apply below.