Senior Director of Artificial Intelligence: Confidential and Retained Searc

I have an immediate HQ opening for the following.

Environment: HQ $4B Enterprise ~ Manufacturing

If you are interested, please send me your resume (all replies are confidential), and I will respond quickly. If you might know someone who would like to learn about this position, please share this Inmail.

Job Summary

This hands-on leadership role is responsible for owning the AI roadmap end-to-end, translating emerging technologies into high-ROI use cases, and ensuring disciplined execution, data integrity, security, and responsible AI practices. The ideal candidate will be a strategic value creator, operational architect, and results-driven executor with a proven ability to deliver enterprise-scale AI solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and implement corporations multi-year AI and advanced analytics strategy, ensuring alignment with corporate priorities and operating company needs.
• Establish and enforce enterprise standards for AI governance, security, data usage, compliance, and responsible AI practices in collaboration with IT and Legal teams.
• Lead the development and deployment of AI initiatives, including intake, prioritization, stage-gates, and funding recommendations.

• Identify and prioritize high-ROI AI use cases, focusing on near-term productivity gains and operational leverage in back-office, commercial, and operational workflows.
• Translate AI capabilities (e.g., GenAI, predictive analytics) into clearly defined business applications with measurable outcomes.
• Own success metrics for AI initiatives, including adoption rates, productivity impact, financial returns, and risk management.

• Oversee enterprise AI architecture and tooling, ensuring seamless integration with core systems such as ERP, CRM, PLM, and data platforms.
• Partner with IT to ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure, cost-controlled, and production-ready.
• Establish and manage standards for MLOps, model lifecycle management, monitoring, and human-in-the-loop controls.

• Act as an executive partner to operating companies, helping them identify, pilot, and scale AI solutions tailored to their business challenges.
• Balance enterprise-wide consistency with local flexibility to enable business unit-specific value creation while avoiding redundant tools.
• Serve as an executive sponsor for priority AI initiatives, incorporating user feedback and driving continuous improvement.

• Build and lead a high-performing AI and analytics leadership team across multiple disciplines.
• Develop AI fluency across the enterprise through enablement programs, playbooks, and role-based training in partnership with HR and Learning teams.
• Foster a culture of disciplined experimentation, emphasizing data quality, security, and business accountability.

• Demonstrated productivity and cost-efficiency gains attributable to AI adoption.
• Percentage of AI initiatives meeting or exceeding forecast ROI.
• Enterprise adoption rates of approved AI tools and workflows.
• Data quality, model performance, and compliance KPIs consistently within tolerance.
• Strength and engagement of the AI leadership network across operating companies.

• Bachelors degree required; MBA or advanced technical degree strongly preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in analytics, AI, data, or digital transformation, including 5+ years in senior leadership roles.
• Proven track record of delivering enterprise-scale AI or advanced analytics solutions with measurable business outcomes.
• Deep understanding of modern data and AI stacks, cloud platforms, and enterprise systems integration.
• Experience of operating in complex, multi-business or industrial environments preferred.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence corporate, IT, and operating company leadership.

• Strategic thinker with the ability to define and execute a long-term AI vision.
• Results-oriented leader with a focus on measurable outcomes and disciplined execution.
• Strong communicator capable of translating technical concepts into business value for diverse stakeholders.
• Collaborative partner who can balance enterprise consistency with local flexibility.
• Change agent with a passion for fostering innovation and building organizational capability.