Senior Director, AI Transformation & Operations

Job description

Job Description Summary The Senior Director of AI Transformation & Operations serves as the operational heart of the ELEC AI Center of Excellence. This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for translating our enterprise-wide AI strategy into reality. You will provide the structure, shared foundations, and governance that enable our four business lines to deliver AI solutions with speed, quality, and precision. Job Description The mission of the AI Operations Leader within our office is to: Enable Execution: Facilitate the execution of Business Line long-term strategy (LTS) plans, ensuring they move at speed and with high impact. Ensure Operational Excellence: Define and manage the day-to-day mechanisms that deliver consistent quality, ensuring that every AI initiative is executed with discipline and minimal risk. Scale Through Capability: Act as the operational backbone of our center of excellence, transforming our strategy into repeatable processes that allow our businesses to own and scale their AI delivery effectively. What you’ll be doing Facilitating business execution: You will act as the primary partner for our four business lines. Your focus is on clearing the path for them to execute their long-term strategic AI plans, ensuring they have the support and resources needed to reach their goals quickly and effectively. Defining the operational heartbeat: You will establish the "cadence" of AI delivery—regular reviews, progress tracking, and feedback loops—that keep our business lines aligned and moving forward. Providing a shared foundation: You will lead the development of the "common ground"—the standards, tools, and shared platforms—that allow our business units to build AI solutions without having to solve the same infrastructure or governance problems in isolation. Driving speed and quality: You will help our business teams balance the need for rapid delivery with the need for high-quality, reliable output. By implementing clear, lightweight ways of working, you will help teams avoid common pitfalls and keep projects on track. Managing risk by design: Instead of treating risk as a hurdle to be jumped at the end, you will help teams bake it into their processes from day one. You will ensure that Responsible AI and security practices are built into the workflow, protecting the business while maintaining momentum. Ensuring strategic alignment: You will oversee our portfolio to ensure that the work happening across the business lines stays tethered to ELEC’s overarching enterprise priorities. You will help teams focus their energy on the initiatives that provide the greatest return. Supporting the transition: We are working toward a future where our business lines are fully empowered to lead their own AI delivery. You will guide this evolution, scaling our efforts today to build a sustainable, business-led model for 2030. Driving adoption and upskilling: You will champion the human side of our transformation by leading efforts to upskill our workforce. In close coordination with ELEC HR, the GE Vernova Corporate Learning team, the ELEC CTO office, and Business Line AI teams, you will design and adapt training programs that directly address the unique missions and practical needs of our ELEC teams. By building targeted AI literacy and specialized expertise, you will ensure our people are empowered to adopt new tools and maximize the value of AI in their specific daily work. What you bring to the team A commitment to partnership: You have a track record of supporting business units in achieving their strategic goals. You view your role as a service to the business lines, not as a central authority. A "get it done" mindset: You understand that the best strategy is only valuable if it can be executed. You are experienced in guiding complex initiatives through to delivery while maintaining high standards. Balanced judgment: You know how to provide enough guidance to ensure consistency across the company without creating unnecessary red tape that slows teams down. Technical and business fluency: You can communicate clearly with both technical delivery teams and business leadership, ensuring that everyone understands the goals and the path to achieving them. Proven reliability: You have a history of managing programs or operations where speed, quality, and risk management were all critical to success. How we’ll measure success LTS Execution: Our business lines are successfully hitting the milestones set out in their long-term AI strategy plans. Operational Speed: We have reduced the time it takes to get from an idea to a working, value-driving solution. Risk & Quality: Our AI initiatives consistently meet our internal standards for security and responsibility, with minimal friction. Business Impact: Every AI project we support can clearly demonstrate its contribution to ELEC’s business performance. Skills & Academic Requirements To lead this transformation effectively, you will need a blend of technical understanding, operational discipline, and the ability to influence people. Academic & Professional Background: Degree: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. Experience: Strong and proven leadership experience in operations, program management, or technical strategy, ideally within a large, global matrixed organization. AI/Technical Fluency: A solid grasp of the AI/ML landscape—not necessarily as a developer, but as a leader who understands the lifecycle of AI solutions, from data preparation to production and monitoring. Core Competencies: Strategic Change Management: Proven success in leading large-scale organizational shifts, including the ability to build and sustain engagement across diverse teams. Operational Discipline: Exceptional ability to build, manage, and refine the "cadence" of a business—tracking metrics, managing budgets, and maintaining project momentum. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Demonstrated expertise in bridging the gap between technical teams (CTO/Engineering) and business stakeholders. You know how to translate technical requirements into business value and vice-versa. Learning & Development Agility: A strong track record of partnering with HR and Learning & Development functions to design curriculum or enablement programs. You understand that "upskilling" is not just about classroom training, but about driving behavioral change. Influencing & Negotiation: The ability to achieve alignment across different business lines without having direct line authority over every team member. You lead through persuasion, shared goals, and the value you provide. Risk & Governance Mindset: A pragmatic approach to compliance and ethics. You can integrate guardrails into the development process so that they feel like an asset rather than an obstacle. Additional Information Relocation Assistance Provided: No #LI-Remote - This is a remote position