Director – AI Strategy

Director – Head of Platform Strategy and Program Management

Hybrid role - Only considering Tampa residents

Long term contract to hire

Job Summary

Our client is seeking a strategic and execution-oriented Director to serve as Head of AI Platform Strategy and program management. This leader will define and scale the firm’s enterprise AI platform across machine learning, generative AI, and agentic task workflows. The role is responsible for aligning AI capabilities with business priorities, establishing platform standards and governance, and ensuring disciplined execution across a portfolio of complex initiatives.

The ideal candidate brings 15+ years of experience in financial services technology, with deep expertise in AI/ML platforms, generative AI architectures, and emerging agentic frameworks. This individual must combine strong technical fluency with business acumen, portfolio management discipline, and executive communication skills.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise AI Strategy & Platform Leadership

 Define and structure the enterprise AI platform roadmap across machine learning, generative AI, and agentic workflow automation

 Establish scalable, secure, and compliant AI infrastructure aligned with regulatory standards

 Develop high-level business and technical requirements for AI capabilities and translate them into actionable roadmaps

 Standardize model lifecycle management (MLOps/LLMOps), observability, governance, and responsible AI practices

 Evaluate, select, and govern AI technology platforms and strategic vendors

Business & Technology Alignment

 Serve as the strategic liaison between business stakeholders and the group’s engineering division

 Translate business objectives into AI-enabled platform capabilities

 Lead development prioritization across multiple complex initiatives

 Build business cases, cost models, sizing estimates, and ROI analyses

 Communicate AI platform strategy and progress effectively to senior leadership Business Requirements Capture & AI Solution Translation

 Lead structured capture and documentation of high-level business requirements for AI-enabled capabilities across front, middle, and back office functions

 Partner with business leaders to identify, define, and prioritize use cases involving machine learning, generative AI, and agentic workflows

 Translate business objectives into scalable technical requirements, including functional, non-functional, risk, compliance, and data considerations

 Develop clear problem statements, scope definitions, success metrics, and value realization frameworks

AI Program & Project Management Leadership

 Provide end-to-end program and project management oversight for enterprise AI platform initiatives

 Manage multiple complex workstreams simultaneously, ensuring disciplined prioritization and alignment to business value

 Drive development prioritization, release coordination, and cross-team dependency management

 Lead project sizing, cost estimation, forecasting, and budget tracking across the AI portfolio

 Manage third-party vendors and AI technology partners, including performance oversight and contract alignment

Required Qualifications

 15+ years of progressive experience in financial services technology

 7+ years leading AI/ML or advanced analytics platform strategy or similar

 Proven experience implementing machine learning and generative AI solutions in regulated environments

 Strong proficiency in AI technology platforms (e.g., cloud AI services, ML platforms, vector databases, orchestration frameworks)

 Experience with agentic frameworks and AI workflow automation tools

 Translate between business and technical stakeholder

 Manage budgets and vendor relationships

 Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field preferred