Job description

About the Role: Our organization is scaling from individual AI initiatives to a durable, enterprise-grade product organization. We're looking for someone to lead the team that decides what we build, why, and in what order — and to run the program management and governance operations that keep the entire portfolio moving predictably. You'll own the AI Product Owners as direct reports, and build out the program management and governance operations capability that turns the department's intake, risk-tiering, and delivery-tracking framework from a document into a living, working process. You'll work in tight partnership with the VP / Director – NA AI Solutions Engineering, who owns the technical build. You own the roadmap, the business case, and the portfolio's operating rhythm; they own turning it into shipped technology. Where their team is the deliverer, yours is the demand, prioritization, and governance engine that keeps them pointed at the highest-value work. What You'll Do: • Lead and grow the AI Product Owner team, setting standards for backlog quality, requirements-writing, and stakeholder management across the Sales & Marketing, Sales, and other functional portfolios • Own the enterprise AI use case roadmap: prioritization, sequencing, and portfolio-level trade-off decisions across all active and pipeline use cases • Build and run program management operations — a portfolio-level view of delivery status, dependencies, and risk across every use case in flight, reported on a consistent cadence • Own and continuously improve the intake process, ensuring new use cases are captured, scoped, and risk-tiered consistently rather than entering the pipeline ad hoc • Run the department's governance operating cadence — Steering Committee, Governance Council, and Delivery/Working Group cycles — ensuring decisions get made and documented, not just discussed • Own department budget and vendor/license management for the product and program organization, including tooling, data provider contracts, and platform costs • Partner closely with the VP / Director – NA AI Solutions Engineering to translate the prioritized roadmap into a resourced, sequenced technical delivery plan, and to resolve capacity conflicts jointly • Define and track portfolio-level KPIs — adoption, business impact, delivery predictability — and report performance to enterprise leadership • Own hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development for the Product Owner and program/governance operations team • Own business change management for the AI portfolio — ensuring major rollouts land with business stakeholders through structured communication, training coordination, and adoption planning, not just a technical go-live • Serve as the primary escalation point when business stakeholders' priorities conflict, or when governance requirements create delivery friction Basic Qualifications: • Bachelor's degree required • Minimum 8 years in product management or program management, with 3+ years directly managing product managers, product owners, or program managers • Experience owning a portfolio-level roadmap across multiple concurrent initiatives in a large, matrixed enterprise • Track record of building or scaling program management or governance operations from an early-stage or informal process into a repeatable one • Strong fluency in AI/ML concepts sufficient to prioritize technical trade-offs credibly with engineering leadership, without needing to be hands-on technical • Experience managing department budget, vendor relationships, and license/contract operations • Excellent executive communication skills — comfortable reporting portfolio health, risk, and trade-offs to senior leadership on a regular cadence • Sound judgment on prioritization under real resourcing constraints, and the political skill to make those trade-offs stick with business stakeholders • Experience owning business change management alongside a technology or process rollout, including stakeholder communication and adoption planning Preferred Qualifications: • 10+ years in product management or program management, with 5+ years directly managing product managers, product owners, or program managers • MBA or equivalent advanced degree • Prior automotive OEM experience, particularly with Sales and/or Marketing organizations • Experience standing up an AI governance framework (risk tiering, intake process, RACI) from scratch • PMP, SAFe, or equivalent program management certification • Direct experience with Microsoft Copilot / Copilot Cowork as an enterprise AI platform

Requirements

Must-haves

Lead and grow the AI Product Owner team, setting standards for backlog quality, requirements-writing, and stakeholder management across the Sales & Marketing, Sales, and other functional portfolios
Own the enterprise AI use case roadmap: prioritization, sequencing, and portfolio-level trade-off decisions across all active and pipeline use cases
Build and run program management operations — a portfolio-level view of delivery status, dependencies, and risk across every use case in flight, reported on a consistent cadence
Own and continuously improve the intake process, ensuring new use cases are captured, scoped, and risk-tiered consistently rather than entering the pipeline ad hoc
Run the department's governance operating cadence — Steering Committee, Governance Council, and Delivery/Working Group cycles — ensuring decisions get made and documented, not just discussed
Own department budget and vendor/license management for the product and program organization, including tooling, data provider contracts, and platform costs
Partner closely with the VP / Director – NA AI Solutions Engineering to translate the prioritized roadmap into a resourced, sequenced technical delivery plan, and to resolve capacity conflicts jointly
Define and track portfolio-level KPIs — adoption, business impact, delivery predictability — and report performance to enterprise leadership
Own hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development for the Product Owner and program/governance operations team
Own business change management for the AI portfolio — ensuring major rollouts land with business stakeholders through structured communication, training coordination, and adoption planning, not just a technical go-live
Serve as the primary escalation point when business stakeholders' priorities conflict, or when governance requirements create delivery friction
Bachelor's degree required
Minimum 8 years in product management or program management, with 3+ years directly managing product managers, product owners, or program managers
Experience owning a portfolio-level roadmap across multiple concurrent initiatives in a large, matrixed enterprise
Track record of building or scaling program management or governance operations from an early-stage or informal process into a repeatable one
Strong fluency in AI/ML concepts sufficient to prioritize technical trade-offs credibly with engineering leadership, without needing to be hands-on technical
Experience managing department budget, vendor relationships, and license/contract operations
Excellent executive communication skills — comfortable reporting portfolio health, risk, and trade-offs to senior leadership on a regular cadence
Sound judgment on prioritization under real resourcing constraints, and the political skill to make those trade-offs stick with business stakeholders

Nice-to-haves

MBA or equivalent advanced degree
Prior automotive OEM experience, particularly with Sales and/or Marketing organizations
Experience standing up an AI governance framework (risk tiering, intake process, RACI) from scratch
PMP, SAFe, or equivalent program management certification
Direct experience with Microsoft Copilot / Copilot Cowork as an enterprise AI platform

Application prep

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Keywords to mirror

aigoml

Platform: adp-recruiting
Effort: medium