Principal, AI Governance & Enterprise AI Strategy

Principal, AI Governance & Enterprise AI Strategy 6 month+ contract 100% remoteRole Overview

The Principal, AI Governance & Enterprise AI Strategy is a senior, enterprise-wide leadership role responsible for defining, operationalizing, and scaling Responsible AI governance across a large, complex organization. This role functions at a Senior Director level but carries a Principal title due to the contract-based engagement model.

Operating within an AI Center of Excellence structure, this role owns the end-to-end AI governance strategy, ensuring artificial intelligence initiatives are safe, ethical, compliant, secure, and aligned with enterprise risk appetite and business value. The role requires executive presence, regulatory fluency, and the ability to translate emerging AI risk frameworks into pragmatic, scalable operating models.

This position partners closely with Legal, Compliance, Privacy, Cybersecurity, Audit, Technology, and Business Leadership to embed Responsible AI into enterprise processes, technology pipelines, and decision-making frameworks. Success requires experience in highly regulated environments and the ability to influence senior executives while enabling innovation to move forward responsibly.

Key ResponsibilitiesEnterprise AI Governance and Risk Leadership

Design, evolve, and lead the enterprise AI governance framework, including policies, standards, operating models, and decision rights. Establish and maintain a comprehensive AI risk management lifecycle, including risk taxonomies, assessment methodologies, controls, and monitoring aligned to enterprise risk appetite. Own and operationalize the enterprise AI inventory, including intake processes, risk classification, model lifecycle tracking, compliance status, and reporting. Drive governance execution through scalable tooling, automation, dashboards, and workflow integrations across the enterprise.

Regulatory, Legal, and Ethical Oversight

Translate evolving global AI regulations and guidance into actionable enterprise controls and operating processes, including alignment with frameworks such as the EU AI Act, U.S. federal guidance, and state-level regulations. Partner with Legal, Compliance, Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Internal Audit to ensure audit readiness and regulatory defensibility. Lead third-party AI vendor governance, including model risk assessments, security reviews, red-teaming considerations, and vendor risk scoring. Collaborate with technical and architecture teams to define evaluation criteria for proprietary, open-source, and commercial AI and large language model solutions.

Enterprise Integration, Adoption, and Change Management

Define and track enterprise metrics for AI adoption, effectiveness, risk posture, and business impact. Partner with business and technology leaders to embed Responsible AI governance into product development lifecycles, delivery pipelines, and operational workflows. Advance enterprise change management strategies to accelerate responsible AI adoption while maintaining control and transparency. Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, and measurable return on investment from AI initiatives aligned to strategic priorities.

Executive Leadership and Thought Partnership

Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on enterprise AI risk posture, governance maturity, and strategic readiness. Represent the organization externally at industry forums, conferences, and working groups as a thought leader in Responsible AI governance. Build strategic partnerships with vendors, industry groups, and academic institutions to stay ahead of emerging practices and standards. Support enterprise AI capability development through advisory input into upskilling initiatives and governance-aligned operating models.

Experience Requirements

10 or more years of progressive experience in enterprise risk management, governance, compliance, AI and data leadership, or large-scale technology transformation roles. Demonstrated success building and operating enterprise-wide governance, risk, or compliance programs in complex, regulated environments. Strong understanding of AI and machine learning concepts, including generative AI, large language models, model lifecycle management, and associated risks. Expertise in regulatory, ethical, and risk considerations related to AI, including privacy, data security, bias and fairness, explainability, and accountability. Proven ability to influence and partner with Legal, Compliance, Security, Audit, and senior executive stakeholders. Executive-level communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical and regulatory concepts into clear business guidance. Strategic mindset paired with strong execution capability. Experience in financial services, healthcare, insurance, or other highly regulated industries preferred. Background in top-tier consulting or advisory environments, including Big 4 or equivalent, strongly preferred.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field required. Master's degree preferred.

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