AI Lead

Synechron•New York, NY

9h•$140,000 - $160,000

About The Position

The AI Lead will establish and operate the governance, planning, financial management, delivery coordination, and executive reporting capabilities needed to scale AI across the enterprise. The role translates the organization’s multi-year AI strategy into an integrated portfolio of initiatives, establishes consistent delivery standards, manages dependencies and risks, and gives leadership visibility into progress, investment, value realization, adoption, and control readiness. The role covers enterprise AI program management; use-case intake, planning, and prioritization; funding governance, ROI, and value realization; delivery coordination and RAID management; financial management, FinOps, and cost transparency; controls, risk, and regulatory readiness; executive reporting and stakeholder management; and change, adoption, and organizational readiness. It coordinates business, technology, finance, and control-function stakeholders and supports the safe, sustainable delivery and adoption of AI initiatives. The position offers competitive compensation and benefits. For a role filled in New York, NY, the stated base salary is $140,000–$160,000 per year, plus benefits. Salary varies based on geography and other factors.

Requirements

Significant experience supporting or managing large-scale technology, AI, digital transformation, or strategic programs in financial services or another complex, regulated environment.
Ability to structure complex or evolving programs using integrated project plans, governance routines, RAID management, stakeholder forums, milestone tracking, and executive reporting.
Strong understanding of program delivery, portfolio management, business-case development, prioritization, financial governance, benefits realization, risk management, and organizational change.
Ability to influence senior business, technology, finance, and control-function leaders without relying on direct authority.
Exceptional written, verbal, financial, commercial, and executive communication skills, including the ability to create concise, decision-ready materials.
Experience managing AI, automation, digital transformation, data, platform, infrastructure, or innovation delivery programs within investment banking, capital markets, or broader financial services.
Familiarity with enterprise AI operating models, responsible AI, model and data controls, FinOps, consumption-based technology economics, and regulated technology environments.
Working familiarity with AI delivery concepts, including use-case lifecycle management, model and data dependencies, production readiness, responsible AI controls, evaluation, adoption tracking, and post-implementation monitoring.
Experience with scaled product delivery, cross-functional pods, use-case lifecycle governance, and transition from pilot to production.

Responsibilities

Establish and operate the Enterprise AI PMO, including governance, reporting cadence, delivery standards, dependency tracking, escalation paths, and decision forums.
Translate the multi-year AI strategy into an integrated program plan with workstreams, accountable owners, milestones, dependencies, inputs, and measurable outcomes.
Maintain an enterprise view of roadmap progress, risks, issues, actions, decisions, dependencies, resource constraints, and executive follow-ups.
Manage the AI use-case intake process and ensure proposals consistently document objectives, sponsors, expected value, feasibility, delivery approach, controls, and funding needs.
Coordinate prioritization discussions to evaluate use cases based on strategic value, readiness, complexity, cost, delivery capacity, risk, and expected adoption.
Partner with business transformation leads and workstream owners to turn approved use cases into project plans, milestones, acceptance criteria, and success metrics.
Support milestone-based funding governance across approval, proof-of-value, scale-up, and transition to business-as-usual, in partnership with Finance and initiative owners.
Partner with the CFO organization and Controllers to validate assumptions, baselines, savings, realized outcomes, and ongoing investment performance.
Produce portfolio-level views of investment, forecast, value at risk, realized benefits, adoption, and expected returns for senior leadership.
Coordinate delivery across cross-functional AI workstreams and pods, aligning technical, business, and control-function owners around shared plans, milestones, and outcomes.
Maintain integrated project plans, timelines, milestone trackers, RAID logs, dependency maps, action registers, and escalation items.
Facilitate delivery cadences, identify blockers, drive follow-ups to resolution, and ensure workstream owners have the inputs and decisions needed to maintain progress.
Track program budgets, forecasts, resource assumptions, funding approvals, and financial reporting inputs with Technology Finance and workstream owners.
Partner with FinOps and Technology Finance to provide cost transparency for compute, token consumption, infrastructure, licenses, vendors, and consulting.
Report committed spend, utilization, run rate, forecast variance, cost risks, and connections between costs, approved use cases, and business outcomes.
Coordinate with security, data governance, privacy, legal, compliance, model risk, architecture, and audit partners to embed controls into the program lifecycle.
Help ensure initiatives pass defined control gates with appropriate documentation, approvals, evidence, and traceability.
Maintain program-level risk reporting and support escalation of material control issues, decisions, and remediation actions.
Prepare concise, decision-oriented status reports for the CIO, CFO, Enterprise AI leadership, steering forums, QBRs, and other senior governance venues.
Facilitate working sessions and leadership forums; capture decisions, document actions, confirm owners, track deadlines, and support timely escalation.
Serve as a central coordination point for program status, priorities, risks, dependencies, escalations, and accountability across business, technology, and corporate functions.
Partner with Change and Training leadership to incorporate communications, role-based enablement, safe-use guidance, feedback loops, and adoption measures into funded initiatives.
Support divisional champion models and strengthen local ownership of outcomes, utilization, workflow change, and sustained business impact.
Coordinate launch- and scale-readiness reviews to help ensure capabilities can be adopted safely and sustainably.

Benefits

10 days of paid annual leave, plus sick leave and national holidays.
Maternity and paternity leave plans.
Comprehensive insurance including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and long- and short-term disability; plans vary by region.
Retirement savings plans.
Higher education certification policy.
Commuter benefits; availability varies by region.
Extensive training opportunities focused on skills, substantive knowledge, and personal development.
On-demand Udemy for Business access to more than 5,000 curated courses for Synechron employees.
Coaching opportunities with experienced colleagues from Financial Innovation Labs (FinLabs) and Center of Excellences (CoE) groups.
Possibility to work abroad.
Flexible workplace arrangements, mentoring, internal mobility, and learning and development programs.