AI Program Lead

Turlock Irrigation District • Turlock, CA

3d

About The Position

Under general direction, the AI Program Lead guides the strategic direction, governance, and execution of the District’s artificial intelligence program. This position establishes the District’s AI roadmap, governs the AI initiative portfolio, and drives cross-functional adoption of AI capabilities across all departments. The AI Program Lead translates organizational priorities into structured AI initiatives—leading vendor partnerships, overseeing program budgets, managing change across the organization, and ensuring all AI deployments align with District policy, data privacy standards, and operational objectives. This is a high-visibility role that operates across practice groups, vendor relationships, and senior leadership to accelerate and govern the District’s AI adoption journey. This position will provide technical and functional supervision to assigned personnel.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree highly preferred in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, Public Administration, or a closely related field.
• Eight (8) to twelve (12) years of progressive experience in technology program management, enterprise AI/ML initiatives, or a closely related field, with at least three (3) to five (5) of those years in a program leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing multi-year technology roadmaps and leading cross-functional AI or enterprise software programs from inception through sustained adoption.
• Proven experience establishing program governance frameworks, managing technology portfolios, and leading investment prioritization processes for senior leadership audiences.
• Demonstrated experience leading organizational change management initiatives, including stakeholder engagement strategies, adoption planning, and training program development.
• Working proficiency in SQL and at least one scripting language (Python preferred), with the ability to direct analytical workflows, interpret data pipelines, and evaluate technical outputs.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret AI/ML tool capabilities at a functional-technical level, including API architecture, data privacy design, and enterprise integration patterns.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a track record of presenting complex program findings and strategic recommendations to executive leadership.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing with both internal and external contacts; and work cooperatively with executive and management staff, employees and others to provide effective information technology services support at agreed-upon support levels.
• Maintain a positive work atmosphere by acting and communicating in a manner so that you get along with customers, clients, co-workers and management.
• Effective cross-functional leader: builds influence and alignment without direct authority, manages competing stakeholder priorities, and sustains organizational momentum through uncertainty.
• Self-directed and proactive: identifies gaps before they become problems, takes initiative without requiring direction, and operates effectively across all levels of the organization.
• Strategic planning and program governance: ability to build roadmaps, define portfolio objectives, and lead structured decision-making processes across organizational levels.
• Hands-on familiarity with large language model platforms (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, etc.), including prompt engineering, system configuration, and output evaluation.
• Understanding of data privacy principles, AI governance frameworks, information security standards, and enterprise system integration as they apply to AI deployments.
• Ability to read and interpret API documentation, data dictionaries, and vendor technical specifications to make informed evaluation and procurement decisions.
• Analytically rigorous: able to define the right metrics, design measurement frameworks, and translate data into clear strategic insights—not just report available numbers.
• Knowledge of: operation and care of general-purpose computer equipment and principles of project management.
• Ability to work in a rapidly changing work environment and to work well under pressure; maintain work quality while meeting reasonable deadlines; refine organizational skills and work independently; and direct the work of internal and external project team members as part of project management responsibility.
• Must file a Statement of Economic Interest in compliance with Governmental Code Section 81000.
• Sign and acknowledge a Confidentiality Agreement.
• Must satisfy any existing and future District security clearance or background check requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline preferred.
• Project Management Professional (PMP), PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), or an equivalent program management certification is preferred.
• Relevant AI or data certification (e.g., AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer, Google Professional Machine Learning Engineer, or equivalent) is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop, guide, and continuously refine the District’s AI program roadmap, aligning initiatives with strategic organizational priorities and resource constraints.
• Establish and maintain AI governance frameworks, policies, acceptable-use standards, and decision-making structures that ensure responsible, secure, and equitable AI adoption.
• Lead AI investment prioritization and portfolio reviews, presenting recommendations to senior leadership and facilitating executive decision-making on program scope and sequencing.
• Develop annual budget proposals, track expenditures, manage vendor contracts and service-level agreements, and report on financial performance against plans.
• Define program-level objectives, key results, and success metrics that capture genuine business value; establish reporting cadences and governance checkpoints to maintain accountability.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate program-level risks across technical, operational, regulatory, and organizational dimensions.
• Develop and execute change management strategies that drive sustainable AI adoption across departments, ensuring employees have the training, resources, and support to integrate AI tools effectively.
• Lead stakeholder engagement across all levels of the organization—from frontline staff to executive leadership—building alignment, managing expectations, and sustaining momentum through program transitions.
• Design and deliver communications, briefings, and training programs that build organizational AI literacy and champion the District’s innovation culture.
• Identify adoption barriers and resistance points proactively; develop targeted interventions and escalation paths to maintain program progress.
• Direct end-to-end operations for AI pilots and proof-of-concept programs—defining scope, success criteria, and evaluation frameworks; coordinating cross-functional teams; managing timelines; and producing outcome documentation for executive review.
• Evaluate AI tools and platforms at a functional-technical level: assess API capabilities, data privacy architecture, integration requirements, security posture, and compatibility with existing enterprise systems.
• Oversee AI platform administration governance, establishing policies for user access, configuration standards, usage monitoring, and support escalation—delegating operational execution to appropriate staff.
• Maintain program tracking systems and executive-facing status reporting, ensuring all initiatives are documented with current owners, milestones, dependencies, and risks.
• Build and sustain relationships with AI vendors, peer utility agencies, and industry consortia to ensure the District has early visibility into emerging capabilities and partnership opportunities.
• Supervise, train and develop staff as assigned.
• Provide on-going feedback regarding work performance and conduct annual performance evaluations.
• Stay informed on the water, power, and broader public utility AI landscape, tracking emerging tools, vendor developments, peer agency initiatives, and regulatory changes; deliver monthly intelligence briefings to leadership.
• Translate complex technical AI concepts—such as current AI architectures, fine-tuning trade-offs, agentic workflows, and model governance—into plain-language briefings that enable informed leadership decisions on procurement, deployment, and policy.
• Drive the District’s thought leadership efforts in AI innovation, authoring internal case studies, executive presentations, and program communications that document program outcomes and build organizational confidence in AI adoption.
• Comply with all District rules, regulations, policies and procedures.
• Must satisfy existing District security clearance or background check requirements.
• Perform other related duties as required or assigned by supervisor.

Benefits

• Assistance is available in filling out job applications for disabled individuals.
• Turlock Irrigation District provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with a disability in accordance with federal and state law.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior