Associate Vice President, Knowledge Management and AI Enablement

Westat•Bethesda, MD

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Westat is a leader in research, data collection and analysis, technical assistance, evaluation, and communications. Our evidence-based findings help clients in government and the private sector accelerate advancements in health, education, transportation, and social and economic policy. Our dedication to improving lives through research and our approach to projects grounded in investigative curiosity, statistical and data rigor, adaptive methods, and advanced technology are why clients find exceptional value in our work. Westat is seeking a strategic and forward-looking knowledge management leader to strengthen how organizational knowledge is identified, curated, governed, reused, and activated to support growth across the federal marketplace. This role will advance a modern knowledge management capability that improves access to trusted content, strengthens business development and pursuit effectiveness, and prepares Westat for responsible AI-enabled knowledge use. The successful candidate will bring expertise in knowledge management, content governance, information architecture, business development, and applied AI to ensure institutional knowledge is organized, maintained, and used to improve decision-making, proposal quality, client engagement, and competitive positioning. This position will be hybrid, working in Westat’s Bethesda, Maryland office 4 days per week.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in knowledge management, business development enablement, information management, content strategy, enterprise operations, or related fields.
Bachelor's degree required in Information Systems, Computer Science, Knowledge Management, Library & Information Science, Organizational Development, or a related field.
Experience supporting federal business development, capture, proposal development, or professional services growth environments strongly preferred.
Demonstrated ability to design and implement knowledge management strategies, taxonomies, metadata models, content governance practices, and asset lifecycle processes.
Experience leading teams and building organizational capability in complex, matrixed environments.
Strong understanding of how knowledge management supports business development, proposal quality, competitive positioning, and organizational learning.
Experience with AI-enabled tools, knowledge platforms, enterprise search, content management systems, CRM systems, or related technologies.
Familiarity with responsible AI practices, including data quality, permissions, content governance, security, and human oversight.
Track record of leading change, influencing stakeholders, and improving adoption of new tools and processes.
Demonstrated communication, facilitation, and executive-engagement skills.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred (MBA, Information Management, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Organizational Development, or related discipline).
Strong change-management instincts and a service-oriented leadership style.
Practical understanding of AI opportunities and risks in a business development environment.

Responsibilities

Develop and advance an enterprise knowledge management strategy that aligns with business priorities by establishing standards for identifying, organizing, maintaining, and reusing high-value knowledge assets, while enabling employees to easily find, trust, and apply knowledge to support organizational learning, operational effectiveness, and business growth.
Lead the identification, classification, tagging, curation, and lifecycle management of high-value knowledge assets by establishing metadata, taxonomy, governance, and content management practices that ensure information remains current, accessible, trustworthy, and reusable to support business development, client engagement, and organizational objectives.
Lead AI readiness and enablement by preparing and governing high-quality knowledge assets for responsible use with AI-enabled tools, partnering with business and technology stakeholders to support AI-assisted search, summarization, content generation, decision-making, and business development while ensuring strong data quality, security, permissions, and human oversight.
Support business development and pursuit success by enabling teams to quickly access, apply, and reuse high-value knowledge assets, including past performance, qualifications, client insights, proposal content, and lessons learned, while developing reusable knowledge products that enhance consistency, quality, efficiency, and competitiveness.
Establish and oversee knowledge management governance, standards, and quality practices by defining ownership, accountability, content organization, tagging, version control, and reuse standards, while monitoring knowledge asset quality, eliminating gaps and duplication, and measuring adoption, effectiveness, user satisfaction, and business impact.
Lead and develop knowledge management capabilities by mentoring staff, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, curiosity, and continuous improvement, building organizational capacity through training and change management, and advancing the organization from passive document storage to active knowledge enablement.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders across business development, capture, proposals, pricing, contracts, technology, communications, and operations to translate business needs into practical knowledge solutions, serve as a trusted advisor on knowledge strategy and AI readiness, and drive adoption of shared practices that strengthen knowledge governance, reuse, and organizational performance.