Director, AI Transformation, Value & Portfolio

Edwards Lifesciences • Alton, IL

1d

About The Position

This role is the operating leader for the AI organization, translating enterprise priorities into scalable AI capabilities, measurable business outcomes, and sustained organizational change. It owns portfolio governance, investment prioritization, AI operating model effectiveness, executive reporting, organizational readiness, adoption tracking, and value realization across the enterprise AI portfolio.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in related field, with 12 years of experience of leadership experience in enterprise transformation, strategic operations, portfolio management, operating model design, PMO leadership, or technology transformation or equivalent work experience based on Edwards criteria -OR- Master's Degree or equivalent in related field, with 10 years of experience of leadership experience in enterprise transformation, strategic operations, portfolio management, operating model design, PMO leadership, or technology transformation or equivalent work experience based on Edwards criteria

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading large-scale, cross-functional transformation initiatives to a measured outcome, not only to launch
• Experience influencing senior executives and operating effectively in complex matrix organizations
• Demonstrated success building governance, operating models, or transformation capabilities from the ground up rather than inheriting a mature one
• Experience preparing executive-level and Board-level materials
• Experience taking ownership of an inherited, partially validated portfolio and making it defensible
• Enterprise transformation and operating model design
• Portfolio governance, intake design, and prioritization
• Organizational change and adoption leadership, including capability maturity assessment
• Strategic planning and roadmap development
• Governance framework design
• Program leadership across complex, matrixed environments
• Executive communication and storytelling, including Board-level narrative development
• Cross-functional influence without direct authority
• Strong analytical and business judgment, including the ability to hold up under an FP&A-level challenge to a benefits case rather than only to produce one
• Prior transformation or operating-model leadership in a regulated industry
• Experience building an intake or governance function from scratch
• Familiarity with portfolio or PPM tooling (Clarity, Planview, or equivalent)

Responsibilities

• Own the evolution of the enterprise AI operating model, including governance structures, intake processes, decision rights, funding mechanisms, and delivery rhythms
• Establish and continuously improve the mechanisms required to scale AI adoption across business functions, and identify the organizational bottlenecks that slow delivery
• Drive alignment across Product, Science, Engineering, Data, Evaluation, Governance, IT, and business stakeholders
• Serve as the operating leader for the AI Center of Excellence and the AI Council, owning intake, agenda, cadence, decision record, and follow-through.
• Own the enterprise AI intake, evaluation, prioritization, and portfolio review process, including the inherited backlog
• Establish frameworks for measuring AI adoption, organizational readiness, and capability maturity, and monitor them across business functions
• Partner with business leaders to improve change readiness and accelerate adoption, and build executive visibility into enterprise AI maturity over time
• Develop executive and Board-level reporting on portfolio progress, organizational maturity, adoption, risks, dependencies, and ranked investment opportunities
• Maintain a sequenced enterprise AI roadmap aligned to business priorities and to organizational readiness, not only to technical dependency
• Facilitate investment and prioritization discussions across competing business demands
• Identify reusable capabilities, common patterns, and cross-functional opportunities that enable enterprise scale
• Build executive narratives that connect AI initiatives to enterprise priorities and strategic objectives
• Establish consistent approaches for defining expected outcomes and measuring progress across AI initiatives
• Ensure initiatives have clear ownership, success measures, and accountability mechanisms before execution begins
• Track business outcomes, adoption, operational impact, and progress against strategic objectives across the portfolio
• Own the Finance partnership for the AI portfolio and the reconciliation of inherited benefit claims, with Role 21 building the underlying baselines and audit trail

Benefits

• competitive salaries
• performance-based incentives
• a wide variety of benefits programs to address the diverse individual needs of our employees and their families

What This Job Offers

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