Director of AI & Technology Operations

United Franchise Group•West Palm Beach, FL

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of AI & Technology Operations is responsible for driving AI adoption, managing AI-powered platforms, and overseeing the operational delivery of technology initiatives across UFG brands, staff, and franchisees. This role combines structured program management with hands-on AI fluency — translating executive AI vision into deployed capabilities within Microsoft Copilot, Power Apps, Gorilla Dash, RevScale, NetSuite and internal development projects. The Director bridges strategy and execution, ensuring AI initiatives are delivered on time, governed properly, and adopted at scale while reducing hands-on CTO execution dependency.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in technology program management, AI product delivery, or enterprise digital transformation.
Demonstrated experience deploying AI tools (Copilot, Power Apps, LLM-based products, or similar) in operational business environments.
Strong understanding of CRM platforms, SaaS product management, and API-driven integrations.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage vendor relationships.
Experience in franchise, multi-unit, or distributed business environments is a strong plus.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
PMP (Project Management Professional) or Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) — strongly preferred.
Microsoft certifications (Power Platform, Azure AI Fundamentals, Copilot) — preferred.
AI/ML executive education (MIT, Stanford, or equivalent) — a plus.
Experience with Salesforce, NetSuite, Azure DevOps, or similar enterprise platforms.

Responsibilities

Own and execute UFG's AI adoption roadmap across all brands, identifying high-impact use cases and building structured rollout plans aligned with business priorities.
Lead the advancement and expansion of Microsoft Copilot across UFG departments — driving adoption, training, prompt engineering best practices, and measurable productivity gains for corporate staff and franchisees.
Design, build, and deploy Microsoft Power Apps solutions and AI-powered automations that streamline operations for UFG staff and franchise owners.
Evaluate and integrate emerging AI tools and platforms (LLMs, agentic workflows, automation platforms) into existing UFG systems and processes.
Serve as the primary AI and technology operations liaison between UFG and Gorilla Dash — coordinating CRM feature development, API integrations, and AI-enhanced capabilities for franchisee-facing systems.
Collaborate with RevScale on AI-driven sales, marketing, and franchise development tools — ensuring alignment with UFG's brand and operational standards.
Work directly with UFG's internal Development team to scope, prioritize, and deliver AI-focused features, integrations, and platform enhancements across the tech stack.
Manage the lifecycle of AI-focused applications — from discovery and MVP through production deployment, user training, and iterative improvement.
Drive cross-functional delivery of technology initiatives across Development, IT/Security, ERP, Brand Technology, and external vendors using disciplined program management frameworks (PMP/Agile/Scrum).
Establish operational cadence: sprint planning, dependency tracking, milestone reporting, risk escalation, and executive-ready status updates for AI and tech projects.
Coordinate multi-team initiatives including platform migrations, enterprise tool rollouts, and vendor integrations with clear timelines and accountability.
Provide structured executive summaries and AI ROI reporting to the CTO, COO, and executive leadership.
Own AI governance frameworks — responsible use policies, data handling standards, and compliance alignment for all AI deployments.
Lead vendor evaluations, renewals, and performance management for AI and technology partners.
Act as an operational backup to the CTO on technology operations matters.