Head of AI

Ninth Wave•New York, NY

About The Position

The Head of AI is a senior cross-functional leader and hands-on technical leader responsible for defining and executing Ninth Wave’s AI vision, roadmap, and delivery across the platform. This role combines deep individual contribution with executive-level leadership, ensuring AI initiatives are designed, built, and deployed to drive measurable business impact while meeting the highest standards of security, compliance, and responsible AI. This role will report to Chief Product Officer. Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, the Head of AI will partner closely with Engineering, Product, Operations, Security, and Go-To-Market teams to deliver production-grade AI capabilities to enhance internal workflows, power customer-facing features, and strengthen Ninth Wave’s competitive position in regulated financial services. This is a hands-on senior role that is expected to remain deeply technical and to directly contribute to architecture, prototyping, design reviews, and critical implementation decisions.

Requirements

10+ years of experience across data science, machine learning, AI engineering, or applied AI roles, including 3+ years in senior leadership or executive capacity
Proven track record hands-on building and deploying AI/ML systems in production environments
Deep expertise in modern AI/ML approaches, including LLMs, multimodal models, vector databases, ML pipelines, and distributed systems
Experience operating in regulated environments (fintech, banking, financial services, or enterprise SaaS)
Strong understanding of data privacy, security architecture, and responsible AI frameworks
Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business and customer value
Exceptional communication, influence, and cross-functional leadership skills

Nice To Haves

Experience with API-driven platforms, data connectivity products, or financial technology ecosystems
Hands-on familiarity with RAG architectures, agentic workflows, and enterprise AI infrastructure
Experience designing and delivering organizational AI enablement or training program

Responsibilities

Define and own Ninth Wave’s company-wide AI strategy and long-term roadmap, aligned with business objectives and regulatory requirements
Establish and lead the AI Center of Excellence as an enablement and governance function that accelerates safe, scalable AI adoption
Identify and prioritize high-impact AI initiatives across product, platform, and operations.
Communicate AI strategy, progress, and insights to executives, clients, partners, and investors.
Serve as a principal individual contributor for AI architecture and system design across the platform
Architect, prototype, and guide development of AI/ML systems, including LLM-based applications, RAG pipelines, agent frameworks, and ML workflows
Evaluate, select, and integrate enterprise-grade AI tools, models, and platforms aligned with Ninth Wave’s security and compliance standards
Lead rapid experimentation and prototyping to validate new AI-driven capabilities and de-risk production deployment
Define and implement foundations for scalable AI delivery, including model evaluation, monitoring, observability, and lifecycle management
Conduct deep technical reviews and hands-on problem solving during critical design, performance, and reliability phases
Define and enforce responsible AI practices, including bias detection, privacy protection, transparency, explainability, and auditability
Partner closely with Security, Risk, and Compliance teams to ensure adherence to financial and regulatory frameworks (FFIEC, OCC, GLBA, and related standards)
Oversee the development and governance of clean, reliable, and AI-ready datasets within Ninth Wave’s data architecture
Drive adoption of AI tools across the organization to improve productivity and effectiveness (engineering acceleration, customer support, sales enablement, risk analytics, and operations)
Design and deliver internal training and enablement programs focused on AI capabilities, emerging technologies, and responsible usage
Collaborate with Product and Go-To-Market teams to translate AI capabilities into differentiated offerings, compelling client value propositions, and revenue impact
Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing AI organization, including ML engineers, data scientists, and applied AI practitioners
Foster a culture of technical excellence, hands-on ownership, secure-by-design thinking, and continuous learning