Head of Automation & AI Enablement, Chief Administrative Office

Janus Henderson•Denver, CO

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Head of Automation & AI Enablement will build the Chief Administrative Office’s automation and AI platform from the ground up, reporting directly to the Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. The role partners with CAO leaders and teams across Legal, Strategic Sourcing and Contracts, Internal Audit, Brand and Central Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Client Experience to understand workflows, identify opportunities, set priorities, and deliver practical solutions. It combines hands-on solution delivery with leadership, prioritization, and change management. Legal is a particular focus, with multiple solutions expected to be live in that team during the first year. The role establishes a transparent intake and prioritization process, translates selected opportunities into solutions using existing tools, agents, workflow tools, or system integrations, and builds reusable components, templates, prompt libraries, standards, and documentation. It also supports adoption across teams with varied levels of technology experience and partners with Technology, Data, Information Security, Risk, Compliance, and the firm's enterprise AI program. Solutions must follow the firm's AI, data, and model risk governance requirements, with clear human ownership of outputs. Success measures include a ranked CAO-wide pipeline, multiple Legal solutions with measured benefits, a repeatable delivery method, and regular reporting to CAO leadership.

Requirements

Significant experience, typically 10 or more years, in business operations, transformation, process excellence, or legal operations, including a track record of delivering automation or AI solutions that changed how a team works.
Hands-on experience mapping current- and future-state processes and redesigning them.
Practical working knowledge of automation and AI tools, including workflow automation, low-code platforms, generative AI, and agents, sufficient to design solutions, make build-versus-buy decisions, and challenge vendors.
Proven ability to prioritize a portfolio of opportunities by value and make sound judgment calls in ambiguous situations.
Experience driving adoption and change with experienced professionals who have varying comfort with technology.
Excellent communication skills and ability to translate between business, legal, and technology audiences and influence at all levels, including executive leadership.
Strong sense of urgency and ownership, and comfort serving as both strategist and doer.
Willingness to adhere to the firm's Investment Advisory Code of Ethics requirements concerning personal securities activities and other disclosures and certifications, including past political contributions and activities.
Ability to understand and abide by the firm's regulatory obligations, regulated-entity requirements, and applicable policies.

Nice To Haves

Asset management or broader financial services experience.
Legal operations experience in an in-house legal department, such as contract lifecycle management, matter management, e-billing, or outside counsel management.
Process or project credentials such as Lean Six Sigma, PMP, or CLOC.
Experience with Microsoft 365 Copilot and data and analytics tools.
Understanding of AI governance, data privacy, and regulatory expectations in a regulated firm.
Graduate, post-graduate, or professional qualification.

Responsibilities

Partner with the CAO and function leaders to understand work across the division and create or refresh workflow and process maps.
Identify automation and AI opportunities and manage a transparent, division-wide intake and pipeline for ideas.
Prioritize opportunities using value, effort, risk, data readiness, and dependencies; make and defend recommendations on focus areas.
Translate priority opportunities into practical solutions using existing tools, agents, workflow tools, and system integrations.
Prototype, configure, test, and launch solutions where practical, working with Technology, data, and vendor teams.
Build reusable platform components, templates, prompt libraries, standards, and documentation.
Make Legal a first-year priority by learning its workflows and delivering automation that supports professional judgment and protects privilege and confidentiality.
Build trust, coach colleagues, and grow a network of functional champions across teams with differing levels of AI adoption.
Partner with Technology, Data, Information Security, Risk, Compliance, and the enterprise AI program to align work with firm standards and avoid duplication.
Define success measures for initiatives and report progress and realised benefits to the CAO and CAO leadership team.
Ensure solutions meet AI, data, and model risk governance requirements, with clear human ownership of outputs.
Carry out other duties as assigned.

Benefits

Hybrid working and reasonable accommodations.
Generous holiday policies.
Paid volunteer time.
Professional development courses and tuition or qualification reimbursement.
Maternal/paternal leave benefits and family services.
Complimentary Headspace subscription.
Corporate membership to ClassPass and other health and well-being benefits.
Employee events and programs, including a 14er challenge, complimentary beverages and snacks, and all-employee Happy Hours.
Potential eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus award from the profit pool.
Pension/retirement plans and health, wellbeing, and lifestyle benefits.
Mentoring, leadership development programs, regular training, career development services, and continuing education courses.