Manager, Operations Strategy (Data and AI Governance)

Airwallex • San Francisco, CA

8h • $140,000 - $170,000 • Onsite

About The Position

This role sits within the Operations Strategy team and is focused on driving our Data and AI Governance Program, a critical cross-functional initiative. You will work at the intersection of program management and operations strategy, facilitating working groups across IT, Security, Engineering, Legal, and Data teams to design and operationalize data and AI governance frameworks that reduce data access and use risks while supporting business operations. This work requires someone who can run sprints, align stakeholders across domains, apply critical thinking to access control models and data classification frameworks, and measure success for the workstream. This role is based in San Francisco, CA.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience, preferably with a fast-growing tech startup, top-tier strategy/management consulting, or equivalent.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills are essential.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills, especially with Engineering and Legal teams.
• Experience with data governance initiatives, including data tagging, classification, and ownership.
• Experience with access management: (1) coordinating cross-functional delivery of access management initiatives, and (2) reviewing access to sensitive data, identifying risks, and driving remediations.
• Demonstrated ability to run programs end-to-end: sprint facilitation, dependency mapping, progress reporting, and driving cross-functional alignment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and communicate it simply and effectively to both technical and executive audiences.
• Self-starter who can identify and prioritize opportunities to focus on.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.

Nice To Haves

• Experience interpreting and operationalizing requirements from regulators in a financial services or payments environment.
• Experience with AI governance best practices and frameworks.
• Experience operationalizing privacy and AI regulations into actionable requirements and associated certifications (e.g., CIPP/AIGP).
• Familiarity with identity and access management tools (e.g., Okta) and modern data platforms (e.g., Databricks).
• Technology, Financial Services, and/or experience in a high-growth environment is advantageous.
• Comfort operating in environments with high standards, fast iteration cycles, and evolving priorities.
• Curiosity to learn quickly, adapt fast, and grow through stretch opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end program management for cross-functional data and AI governance initiatives: run sprints, track progress, and report to the steering committee via weekly updates and monthly calls.
• Map dependencies across domains and align stakeholders on data and AI governance strategy, priorities, and sequencing.
• Set the strategy for which data and AI governance frameworks get implemented, and assess whether they are proportionate to the risk they address.
• Define and track success metrics for the data and AI governance programs.
• Translate data and AI governance requirements into operational processes that reduce data access risk without blocking the business, including spearheading access management, review, and technical hardening processes.
• Run technical deep dives on access control implementation across existing systems like Okta, Databricks, and back office tools, and set the standard new systems must meet.
• Drive requirements and design documents through development, review, and approval by technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Create a living AI model and use case inventory to enable us to track AI legal and governance risks.
• Partner with Legal to translate regulatory requirements into actionable policy and process.

What This Job Offers

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