Senior Director, Artificial Intelligence

The Washington Post•Washington, DC

2d•$232,875 - $388,125•Onsite

About The Position

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how news organizations create products, serve audiences, operate their businesses, and compete. The Washington Post is seeking a Senior Director, Artificial Intelligence Strategy & Transformation to help define and execute how AI is responsibly applied across the enterprise. This role leads the development and execution of the company’s enterprise AI strategy in partnership with executive, editorial, product, technology, commercial, and corporate leaders. The Senior Director translates rapidly evolving AI capabilities into practical opportunities that strengthen journalism, accelerate product innovation, improve customer experiences, increase organizational effectiveness, and create measurable business value. Serving as a senior enterprise subject-matter leader for AI strategy and responsible adoption, this role develops recommendations for the enterprise AI roadmap, coordinates priorities across functions, and leads cross-functional initiatives that convert AI investments into measurable outcomes. The role will help establish the standards, governance practices, evaluation frameworks, and operating models that enable teams across The Washington Post to adopt AI responsibly and at scale. The Senior Director will also help determine where the company should build, buy, partner, or experiment, balancing technical capability, cost, scalability, data rights, security, accuracy, editorial integrity, and long-term strategic value.

Requirements

Significant senior leadership experience developing and executing AI, technology, digital transformation, product, data, or innovation strategies within large or complex organizations.
Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional transformation initiatives that delivered measurable business, financial, customer, or operational outcomes.
Strong knowledge of Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Machine Learning, Large Language Models, retrieval-based systems, intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and emerging AI technologies.
Strong understanding of the practical considerations involved in deploying AI at scale, including architecture, model selection, evaluation, data quality, integration, security, scalability, latency, and cost.
Experience evaluating build-versus-buy decisions and working with both internally developed capabilities and third-party AI platforms or foundation models.
Experience developing or implementing responsible AI governance, evaluation frameworks, model-risk practices, privacy controls, security standards, or related operating models.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical concepts and emerging technology trends into clear business strategies, investment recommendations, and implementation priorities.
Strong financial and business acumen, including experience developing business cases, evaluating technology investments, measuring ROI, and assessing business impact.
Demonstrated ability to influence senior executives and cross-functional leaders in environments where authority is distributed across multiple functions.
Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and complex initiatives through both direct management and influence.
Strong change-management capability and experience driving adoption of new technologies, operating models, or ways of working across an organization.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage technical teams, business leaders, editorial stakeholders, and executive audiences.
Strong judgment and comfort operating in areas involving ambiguity, emerging technology, organizational risk, and competing business priorities.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, Business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience in media, publishing, digital content, consumer technology, information services, or another environment where accuracy, trust, and customer experience are critical is preferred.
An advanced degree is preferred but not required.
Active engagement in the AI ecosystem through industry organizations, research, conferences, standards bodies, or professional communities is preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and recommend the enterprise AI strategy and multi-year roadmap in partnership with executive and functional leadership, translating organizational priorities into a coordinated portfolio of AI initiatives.
Lead execution of the approved enterprise AI roadmap, establishing milestones, priorities, dependencies, governance practices, and performance measures that support measurable business outcomes.
Identify and evaluate high-value AI opportunities across journalism, product development, advertising, subscriptions, customer experience, finance, HR, legal, and corporate operations.
Develop business cases and investment recommendations for AI initiatives, including expected business impact, cost, scalability, technical feasibility, implementation risk, and return on investment.
Coordinate the enterprise AI portfolio, working with functional leaders who retain accountability for their respective products, operations, budgets, and business outcomes.
Lead cross-functional AI initiatives that improve productivity, decision-making, customer experiences, digital capabilities, commercial performance, and organizational effectiveness.
Establish and operate an enterprise AI Center of Excellence or similar capability, providing reusable frameworks, technical guidance, evaluation practices, governance support, education, and implementation resources across the company.
Develop responsible AI governance frameworks and operating standards in partnership with Legal, Editorial Standards, Information Security, Privacy, Technology, Product, and other governance functions.
Create evaluation and quality frameworks for AI solutions, including standards for accuracy, reliability, bias, transparency, security, data use, and responsible deployment.
Evaluate AI models, platforms, tools, and technology partners, providing recommendations regarding build-versus-buy decisions, third-party solutions, proprietary capabilities, scalability, latency, cost, data rights, and long-term strategic value.
Partner with Product and Technology leaders to help translate emerging AI capabilities into scalable products, platforms, and customer experiences.
Serve as a senior strategic advisor and subject-matter expert to leadership, translating technical developments, market trends, and emerging AI capabilities into business implications, opportunities, risks, and actionable recommendations.
Support executive and Board discussions regarding AI by preparing strategic analysis, recommendations, risk assessments, market intelligence, investment cases, and progress reporting as requested by executive leadership.
Build organizational AI capability and fluency through executive education, employee enablement, change management, communities of practice, and collaboration with functional leaders.
Establish enterprise AI performance measures that track adoption, business impact, productivity, financial outcomes, quality, responsible-use standards, and organizational maturity.
Monitor emerging AI technologies and market developments and assess their potential implications for journalism, media, advertising, subscriptions, technology, and The Washington Post’s competitive position.
Represent The Washington Post in selected industry, academic, technology, and professional forums as an AI subject-matter expert in coordination with executive leadership and Communications.