Senior Manager– AI Governance & Controls Engineering
About The Position
The Senior Manager, AI Governance & Controls Engineering elevates AbbVie’s AI governance operations by ensuring compliance with AI-specific regulatory requirements—including the EU AI Act, U.S. state AI laws, and NIST AI RMF—and AbbVie’s internal AI policy. The role provides strategic leadership for AI risk-control design, monitoring, and validation, and develops and implements governance control systems and processes using digital enablement, data-driven methods, and automation, including AI, to scale governance efficiently. The position leads and develops the AI Controls Engineering team, including direct supervision of the Principal Quality Engineer, AI Controls Engineering. It partners with Privacy, Security, Quality, Risk Management, and Legal; supports audits and inspections; drives corrective and preventive actions for AI governance findings; and oversees vendor and platform documentation, including OneTrust. The role also manages critical partnerships and contracts, advances process improvement and technology adoption, and serves as the primary liaison for AI governance initiatives, policy frameworks, and audit readiness across AbbVie’s AI landscape.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree and at least 8 years of experience; master’s degree and at least 7 years; or PhD and at least 3 years.
- Demonstrated experience in SQA, CSV, investigations, and/or auditing.
- At least 2 years in a formal people-management and supervisory capacity leading quality professionals and managers.
- Expertise in regulatory assurance, process improvement, enterprise risk management, automation, validation strategy, and audit/inspection responses applied to AI governance, including the EU AI Act, U.S. state AI laws, and NIST AI RMF.
- Ability to develop and execute enterprise-level policy frameworks, validation strategies, and process-harmonization initiatives.
- Strong technology acumen, including advanced knowledge of cloud, automated testing, AI/ML applications (including generative and agentic AI), advanced quality analytics, and modern Computer Software Assurance practices.
- Superior communication and influencing skills, with success engaging executive sponsors, external partners, regulators, and internal stakeholders.
- Track record of developing teams, coaching, and driving high performance across diverse IT Quality functions.
Nice To Haves
- Experience managing cross-functional teams, vendor and partner relationships, contracts, resource allocation, and budgets.
- Experience with GRC or risk-management platforms such as OneTrust.
- ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, PMP, Six Sigma, or equivalent certification.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic leadership for AI governance and controls-engineering activities, ensuring regulatory and corporate-procedure compliance across AI use cases, platforms, and projects.
- Lead, mentor, and develop the AI Controls Engineering team, including direct supervision of the Principal Quality Engineer, AI Controls Engineering.
- Design and implement AI governance controls and automation solutions to streamline ACTOR and OneTrust activities, reduce manual effort, and accelerate compliant governance reviews.
- Architect AI governance control strategy and policy frameworks, and harmonize enterprise AI risk-management processes, including platform-level and use-case-level control placement.
- Lead audit and inspection support, audit defense, responses to inspection findings, and deployment and closure of CAPA solutions for AI governance findings.
- Oversee vendor and platform documentation, partner management, and contract performance to support quality deliverables and SLA compliance.
- Use metrics, KPIs, and dashboards to monitor control effectiveness, assess AI risk exposure, and guide continuous improvement.
- Identify opportunities for process automation and technology adoption that improve efficiency, stakeholder satisfaction, and audit readiness while avoiding proportional headcount growth.
- Engage and align cross-functional partners, executive stakeholders, and AI Governance Office leadership to advance technology investments and governance initiatives.
- Promote innovation, best practices, standardized templates, lessons learned, and continuous improvement throughout the AI Governance, Operations & Monitoring function.
- Lead governance reviews for AI use cases submitted through ACTOR intake, triage, and risk assessment, applying applicable risk classifications and assigning proportionate controls.
- Own OneTrust or successor-platform workflow integration for AI risk assessment orchestration, control tracking, documentation, and reporting.
- Identify emerging AI risks, including agentic workflows, autonomous decision-making, and new model architectures, and develop control frameworks in anticipation of regulatory change.
- Serve as the primary technical contact between GOM and Privacy, Security, Quality, Risk Management, and Legal on AI control design and implementation.
- Support AI Legal pillar Functional Embedded Partners in ensuring risk recommendations are technically implementable and monitorable.
Benefits
- Paid time off, including vacation, holidays, and sick leave.
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for eligible employees.
- 401(k) for eligible employees.
- Eligibility to participate in long-term incentive programs.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
