Sr. Director, AI Finance & Legal Transformation

SharkNinja•Needham, MA

8h•$225,000 - $275,000•Onsite

About The Position

SharkNinja is a global product design and technology company with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions. Powered by two trusted, global brands, Shark and Ninja, the company has a proven track record of bringing disruptive innovation to market. At SharkNinja, we’re building an AI-native culture where people are expected to experiment boldly, adopt new tools, and continuously raise what’s possible to create meaningful impact for our consumers. The Sr. Director, AI Finance & Legal Transformation will own the strategy and execution of AI integration across SharkNinja's finance organization (FP&A, accounting, internal audit, tax, investor relations) and legal organization (contract management, IP, regulatory compliance, litigation support). Multiple AI projects are already in flight across both functions, and this role is responsible for connecting them, sequencing them, and driving them to completion. The individual will be measured on adoption, speed, and measurable business impact, reporting directly to the VP, Chief of Staff to the CEO, with a dotted line to the CFO and CLO. This role is critical as AI transformation is a top company priority, and Finance and Legal are key areas where this transformation becomes measurable.

Requirements

10+ years in AI/ML, finance transformation, legal operations, or technology-driven change management
Strong technical fluency in AI/ML, with hands-on experience deploying enterprise LLM platforms (Claude, ChatGPT): you can evaluate tools, assess platforms, and hold your own in technical discussions with engineers and data scientists
Deep understanding of enterprise finance operations (FP&A, accounting, audit, controls, ERP systems) and working knowledge of corporate legal operations (contract lifecycle, IP, compliance)
Proven track record leading large-scale transformation in complex, multi-stakeholder environments
Ability to bridge technical and business: you can tell IT what to build and tell the CFO or CLO what outcome it delivers
Decisive, action-oriented, and comfortable in ambiguity where speed matters more than perfection
Experience productionalizing AI prototypes from proof-of-concept to enterprise-grade tools with proper back-end infrastructure, particularly in environments where customized platforms are already in flight

Nice To Haves

Experience deploying AI across finance or legal at scale, not just pilots
Familiarity with SOX compliance, material weakness remediation, CLM platforms, or e-discovery tools
Background in Legal Engineering, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE), or comparable roles that combine production-grade software development with domain-specific legal workflow design

Responsibilities

Own the AI transformation roadmap across the full finance and legal functions, identifying overlaps, dependencies, and consolidation opportunities
Sequence and prioritize ruthlessly: drive each initiative to completion before starting the next
Build and lead a team of AI Fellows embedded directly into finance and legal teams
Accelerate forecast automation, consolidating commercial forecasting across Americas, Global, and EMEA into a single AI-powered path from prototype to production
Partner with Internal Audit to fast-track AI adoption in audit and controls, reducing remediation timelines on material weaknesses
Activate AI opportunities across accounting -- from automating data entry and reconciliation to larger process redesign
Accelerate AI-powered contract review, IP portfolio management, and regulatory compliance monitoring to reduce cycle times, outside counsel dependency, and manual exposure tracking
Build legal intelligence and knowledge retrieval systems that make institutional legal knowledge accessible and actionable across the organization
Evaluate the legal tech landscape and make build-vs-buy decisions that compound in value -- prioritizing platforms SharkNinja owns over vendor lock-in
Drive production readiness for Legal's existing AI prototypes, moving working tools from proof-of-concept to enterprise-grade platforms
Translate AI capabilities into practical solutions that finance and legal professionals actually use
Drive behavioral change across teams with varying levels of AI fluency
Establish success metrics and report measurable outcomes to executive leadership
Coordinate with external partners (PwC, Oracle) to avoid duplication and ensure AI initiatives complement existing efforts