VP, Head of Program Management - AI

Synchrony • Stamford, CT

5d • $150,000 - $250,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Help Synchrony accelerate responsible AI adoption and business impact across the enterprise. As Vice President, Head of Program Management for AI, you will lead the operating engine for the AI organization — translating AI strategy into disciplined execution across strategic initiatives, enablement programs, tooling rollouts, adoption efforts, governance forums, and cross-functional delivery priorities. Reporting to the Global Head of AI, you will establish and lead the program management function that gives the AI organization a single, trusted view of priorities, progress, dependencies, risks, and outcomes. You will partner closely with AI leadership, technology, product, business, risk, legal, compliance, HR, communications, and other enterprise stakeholders to ensure AI initiatives are well sequenced, well governed, and adopted at scale. You are an enterprise program leader who brings structure to ambiguity, communicates clearly with executives and delivery teams, and knows how to turn bold strategy into measurable progress. You are equally comfortable shaping an operating model, coordinating complex portfolios, driving adoption of new capabilities, and helping teams move faster while maintaining appropriate discipline in a regulated financial services environment. This role leads the program management function for the AI organization and is accountable for execution discipline, operating cadence, portfolio visibility, enablement coordination, adoption tracking, and executive reporting. It does not independently own AI model decisions, business case approval, technology architecture, risk acceptance, legal interpretation, or policy decisions; those remain with the appropriate accountable AI, business, technology, risk, legal, compliance, and governance owners. The role is expected to connect those owners, surface decisions, and drive the structure needed for timely, responsible execution.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline and 10+ years of program, portfolio, transformation, or strategic initiative leadership experience; in lieu of a degree, 14+ years of relevant experience.
• Proven track record leading large, complex, enterprise-wide programs with multiple concurrent workstreams, senior stakeholders, and measurable business outcomes.
• Experience delivering strategic technology, data, digital, analytics, automation, AI, or enterprise transformation programs in financial services, banking, or another highly regulated industry.
• Working knowledge of AI, data, analytics, technology delivery, and change management concepts sufficient to coordinate credibly across technical, business, and control stakeholders.
• Understanding of responsible AI, model governance, risk management, privacy, legal, compliance, and operational control considerations sufficient to support disciplined execution without making accountable risk decisions.
• Experience with Agile, Scaled Agile, product operating models, and the tools delivery teams use day-to-day, such as Jira, SharePoint, or similar platforms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including executive-level storytelling, portfolio reporting, and presentation of complex AI initiatives in clear business terms.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority, manage conflict, build consensus, and align senior stakeholders across business, technology, and control functions.
• Exceptional organization, prioritization, and portfolio management discipline, with the ability to keep a high volume of ambiguous, cross-functional work moving toward outcomes.
• Experience managing vendors, consultants, internal centers of excellence, or shared enablement resources, including scope, deliverables, timelines, and outcomes.
• Comfort operating amid complexity and ambiguity; able to create structure, drive decisions, and maintain momentum in a fast-evolving AI landscape.
• Ability and flexibility to travel for business as required

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting AI, generative AI, machine learning, data science, analytics, automation, or emerging technology programs is strongly preferred.
• Experience driving enterprise change management, enablement, training, communications, and adoption for new technology capabilities or ways of working.
• Experience standing up or running a program management, portfolio management, transformation, or center-of-excellence operating model from the ground up.
• Proficiency with portfolio, program, adoption, and executive reporting tools, such as Microsoft Project, Planner, SharePoint, Power BI, Jira, or similar platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead the AI program management function day-to-day — orchestrating execution across strategic AI initiatives, enablement programs, tooling rollouts, adoption efforts, and cross-functional projects.
• Translate AI strategy into an integrated portfolio roadmap, milestone plan, dependency map, and execution rhythm that enables leadership to make timely tradeoff, sequencing, and resourcing decisions.
• Establish and run the AI portfolio operating model — including intake, prioritization, governance forums, decision rights, escalation paths, status reporting, and portfolio health reviews.
• Drive AI enablement activities across the firm, partnering with HR, learning, communications, business teams, technology, risk, legal, and compliance to coordinate training, awareness, change management, and adoption campaigns.
• Lead program execution for AI tools rollout and adoption — ensuring launch readiness, communications, training, stakeholder alignment, feedback loops, adoption measurement, and disciplined follow-through on post-launch improvements.
• Coordinate complex, enterprise-wide AI initiatives that require alignment across business units, technology teams, data partners, risk, legal, compliance, procurement, communications, and other enabling functions.
• Aggregate, track, and report AI portfolio KPIs and program metrics, including progress against strategic priorities, adoption and engagement indicators, delivery health, risk, dependencies, issues, and executive decisions needed.
• Maintain an accurate, trusted program record for AI initiatives, ensuring status reflects validated reality and that outcomes, decisions, risks, and dependencies are documented clearly for leadership review.
• Develop and execute a proactive communication strategy for AI leadership, executive stakeholders, business partners, and enterprise audiences to build awareness, alignment, and momentum around AI priorities.
• Coordinate AI portfolio financials in partnership with Finance and business owners — tracking investment, spend, benefits, and resource needs against plan.
• Prepare and deliver executive-ready reporting and briefings for the Head of AI, senior leadership, and governance forums — clearly articulating priorities, progress, adoption, risks, tradeoffs, and decisions required.
• Plan and orchestrate key AI program events, working sessions, leadership reviews, enablement forums, and adoption checkpoints, ensuring preparation, participation, clear outcomes, and disciplined follow-through.
• Perform other duties and/or special projects as assigned

Benefits

• annual bonus based on individual and company performance
• option to work from home near one of our Hubs or come into one of our offices
• inclusive culture where your individual skills, experience, and voice are not only heard – but valued
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

What This Job Offers

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