Senior Manager, AI Program Management

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Manager, AI Program Management based in the United States. This is a high-ownership leadership role responsible for building an AI program-management function from the ground up. You will bring structure, transparency, and execution discipline to a growing portfolio spanning AI platforms, data, governance, and business-facing agent initiatives. The role combines strategic planning with hands-on execution, turning ambiguous opportunities into clear plans, measurable outcomes, and scalable delivery processes. You will partner closely with senior AI and technology leaders while coordinating engineering, data, security, legal, architecture, product, and business stakeholders. The position offers the opportunity to shape how enterprise AI initiatives move from discovery and experimentation through production, adoption, and value measurement. You will operate in a fast-moving environment where priorities evolve and strong judgment, ownership, and practical problem-solving are highly valued. This remote-friendly role is designed for a hands-on program leader who can build a new function while keeping complex AI initiatives focused on measurable business impact.

Build and establish the AI program-management function, including standards, operating rhythms, templates, portfolio reporting, intake, prioritization, decision tracking, and delivery governance. Partner with senior AI leadership to translate strategy into an actionable roadmap covering AI platforms, agent products, governance, observability, adoption, and business use cases. Transform loosely defined opportunities into structured program charters covering problem statements, expected value, ownership, scope, dependencies, milestones, success metrics, and definitions of done. Develop and maintain a portfolio view of AI initiatives, making investment, capacity, dependencies, and prioritization tradeoffs visible to leadership. Lead end-to-end delivery of complex AI programs involving engineering, data, security, legal, enterprise architecture, product, and business teams. Own the intake and prioritization process, distinguishing experimentation from scalable production investments and determining what should enter the portfolio and when. Work directly with delivery teams to gather progress, deliverables, and artifacts, proactively addressing blockers and following up on delayed work. Establish a repeatable AI delivery lifecycle spanning discovery, data readiness, pilot development, evaluation, production launch, adoption, and ongoing measurement. Drive alignment around requirements, risks, dependencies, decisions, and timelines while escalating issues that could affect delivery, security, data quality, or adoption. Prepare executive-level communications that clearly communicate progress, business value, risks, decisions required, and next steps. Establish measurement standards covering adoption, quality, reliability, cost, risk, and realized business value. Partner with technical leaders to incorporate architecture, integrations, data access, evaluation, security, governance, operational support, and change-management considerations. Establish operating cadences such as weekly delivery reviews, monthly portfolio and value reviews, and executive steering updates. Mentor future program and project managers as the function expands. Help organize and deliver initiatives involving enterprise AI platforms, AWS foundations, MCP and enterprise-tool integrations, AI observability, evaluation, governance, cost management, agentic business solutions, adoption, training, and change management. Establish a trusted view of the AI portfolio within the first 90 days, including ownership, dependencies, risks, investments, and expected outcomes. Within the first year, build a scalable PM function that enables AI initiatives to progress through a repeatable, well-governed process with clear owners, metrics, evaluation plans, adoption strategies, and measurable value. Requirements: 8+ years of experience in program management, product management, transformation, portfolio management, or a related discipline, including ownership of complex cross-functional technology programs. Meaningful experience delivering AI, data, analytics, cloud-platform, automation, or enterprise-software initiatives; direct generative AI or agentic AI experience is strongly preferred. Demonstrated experience building or significantly improving a PMO, program-management practice, product operations function, or portfolio-management model. Strong ability to turn ambiguity into structured, practical plans without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy. Experience working with technical teams and understanding data, integrations, cloud infrastructure, security, software delivery, and production operations. Strong executive presence and excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly frame decisions and tradeoffs for technical and non-technical audiences. Strong business orientation, with an understanding that successful AI initiatives must deliver adoption and measurable value rather than simply launch models or features. Hands-on working style with a willingness to personally create plans, develop trackers, manage dependencies, and resolve blockers. Strong judgment regarding when to standardize, when to experiment, and when to stop initiatives that are not producing sufficient value. Ability to operate effectively in a lean, evolving environment where priorities can change and new structures must be created as needed. Preferred experience leading enterprise AI, data, or digital-transformation portfolios. Experience in consulting, research, technology, SaaS, professional services, or data-products environments is advantageous. Familiarity with AWS, enterprise data platforms, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Jira/Confluence, and modern AI or agent architectures is preferred. Experience with AI governance, responsible AI, model evaluation, observability, security, or change management is a plus. PMP, PgMP, SAFe, Agile, product-management, or similar credentials are welcome but not required. Ability to work remotely from an eligible U.S. state. Benefits: Expected total annual compensation of $130,000–$190,000, including base salary and variable compensation, depending on location and experience. 15 vacation days, prorated based on start date. 12 company-paid holidays. 6 paid sick days, prorated based on start date and subject to applicable state requirements. Medical, dental, and vision coverage. 2 floating holidays, prorated based on start date. 1 paid volunteer day. 401(k) company match of 3% on the first 6% of employee contributions. Company-paid short-term disability. Company-paid life insurance. Company-paid parental leave. Remote work opportunities across numerous eligible U.S. states. Opportunity to build a new AI program-management function and influence enterprise AI strategy and execution. Exposure to senior technology, business, and executive stakeholders. Opportunity to work on emerging AI, agentic technology, data, governance, and enterprise transformation initiatives. Professional growth through a high-impact role with significant ownership and organizational visibility.