- Company Name
- WPP
- Job Title
- AI CoE Lead
- Job Description
-
**Job Title:** AI Center of Excellence (CoE) Lead
**Role Summary:**
Lead the creation and operation of an Enterprise AI Center of Excellence, serving as the single source of authority for AI strategy, governance, and delivery across a global organization. Own end‑to‑end AI initiatives from ideation to production, build and develop a high‑performance specialist team, and establish integrated frameworks for risk, compliance, and portfolio management.
**Expectations:**
- Translate enterprise AI vision into actionable plans that reduce duplication, technical debt, and AI risk.
- Deliver measurable business value through pilots, large‑scale AI product launches, and platform roll‑outs.
- Establish a culture of continuous learning, up‑skilling, and governance that satisfies executive and audit requirements.
- Manage a portfolio of AI use‑cases, vendor relationships, and budget to maximise ROI.
**Key Responsibilities:**
- **Strategic Execution & Scope Delivery** – Own all AI activities within Enterprise Technology; deliver agentic solutions (HR onboarding, tech self‑service), platform roll‑out support (M365 Copilot, Workday AI, ServiceNow AI), and proof‑of‑concept experiments.
- **Team Leadership & Capability Development** – Recruit, mentor, and grow a small cohort of AI specialists; foster a high‑performance culture and enable cross‑functional up‑skilling.
- **Governance & Compliance** – Design and enforce an enterprise AI governance framework; run risk assessments, register use‑cases, and coordinate with Corporate Governance and WPP Open for a shared model.
- **Demand & Portfolio Management** – Operate the “demand front‑door” for AI ideas, triage value, risk, and fit, and prioritize projects in collaboration with PMO and cluster portfolios.
- **Architecture & Patterns** – Build and maintain a library of approved AI reference designs and patterns to eliminate “shadow architecture” and ensure consistency.
- **Stakeholder Management & Influence** – Act as the functional AI leader, building strategic partnerships with Senior CIOs, Cluster leaders, and corporate function heads to secure executive endorsement and audit confidence.
- **Resource & Vendor Management** – Oversee COE resources, vendor contracts, and software licensing to deliver AI services cost‑effectively.
**Required Skills:**
- Proven strategic leadership and execution in a technology organization.
- Experience leading specialist AI/ML teams and managing talent development.
- Strong influence and stakeholder management across senior technical and business leaders.
- Commercial acumen: vendor negotiation, cost optimisation, and budgeting.
- Deep technical knowledge of AI/ML full‑stack, cloud services, and platform roll‑outs.
- Expertise in AI governance, risk assessment, and compliance frameworks.
- Project portfolio management and lean/Agile delivery.
**Required Education & Certifications:**
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, or a related discipline.
- Relevant certifications (e.g., Certified AI Practitioner, Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate, AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty) preferred.
- MBA or equivalent business management qualification is advantageous.