Head of AI Adoption na undefined

Summary:

The Head of AI Adoption will establish and lead the Bank’s AI Adoption Center of Excellence (CoE), driving the responsible, secure, and value-driven integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI (GenAI), and Intelligent Automation across business and technology domains. This role will be responsible for defining the AI adoption strategy, identifying high-impact use cases, ensuring regulatory and ethical compliance, developing organizational capabilities, and promoting a culture of innovation and continuous learning. The leader will collaborate with business lines, risk, technology, and data teams to transform how the Bank operates, serves customers, and enhances decision-making through AI-enabled insights and automation.

Job Responsibilities: 

Strategic Leadership

• Establish the AI Adoption Center of Excellence (CoE) as the enterprise hub for AI strategy, governance, and enablement.
• Develop and execute the AI adoption roadmap aligned with the Bank’s strategic objectives, risk appetite, and regulatory obligations.
• Prioritize and sequence AI initiatives to maximize enterprise value, alignment, and adoption.
• Partner with executives across business, risk, compliance, data, and IT to prioritize and scale AI use cases that deliver measurable value.
• Advocate for responsible AI adoption that emphasizes transparency, explainability, fairness, and data ethics.

Governance, Risk, and Policy

• Collaborate with the CISO, Chief Data Officer, Legal, and Compliance functions to ensure AI initiatives adhere to enterprise data, cybersecurity, and model risk standards.
• Oversee the AI Governance Framework, including risk assessment, vendor review, model validation, and ongoing performance monitoring.
• Maintain alignment with evolving regulatory expectations (e.g., OCC, FDIC, CFPB) on AI and model risk management.
• Define AI usage policies covering acceptable use, accountability, privacy, intellectual property, and transparency.

Use Case Identification and Delivery

• Lead an AI Use Case Portfolio, coordinating with business leaders to identify and assess opportunities in customer engagement, operations, compliance, and risk management.
• Oversee proof-of-concept (POC) and pilot implementations with measurable success criteria, driving from “crawl” to “walk” to “run” maturity.
• Build partnerships with vendors, FinTechs, and technology providers (e.g., nCino, Microsoft, Salesforce, Automation Anywhere, OpenAI, Five9, Verint) to accelerate responsible adoption.

Capability Development

• Develop training, education, and change management programs to upskill employees and foster AI literacy across the Bank.
• Promote experimentation and continuous learning through internal innovation challenges, labs, and hackathons.

Measurement and Value Realization

• Define and monitor KPIs for AI adoption, including business impact, productivity gains, risk reduction, and customer experience improvement.
• Deliver regular updates to executive leadership, Board committees, and regulators on AI initiatives, outcomes, and risk posture.
• Ensure AI capabilities are scalable, reliable, and embedded effectively into operational processes.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Data Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in technology strategy, data analytics, or intelligent automation, with at least 2 years leading enterprise-level AI or digital transformation initiatives.

Skills & Competencies

• Proven leadership in developing and executing AI/automation strategies at scale.
• Deep understanding of AI/ML technologies, Generative AI platforms, and automation tools (e.g., Microsoft CoPilot, RPA platforms, NLP, LLMs).
• Strong grasp of data governance, cybersecurity, model risk management, and regulatory compliance frameworks.
• Excellent communication and executive presentation skills—able to translate complex AI concepts into business outcomes.
• Strategic thinker with hands-on delivery mindset and cross-functional influence.

Preferred

 Columbia Bank offers the following benefits:

• Medical, Dental, Vision and Rx which are contributory.
• Bonus programs.
• Employee Stock Option Program (ESOP).
• Life Insurance, Long Term Disability and Accidental Death and Dismemberment (LTD&AD&D).
• Paid Time Off (PTO) which includes Personal and Vacation Time.
• Paid Sick Time.
• Bank Holidays.
• Employees may participate in the 401k program.

Schedule:

This role is eligible for a hybrid schedule; 3 days in the office and 2 days work from home based on business need.