Vice President, AI & Automation
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (Hybrid)DFW Residency Required | Weekly Onsite PresenceBase Salary Up to $230,000 + 30% Target Annual Bonus
Lead the Next Phase of Enterprise AI Transformation
A rapidly growing, technology-enabled services organization is seeking a
Vice President, AI & Automation to lead enterprise-wide AI strategy, intelligent automation initiatives, and the organization's AI Center of Excellence (CoE).
Reporting directly to the Chief Information Officer, this executive will lead the next phase of the company's AI evolution by scaling enterprise AI capabilities, expanding the AI Center of Excellence, and accelerating adoption of production AI and automation solutions across the organization. This role combines executive leadership, AI strategy, program ownership, and team building with practical experience delivering AI technologies such as Large Language Models (LLMs), agentic systems, Model Context Protocol (MCP)-enabled solutions, intelligent automation, and enterprise AI platforms.
This is not a greenfield opportunity. The organization has already invested significantly in AI, automation, intelligent document processing, agentic AI, enterprise integrations, and workflow transformation. The incoming leader will inherit a strong foundation, existing AI initiatives in production, executive sponsorship, and a growing AI team. The mandate is to scale adoption, accelerate value creation, and establish AI as a strategic advantage across the enterprise.
Why This Opportunity Stands Out
- Direct partnership with the CIO and executive leadership team
- Significant executive commitment and investment in AI and automation
- Established AI Center of Excellence with active initiatives already delivering measurable results
- Opportunity to scale and mature an existing AI program rather than start from scratch
- High visibility with executive leadership, board stakeholders, and future investors
- Ability to influence enterprise strategy and future AI-enabled service offerings
- Opportunity to build, expand, and lead the next generation of AI capabilities, teams, and operating models
Location Requirement
This position requires a candidate currently residing in the
Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex or willing to relocate prior to employment.
The successful candidate must be available to
work onsite one day per week and collaborate regularly with executive leadership, technology teams, and business stakeholders.
This role also requires occasional travel within Texas to support leadership meetings, operational initiatives, and strategic planning activities.
Remote candidates located outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area will not be considered.
What You'll Own
As the leader of the enterprise AI function, you will:
- Define, refine, and execute the enterprise AI and intelligent automation strategy
- Lead and mature the AI Center of Excellence
- Drive delivery of enterprise AI and automation initiatives leveraging Generative AI, LLMs, agentic architectures, MCP-based integrations, intelligent automation, and workflow orchestration platforms
- Identify, prioritize, and deliver high-impact AI initiatives across business and operational functions
- Partner with executive stakeholders to drive adoption and measurable business outcomes
- Scale AI platforms, governance frameworks, delivery processes, and organizational capabilities
- Build and lead a high-performing team across AI, automation, engineering, product, offshore, consulting, and business-focused resources
- Recruit, mentor, and develop the next generation of AI leadership and technical talent
- Establish scalable AI operating models, delivery methodologies, governance structures, and portfolio management practices
- Partner closely with engineering, architecture, data, and business teams to accelerate the deployment of production-ready AI solutions
- Evaluate emerging AI platforms, technologies, and strategic partners
- Establish responsible AI, security, compliance, and governance standards
- Partner with Finance and business leaders to validate ROI and business impact
- Present AI strategy, roadmap priorities, investment recommendations, risks, and business outcomes to executive leadership, board stakeholders, and investors
- Represent the company's AI strategy with clients, partners, executive leadership, and investors
- Identify opportunities to leverage AI as a competitive differentiator and potential revenue enabler
- Accelerate AI adoption throughout the organization while maintaining strong governance and accountability
What We're Looking For
The ideal candidate is a proven AI transformation leader who combines executive presence, business acumen, and hands-on experience delivering AI and automation solutions that create measurable business value. This individual must be equally comfortable discussing enterprise strategy in the boardroom and engaging with architecture, delivery, and implementation teams responsible for bringing AI solutions into production.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in technology, AI, automation, digital transformation, or consulting
- Proven success leading enterprise AI, intelligent automation, or transformation initiatives from strategy through production deployment
- Recent, hands-on experience delivering production AI and automation solutions leveraging Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), agentic architectures, Model Context Protocol (MCP), orchestration frameworks, RAG, intelligent automation, and enterprise integrations
- Demonstrated experience delivering measurable business outcomes through AI and automation
- Experience establishing, scaling, or leading an AI Center of Excellence (CoE), AI transformation office, or enterprise AI program
- Proven experience building AI roadmaps, operating models, governance structures, and delivery organizations
- Proven ability to recruit, develop, and lead high-performing AI, automation, engineering, and data teams
- Executive-level communication skills with the ability to engage senior leaders, boards, investors, and external stakeholders
- Strong execution mindset with a track record of converting strategy into operational results
- Current residence within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex or willingness to relocate prior to start date
- Ability to work onsite weekly and build strong relationships with executive leadership and business stakeholders
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a private equity-backed or high-growth organization
- Mid-market company experience preferred
- Consulting background with direct accountability for implementation and results
- Experience scaling and maturing an existing AI organization or Center of Excellence
- Experience leading enterprise AI initiatives that have progressed from pilot programs into large-scale production environments
- Experience within legal services, financial services, healthcare, insurance, claims administration, or other data-intensive industries
- Experience leading enterprise-wide AI adoption across multiple business functions
Technical Expertise
Strong working knowledge of:
- Enterprise AI platforms and modern LLM ecosystems
- Agentic AI architectures and workflow orchestration frameworks
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) and AI integration frameworks
- Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures and knowledge systems
- AI governance, privacy, compliance, and security best practices
- Intelligent document processing and workflow automation
- Cloud platforms including Azure and AWS
- LLMOps, evaluation frameworks, model lifecycle management, and AI operations
- API integrations, enterprise platforms, and systems architecture
- Data governance, analytics, and information management
Important
This is not a pure executive oversight role.The successful candidate must bring recent, hands-on experience leading and delivering production AI and automation solutions using Generative AI, LLMs, agentic architectures, MCP-enabled ecosystems, workflow orchestration platforms, and enterprise integrations.
While this individual will not function as an individual contributor developer, they must be comfortable engaging deeply with architecture, use-case prioritization, solution design, implementation approaches, technical tradeoffs, vendor evaluation, and delivery execution. The ideal candidate has personally helped build and scale AI Centers of Excellence, established AI operating models, developed AI teams, and partnered closely with engineering, data, and business leaders to move AI initiatives from concept to production at enterprise scale.
This role combines executive leadership, AI strategy, program ownership, AI delivery, and team building with a practical understanding of what it takes to successfully deploy AI solutions that generate measurable business value.
First-Year Priorities
First 90 Days
- Assess existing AI initiatives, platforms, governance, and operating models
- Evaluate the current AI Center of Excellence structure, talent, and delivery processes
- Validate roadmap priorities and business value targets
- Strengthen stakeholder alignment and executive engagement
- Establish a scalable operating model for the AI Center of Excellence
By 6-9 Months
- Scale current AI initiatives into broader production deployment
- Expand AI and automation capabilities across additional business functions
- Deliver measurable improvements in productivity, cycle times, and operational efficiency
- Mature AI delivery frameworks, governance standards, and prioritization processes
- Continue building and expanding the AI team and operating model
By 12 Months
- Establish a highly effective enterprise AI Center of Excellence
- Expand AI capabilities across multiple business functions and systems
- Mature intake, prioritization, governance, and portfolio management processes
- Build a scalable AI operating model capable of supporting long-term growth
- Position AI as a core strategic and competitive advantage for the organization
- Deliver sustained and measurable business outcomes through enterprise AI adoption
Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary: Up to $230,000
- Target Annual Bonus: Up to 30%
- Executive-level visibility and influence
- Regular exposure to board members, executive leadership, and investors
- Direct partnership with the CIO and leadership team
- Hybrid executive leadership role requiring weekly onsite collaboration within the Dallas-Fort Worth area
- Opportunity to shape the long-term AI and automation strategy of a growing organization
- Opportunity to build and scale a high-impact AI organization and team
If you've successfully delivered enterprise AI solutions, built AI Centers of Excellence, scaled AI teams, and driven measurable business outcomes through AI and automation, we'd welcome the opportunity to speak with you.Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without employer sponsorship now or in the future.