Senior Lead, AI, Digital and Data Capacity Development

Role Overview

This role leads how a global organisation embeds artificial intelligence, digital tools, and data practices into everyday work—moving beyond isolated projects to organisation-wide adoption. Day to day, the post holder sets the strategic direction for AI in general productivity, chairs cross-functional leadership forums that hold senior teams accountable for uptake, and builds the training and culture change programmes that turn technical capability into daily habit. The work matters because it ensures hundreds of staff across countries and functions can use these technologies to accelerate mission delivery, make better decisions, and work more efficiently, while staying within a clear ethical framework.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own the multi-year strategy for digital, data, and AI capability development, making clear trade-offs on where to invest resources for the greatest organisational impact.
• Chair senior leadership forums—including the AI Forum and the AI Ethics & Risk Working Group—and hold executive-level leaders and country directors accountable for their teams’ adoption of AI and digital solutions.
• Lead the design, rollout, and continuous improvement of training programmes that build AI fluency and analytics skills across the organisation, ensuring content is inclusive and accessible to diverse audiences.
• Drive the development and implementation of organisation-wide policies for the responsible and ethical use of AI, aligning them with the organisation’s core values of ambition, accountability, and integrity.
• Engage directly with end users to gather insights on their needs and represent those needs in the design of data products and self-service analytics tools, ensuring tools are user-friendly and meet real-world requirements.
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships with internal stakeholders across functions and country offices, as well as external partners, to champion the strategic value of data, analytics, and AI.
• Serve as the senior accountable lead for AI capability, reporting to the Executive Leadership Team on delivery, measurable impact, and progress against the enterprise-wide adoption strategy.
• Represent the organisation externally as a thought leader on responsible AI adoption in the international development sector, speaking at events and engaging with peer organisations.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Proven experience in senior leadership roles, including setting and owning organisation-wide strategy that spans multiple functions and geographies.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and secure commitment from executive-level leaders and country directors within a large, federated global organisation.
• Strong track record of leading organisational change and fostering a culture that embraces continuous improvement and new ways of working.
• Solid understanding of data analysis, visualisation, and interpretation techniques to support evidence-based decision-making.
• Working knowledge of common analytics tools and platforms (for example, SQL, Python, R, Tableau, Power BI).
• Experience using user-centred design methods to gather insights and create inclusive, accessible data products and tools.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with a proven ability to identify key partners, maintain long-term relationships, and advance strategic initiatives through collaboration.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (or equivalent professional experience) in a relevant field such as data science, information management, business administration, or international development.
• Desirable: experience in the non-profit sector, particularly international development projects; proficiency in French, Spanish, or Arabic.