AI Adoption Program Manager

Zayed University; Dubai; On-site; AED 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tax-free salaries in UAE

Housing allowance

Annual vacation airline tickets for员工及

Educational subsidies for children

Healthcare coverage

Job summary

Zayed University seeks an AI Adoption Programme Manager to lead the day-to-day implementation of the Agentic AI Framework, coordinating with the UAE National PMO and AI workstreams to meet national AI targets.

You will oversee governance, budgeting, vendor onboarding, and the rollout of AI literacy at faculties, staff, and students, ensuring secure, scalable adoption across campus and operations.

Qualifications

• Master's degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience and at least 6 years in a managerial position.
• Experience in higher education, government or a regulated public-sector entity preferred.
• Certification in Programme/Project Management (e.g. PMP, MSP, PRINCE2) and/or AI-related certification preferred.
• Written and spoken English and Arabic language is a must.

Responsibilities

• Translate the approved AI Framework into a detailed, sequenced delivery plan and governance action plan, aligned to the timeline and reporting requirements of the UAE Government's Agentic AI Project.
• Act as ZU's dedicated point of contact and formal liaison with the National PMO, ensuring timely submission of action plans, wave reports and performance data.
• Report progress, risks and resourcing needs to the AI Strategic Committee and the Zayed University Agentic AI Taskforce, escalating matters of institutional significance.
• Consolidate budget and resourcing requirements for the AI programme, including vendor/implementation partner costs, and submit for review and approval.
• Identify risks, dependencies and operational roadblocks across the AI programme and recommend mitigation strategies to protect delivery timelines.
• Coordinate the RFP process and onboarding of the AI Implementation Partner/Vendor with the Strategy & Future and Digital Transformation Departments and manage the vendor relationship across all delivery phases.
• Coordinate with the AI and Data Technologies Workstream and IT/Digital Transformation on technology sourcing, integration architecture, data readiness and security requirements.
• Support the formalisation of AI governance: Committee Terms of Reference, decision rights, acceptable-use policy, assessment policy and risk-review/escalation processes.
• Coordinate the design and rollout of role-based AI literacy and capability-building programmes for faculty, staff and students, incorporating FAHR training requirements.
• Establish and support the AI Champions Network to cascade knowledge and sustain adoption across colleges and business units.
• Track and report programme KPIs, adoption metrics, training completion rates and use-case outcomes, feeding lessons learned into successive waves.
• Manage incident reporting and escalation for live AI use cases in line with approved national procedures.
• Prepare briefing materials, decision papers and progress reports for university leadership, the Board of Trustees and national stakeholders.
• Perform ad-hoc activities related to the AI programme, as requested by the Direct Supervisor.

Skills

Programme governance

Stakeholder management

Bilingual English & Arabic

Education

Master's degree

PM certification (PMP/MSP/PRINCE2)

Tools

RFP process management

Governance tooling

Job description

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Strategy and Future Department is seeking an AI Adoption Programme Manager who will be responsible for leading the day-to-day implementation of Zayed University's Agentic AI Framework, acting as the formal liaison with the UAE Government's Agentic AI Project national PMO, and coordinating AI Workstream Coordinators, AI Domain Leads and the AI Implementation Partner/Vendor across all phases of delivery, to ensure the University meets its national AI transformation targets, scales AI adoption responsibly across academic and operational functions, and delivers measurable institutional value in line with ZU's strategic objectives and the UAE AI Strategy 2031.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic & Programme Governance

• Translate the approved AI Framework into a detailed, sequenced delivery plan and governance action plan, aligned to the timeline and reporting requirements of the UAE Government's Agentic AI Project.
• Act as ZU's dedicated point of contact and formal liaison with the National PMO, ensuring timely submission of action plans, wave reports and performance data.
• Report progress, risks and resourcing needs to the AI Strategic Committee and the Zayed University Agentic AI Taskforce, escalating matters of institutional significance.
• Consolidate budget and resourcing requirements for the AI programme, including vendor/implementation partner costs, and submit for review and approval.
• Identify risks, dependencies and operational roadblocks across the AI programme and recommend mitigation strategies to protect delivery timelines.

Operational Delivery

• Coordinate the RFP process and onboarding of the AI Implementation Partner/Vendor with the Strategy & Future and Digital Transformation Departments and manage the vendor relationship across all delivery phases.
• Coordinate with the AI and Data Technologies Workstream and IT/Digital Transformation on technology sourcing, integration architecture, data readiness and security requirements.
• Support the formalisation of AI governance: Committee Terms of Reference, decision rights, acceptable-use policy, assessment policy and risk-review/escalation processes.
• Coordinate the design and rollout of role-based AI literacy and capability-building programmes for faculty, staff and students, incorporating FAHR training requirements.
• Establish and support the AI Champions Network to cascade knowledge and sustain adoption across colleges and business units.
• Track and report programme KPIs, adoption metrics, training completion rates and use-case outcomes, feeding lessons learned into successive waves.
• Manage incident reporting and escalation for live AI use cases in line with approved national procedures.
• Prepare briefing materials, decision papers and progress reports for university leadership, the Board of Trustees and national stakeholders.
• Perform ad-hoc activities related to the AI programme, as requested by the Direct Supervisor.

Coordination & People

• Coordinate the day-to-day activities of the Vendors, AI Workstream domain leads and coordinators
• Provide guidance and direction to AI Champions ensuring alignment with programme objectives and timelines.
• Identify capability and resourcing gaps within the AI programme team and liaise with HR/Strategy & Future leadership to address them.

THE REQUIREMENTS

• Master's degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience and at least 6 years in a managerial position.
• Prior experience in higher education, government or a regulated public-sector entity is preferred.
• Certification in Programme/Project Management (e.g. PMP, MSP, PRINCE2) and/or AI-related certification is preferred.
• Written and spoken English and Arabic language is a must.

THE BENEFITS

• competitive salaries free of tax in the U.A.E.
• cash housing
• annual vacation airline tickets for the employee and immediate family
• educational subsidies for children
• healthcare is provided to the employee and sponsored family members.