Program Manager, AI

ADNOC; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

ADNOC in Abu Dhabi is seeking a senior AI strategy leader to translate executive priorities into a measurable AI portfolio and govern the delivery from idea to deployment. You will own value realization across the ADNOC group, collaborating with upstream, downstream, trading, corporate functions, HSE, finance and HR to identify high-value opportunities and build robust business cases.

You will drive adoption, change management, and executive-level engagement, preparing steering materials and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 10+ years of AI strategy or enterprise-level project experience.
• Experience in energy/industrial/regulatory sectors preferred.
• Ability to translate business needs into AI initiatives and challenge technologists.
• Experience with portfolio governance, business cases, and scaled adoption.
• Comfort with Microsoft enterprise environments (Copilot, Power Platform, Azure AI, Microsoft 365).

Responsibilities

• Build and manage ADNOC's executive AI portfolio with use-case intake and value tracking.
• Define a stage-gated AI delivery model from idea to pilot to scale.
• Collaborate with units to identify high-value opportunities across the business.
• Own ROI, productivity, cycle-time reduction, adoption, and risk metrics.
• Partner with engineering teams to ensure feasibility, security, and scalability.
• Drive AI fluency, change management, and executive adoption plans.
• Prepare steering materials, investment papers, and reports for the Executive Office.

Skills

Portfolio Management

Data Analytics & AI

AI Integration

Value Realization

Delivery Strategy

AI Fluency

Executive Communications

Change Management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field

Job description

JOB PURPOSE:

To convert executive priorities into measurable AI outcomes by identifying, prioritizing, governing, and scaling AI initiatives across ADNOC. The role involves translating business ambition into a sequenced prioritized AI portfolio and ensuring ownership of initiatives till delivery.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Job Specific:

• Build and manage ADNOCu2019s executive AI portfolio, including use-case intake, prioritization, business-case development, delivery governance, and value tracking.
• Define a stage-gated AI delivery model from idea to pilot to scaled deployment.
• Collaborate with business units to identify high-value opportunities across upstream, downstream, trading, corporate functions, HSE, supply chain, finance, HR, and executive operations.
• Own value realization metrics such as ROI, productivity, cycle-time reduction, risk reduction, adoption metrics, and benefit tracking.
• Partner with engineering teams to ensure use cases are technically feasible, secure, and scalable.
• Drive executive AI fluency, change management, and adoption plans.
• Create steering committee materials, investment cases, and decision papers for the Executive Office.

Generic:

Supervision

• Plan, supervise and coordinate all activities in the assigned area to meet functional objectives.
• Train and develop the assigned staff on relevant skills to enable them to become proficient on the job and deliver the respective business objectives.

Budgets

• Provide input for preparation of the Function / Division / Department / Section budgets, assist in the implementation of the approved Budget, and work plans to deliver business objectives.
• Investigate and highlight any significant variances to support effective performance and cost control.

Policies, Systems, Processes & Procedures

• Implement approved Function/ Division/ Department/ Section policies, processes, systems, standards and procedures in order to support execution of the work programs in line with Company and International standards.

Performance Management

• Contribute to the achievement of the approved Performance Objectives for the Function/ Division / Department/ Section in line with the Company Performance framework.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement

• Design and implement new tools and techniques to improve the quality and efficiency of operational processes.
• Identify improvements in internal processes against best practices in pursuit of greater efficiency in line with best industry standards in order to define intelligent solutions for issues confronting the function.

Health, Safety, Environment (HSE) and Sustainability

• Comply with relevant HSE policies, procedures, controls, applicable legislation, and sustainability guidelines in line with international standards, best practices and ADNOC Code of Practices.

Reports

• Provide inputs to prepare MIS and progress reports for Company Management.

COMMUNICATION & WORKING RELATIONSHIP:

Internal:

• Collaborate with business units, engineering teams, and executive stakeholders to align AI initiatives with organizational goals.

External:

• Engage with external partners, vendors, and industry experts to identify opportunities and ensure best practices in AI implementation.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

Minimum Qualification:

• Bacheloru2019s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.

Minimum Experience:

• 10+ years of experience in AI strategy, implementation, or related fields, with a focus on enterprise-level projects.
• Strong AI transformation experience, ideally in energy, industrials, government, financial services or another regulated enterprise environment.
• Ability to operate as a business-AI translator: fluent enough in AI to challenge technologists, commercial enough to challenge business sponsors.
• Experience with portfolio governance, product strategy, operating models, business cases and scaled adoption.
• Comfortable with Microsoft enterprise environments, especially where Copilot, Power Platform, Azure AI and Microsoft 365 are part of the delivery landscape.
• Does not need to be a coder, but must understand enough about agents, data readiness, integration complexity and model risk to avoid approving vaporware.

Professional Certifications:

• AI certifications, Project Management Professional (PMP), or equivalent certifications preferred.

CORE / TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Portfolio Management (L4), Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (L5), Artificial Intelligence Integration and Application (L5), Portfolio Value Realization & Capital Efficiency Management (L4), Project Delivery Strategy (L4), AI Fluency (L5), Executive Communications (L4), Change Management (L4)