ai Activation & Enablement Lead

JD GROUP; Bury; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A global retail brand is seeking an AI Activation & Enablement Lead for a 6-month FTC to manage AI initiatives, develop AI frameworks, and ensure business outcomes. The ideal candidate will have proven program management experience, strong communication skills, and a background in AI technologies. Competitive salary and benefits package included. Location: Bury, England.

Benefits

Opportunity to shape AI in retail

Collaborative work environment

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Proven experience in AI program management, enablement, or transformation roles.
• Strong understanding of AI technologies and deployment challenges.
• Ability to collaborate in complex, cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI initiatives to align with business strategic goals.
• Oversee the lifecycle from ideation to deployment of AI solutions.
• Establish and promote best practices for AI development and deployment.

Skills

AI program management

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Understanding of AI technologies

Experience with LLMs

Job description

Overview

AI Activation & Enablement Lead - 6-month FTC

Role overview: We are seeking a strategic and hands-on AI Activation & Enablement Lead to spearhead the conception, rollout, and scaling of AI initiatives across the JD Group. This role reports into our Group Director of Data & AI and will bridge innovation and execution ensuring AI Proofs of Concepts evolve into scalable solutions that deliver measurable business impact.

You will lead the inception, prioritisation and roll out of AI across the JD group aligning with business stakeholders to understand requirements, the most suitable solutions and the business value said solutions will deliver. Collaborating with business and engineering teams, you’ll be instrumental in establishing and driving our AI pipeline as a group.

Responsibilities

• AI Strategy & Enablement
• Partner with Business & Technology teams to identify, prioritise, and activate AI use cases aligned with strategic goals
• Develop and maintain a global AI enablement framework to support consistent rollout, adoption and scaling of AI solutions
• Maintain expertise in AI evolution and guide internal stakeholders in understanding its implications and opportunities
• Define and track success metrics for AI initiatives to ensure business value and continuous improvement

• Solution Management & Deployment
• Lead intake and prioritisation of AI requests and develop build / buy / hybrid framework for delivery models of associated solutions
• Oversee the lifecycle of AI solutions, from ideation and experimentation to evaluation and deployment
• Build and maintain a global AI Library of initiatives, outcomes, and reusable solutions providing globally visibility of these solutions and their business impact
• Collaborate with product and technology teams to ensure successful integration of AI solutions into operational systems

• Stakeholder Engagement
• Act as a central point of contact for AI initiatives across regions, ensuring alignment and knowledge sharing
• Build strong relationships with market leads, functional heads, and external partners to accelerate AI adoption managing external partners to accelerate delivery
• Work with business stakeholders to define hypotheses, business cases, and benefits
• Prepare decision-ready proposals for AI Exec Forums in association with stakeholders
• Communicate complex AI concepts and outcomes in a clear, business-relevant manner

• Governance & Best Practices
• Establish and promote best practices for AI development, testing, and deployment
• Ensure compliance with data governance, ethical AI standards, and regulatory requirements
• Monitor performance of deployed AI solutions and drive continuous improvement

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Proven experience in AI program management, enablement, or transformation roles within a global organisation
• Strong understanding of AI technologies, lifecycle, and deployment challenges
• Experience with large language models (LLMs), generative AI, and their enterprise applications
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Experience defining and tracking success metrics for new initiatives, including ROI and model performance
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive alignment across business and technology teams
• Strong program management skills, including roadmap development, resource planning, and risk management
• Ability to collaborate and excel in complex, cross-functional teams involving AI and Product teams and both junior and senior business stakeholders
• Experience working in retail, consumer goods, or similar fast-paced industries

Desirable

• Familiarity with MLOps, cloud platforms inc. AWS and GCP, and data and AI governance frameworks
• Familiarity with data architecture, data pipelines, and feature engineering concepts
• Experience leading change initiatives and fostering adoption of emerging technologies across diverse teams
• Ability to work across time zones and cultures in a matrixed organisation

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape the future of AI in a leading global retail brand
• Collaborative and innovative work environment
• Competitive salary and benefits package
• Global exposure and career development opportunities