AI Governance Director

Sage Group plc; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software firm in the UK is seeking an experienced AI Governance Director. This role involves ensuring compliance of AI and data governance frameworks, leading a dedicated team, and closely working with senior leaders to integrate governance practices in development processes. The ideal candidate will possess extensive knowledge of data management, ethics, and validation norms, combined with strong leadership and communication skills.

Qualifications

• Experience in data management and governance frameworks.
• Understanding of ethics as it relates to data and AI.
• Proven leadership and strategic planning abilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI and data governance frameworks ensuring compliance.
• Mitigate risk through oversight from various compliance teams.
• Ensure operational integrity in AI systems and data management.
• Prepare management information for executive committees.

Skills

Data management concepts

Data governance frameworks

Data architecture and infrastructure

AI/ML lifecycle knowledge

Ethics application

Data and AI regulations

Team leadership

Communication

Job description

Job Title

AI Governance Director

Location

Hybrid, 3 days per week in our London office.

Job Description

As we continue to leverage data and cutting‑edge artificial intelligence for the benefit of customers and colleagues, we are looking for an experienced AI and Data Governance Director to ensure the integrity and compliance of our AI and data‑related solutions. The AI and Data Governance Director will play a critical leadership role in ensuring our internal development and use of data and AI comply with relevant regulations, policies and industry standards. This includes ensuring privacy, legal, security, and ethical considerations are applied at the appropriate stages of AI and data lifecycles, and that an accurate and auditable record is kept of all critical AI assets. The Director will work closely with senior leaders from our AI teams, Product Development, Data Engineering, Commercial and IT teams to ensure governance frameworks are embedded into development processes and that due diligence is consistently applied. You will also lead a small team and liaise with internal stakeholders to ensure robust compliance practices are maintained.

Key Responsibilities

• Governance & Compliance Leadership: Take accountability for AI and data governance frameworks ensuring compliance with evolving applicable global regulations, policies and standards.
• Ensure that AI systems and data management processes involve the appropriate oversight from our Privacy, Security, Ethics and Legal teams, mitigating risk and ensuring operational integrity.
• Ensure the global AI inventory captures all critical attributes for risk and compliance measures and enforce its completion for all qualifying AI.
• Collaborate with AI, product, legal, security, and privacy teams to complete assurance due diligence and inventory for all AI initiatives.
• Ensure that relevant policies are followed, risks are identified, and exceptions are managed appropriately.
• Oversee the ongoing assessment and improvement of our AI risk controls against the NIST RMF.
• Prepare and present management information packs for executive committees, ensuring key insights and compliance metrics are communicated effectively.
• Work with the Public Affairs organisation to communicate our standards and practices to external stakeholders.
• Work closely with the data engineering and IT teams to implement and maintain data governance practices, ensuring high‑quality, reliable data is available for critical reporting, AI model training and data transformation.
• Apply data stewardship practices to new data initiatives, including metadata capture, quality controls, and data privacy measures.
• Integrate AI and data governance standards into the development lifecycle, from initial design through to deployment and ongoing monitoring.
• Define best practices for integrating compliance, security, and ethical considerations at every stage of AI and data product development.
• Deputise for the VP Data Governance as necessary.
• Lead and mentor a team responsible for governance and compliance integration and monitoring, promoting a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing.

Skills, Know‑How and Experience

• Working knowledge of data management concepts.
• In‑depth understanding of data governance frameworks and extensive experience applying them to global organisations.
• Technical understanding of data architecture, infrastructure and data modelling.
• AI/ML lifecycle knowledge.
• Solid understanding of ethics and its application to data and AI.
• General knowledge of data and AI regulations.
• Team leadership and strategic planning.
• Communication and stakeholder engagement.