Applied AI Lead, Executive Director, Enterprise Technology Services

Morgan Stanley Asia Limited; Hong Kong; On-site; HKD 2,500,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee benefits and perks

Commitment to diversity and inclusion

Job summary

Morgan Stanley Asia Limited is seeking an Executive Director for Applied AI to lead generative AI strategy across Asia. The role involves managing AI-powered tools, ensuring compliance with regulatory practices, and collaborating with senior stakeholders in various business units.

The ideal candidate will have over 12 years of experience in technology strategy within the financial services sector, with a significant leadership background. This position supports a dynamic work environment with a commitment to diversity and innovation.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in technology strategy, program management, or technical product management.
• 5+ years in a senior leadership role at a global financial institution.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive regional rollout and adoption of AI-powered coding assistants.
• Own the enablement strategy for general-purpose GenAI productivity tools.
• Establish a registry of all GenAI use cases across Asia.

Skills

Technology strategy

Program management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Technical knowledge in AI/ML

Education

12+ years in financial services technology

Job description

Applied AI Lead, Executive Director, Enterprise Technology Services

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries. Positioned as a market leader, Morgan Stanley’s talent and passion are critical to our success. Together, we share values rooted in integrity, excellence, and strong teamwork.

Applied AI is a function within Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) responsible for driving the strategic adoption, enablement, and governance of generative AI capabilities across Morgan Stanley’s business units. The team serves as the connective tissue between the GenAI platforms and tooling developed within ETS and the business divisions that consume them—ensuring that AI solutions are deployed responsibly, effectively, and in alignment with the firm’s risk posture and regulatory obligations.

We are seeking a highly experienced and technically grounded Executive Director to lead generative AI strategy, adoption, and enablement across Morgan Stanley’s Asia business units—spanning Institutional Securities Technology (IST), Investment Management (IM), and Private Wealth Management (PWM). This individual will serve as the primary regional point of contact for GenAI capabilities, bridging the firm’s central technology platforms with the specific needs, priorities, and regulatory realities of the Asia region.

The successful candidate will operate at the intersection of technology delivery and business strategy, driving adoption of AI‑powered tools across the full stack— from developer‑facing coding agents to end‑user productivity tools to AI‑native analytics platforms—while maintaining a rigorous, up‑to‑date view of all GenAI use cases in flight and in the pipeline. The role requires program management discipline, stakeholder influence at the senior‑most levels, regulatory awareness across multiple Asia‑Pacific jurisdictions, and the technical depth to engage on architecture, implementation, and rapid prototyping when required.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive regional rollout, adoption tracking, and optimization of AI‑powered coding assistants—including Amp, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot (Agent Mode)—partnering with engineering leads across IST, IM, and PWM to measure developer productivity gains and resolve adoption blockers. Coordinate with ETS platform teams to keep licensing, model versioning, and configurations current and compliant.
• Own the regional enablement strategy for general‑purpose GenAI productivity tools—ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude for Financial Services, and Grok Enterprise—developing training programs, adoption playbooks, and use‑case libraries tailored to each business unit. Track and report adoption metrics and ROI to regional and global leadership.
• Serve as the Asia champion for the firm’s AI Development Platform (AIDP / AI Gateway), driving adoption of capabilities such as model‑serving endpoints, prompt management, RAG patterns, guardrails enforcement, and API governance. Surface Asia‑specific requirements (in‑region model availability, latency optimization, CJK language support) and support onboarding and architectural review.
• Drive adoption of AI‑native analytics platforms—Snowflake Cortex and Databricks Mosaic AI—partnering with data engineering and analytics teams to identify high‑value use cases such as automated report generation, natural‑language querying, anomaly detection, and intelligent document processing.
• Build and maintain an authoritative, continuously updated registry of all GenAI use cases across Asia—categorized by business unit, development stage, technology stack, and business owner. Establish a structured intake and prioritization process and produce regular portfolio‑level reporting, including pipeline health dashboards and velocity metrics.
• Ensure that Asia’s highest‑impact GenAI initiatives receive the specialized engineering and advisory resources they require—including Forward Deployed Engineers from vendor partners, dedicated ETS capacity, and other scarce technical resources—by building data‑driven business cases and advocating in firm‑wide allocation discussions. Own end‑to‑end coordination of allocated resources through delivery.
• Work in close coordination with global Applied AI counterparts to ensure consistency in enablement approaches, share best practices, and represent Asia in global prioritization and roadmap planning—adapting global strategies to regional needs and constraints.
• Serve as the regional liaison between technology, legal, compliance, and regulatory affairs on GenAI use across Asia jurisdictions (Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, India, Mainland China). Maintain a jurisdictional restrictions matrix mapping each tool, model, and data flow to applicable regulatory requirements.
• Maintain hands‑on technical currency by facilitating rapid prototyping and feasibility assessments of new GenAI capabilities using tools such as new models, new SDKs (LangChain/LangGraph), and Streamlit. Serve as a technical sounding board for senior engineers and architects on architecture patterns, model selection, and implementation trade‑offs.
• Establish trusted advisory relationships with senior leaders across IST, IM, and PWM. Coordinate cross‑BU forums and knowledge‑sharing sessions. Define and track KPIs—adoption rates, pipeline velocity, developer productivity impact, cost‑per‑use‑case, and compliance posture—and produce executive‑ready reporting on a monthly and quarterly cadence.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 12+ years of progressive experience in technology strategy, program management, or technical product management within financial services, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership capacity (VP or above) at a global financial institution.
• Stakeholder Management: Demonstrated track record building trusted relationships and influencing outcomes with senior stakeholders (MD/ED level and above) across technology, business, risk, legal, and compliance functions—without direct reporting authority. Proven ability to navigate matrixed organizations and drive consensus across competing priorities.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with proven ability to translate highly technical AI/ML concepts into clear, actionable narratives for non‑technical business leaders and regulators. Comfortable presenting to senior leadership forums, regional management committees, and global strategy councils.
• Program Management: Strong program management discipline, including experience managing multi‑workstream initiatives with cross‑functional dependencies, competing priorities, and ambiguous ownership. Proficiency in structured intake processes, portfolio‑level reporting, executive status communication, and risk/issue escalation frameworks.
• Technical Foundations: Demonstrated technical roots in software engineering, data engineering, or applied AI/ML with sufficient depth to engage credibly on LLM architecture and related technologies.

What You Can Expect From Morgan Stanley

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage, and allocate capital for our clients—helping them reach their goals. With a 90‑year history, our values—putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back—guide our decisions every day. You’ll find an opportunity to work alongside talented peers in an environment that supports and empowers. We provide a broad range of employee benefits and perks and encourage advancement based on skills and performance.

Morgan Stanley is an equal‑opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect a strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.