AI Governance Principal

Blackbaud; United States; Remote; USD 134,000 - 174,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision insurance

Remote-friendly workforce

Wellness programs

401(k) with employer match

Flexible paid time off

Generous parental leave

Donations for Doers

Pet insurance

Job summary

Blackbaud seeks an AI Governance Principal to shape responsible AI across the enterprise, designing and owning governance frameworks, policies, and risk methods from concept to deployment and ongoing oversight.

You’ll partner with product, engineering, risk, and business teams to translate regulatory requirements into practical controls and metrics for governance effectiveness and adoption.

Qualifications

• 8+ years across governance, risk, compliance, or policy incl. AI governance.
• Hands-on applying NIST AI RMF; familiarity with EU AI Act and ISO/IEC 42001/27001 is a plus.
• Experience building governance programs, policies, and standards from scratch.
• Independent or second-line oversight in a software/SaaS/tech environment with product/engineering partners.
• Strong AI/ML lifecycle understanding, generative/agentic AI; ability to discuss with engineers.
• Ability to influence across technical and exec audiences; AI governance credential is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design and continuously improve enterprise AI governance frameworks, policies, and standards.
• Own governance for AI initiatives from intake through risk classification, assessment, and approval.
• Translate frameworks into clear controls for product and engineering teams.
• Evaluate proposed AI solutions and ensure controls are properly implemented.
• Establish documentation, evidence, and monitoring to create traceable governance.
• Develop metrics to measure governance effectiveness and adoption.
• Communicate AI risks and decisions to executives and stakeholders.
• Evolve the program as AI technologies and regulatory expectations change.

Skills

Governance experience

Risk & compliance

AI governance

Education

IAPP AIGP credential

Tools

NIST AI RMF

Job description

About the role

Blackbaud is looking for a AI Governance Principal to help shape how AI is governed responsibly across the enterprise. In this highly visible role, you’ll design, build, and own the frameworks, policies, standards, risk methodologies, and controls that guide AI from initial concept through deployment and ongoing oversight. You’ll work across product, engineering, risk, and business teams to translate regulatory requirements and industry frameworks into practical expectations teams can understand and apply. This is a hands‑on governance role for someone who has built programs and policies from the ground up and can balance responsible innovation with effective risk management.

What you’ll be doing

• Design, document, and continuously improve enterprise AI governance frameworks, policies, standards, and methodologies, including approaches for generative AI and agentic AI.
• Own the governance process for AI initiatives, from intake and inventory through risk classification, assessment, review, approval, and ongoing oversight.
• Translate frameworks and regulatory requirements, including NIST AI RMF and the EU AI Act, into clear, actionable controls and expectations for product and engineering teams.
• Partner with teams to evaluate proposed AI solutions, validate that applicable controls are appropriately designed and implemented, and identify areas requiring additional risk treatment.
• Establish documentation, evidence, evaluation, and monitoring requirements that create a consistent and traceable governance process.
• Develop metrics that measure the effectiveness and adoption of AI governance, including coverage, review cycle times, and exception management.
• Partner with executives, product leaders, engineers, and other stakeholders to communicate AI risks, requirements, decisions, and tradeoffs in a clear and actionable way.
• Continuously evolve the governance program as AI technologies, regulatory expectations, and industry standards change.

What we’ll want you to have

• 8+ years of experience across governance, risk, compliance, technology risk, or policy, including direct experience building or leading AI governance, responsible AI, or AI risk programs.
• Hands‑on experience applying NIST AI RMF and working knowledge of the EU AI Act; familiarity with ISO/IEC 42001, ISO 27001, ISO/IEC 42005, or similar frameworks is a plus.
• Experience building a governance program, control framework, or major governance capability from the ground up, including authoring and implementing policies and standards.
• Experience providing independent or second‑line oversight in a software, SaaS, or technology environment and partnering directly with product and engineering teams.
• Strong understanding of the AI/ML lifecycle, generative AI, and agentic AI patterns, with the technical fluency to participate effectively in design and architecture discussions.
• Ability to influence across technical and executive audiences, translate complex requirements into practical guidance, and drive adoption without relying on direct authority; IAPP AIGP or a comparable AI governance credential is a plus.

Benefits Include

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Remote-flexible workforce
• Wellness Programs
• 401(k) program with employer match
• Flexible paid time off
• Generous Parental Leave
• Donations for Doers
• Pet insurance, legal and identity protection
• Tuition reimbursement program

The starting base pay is $133,700.00 to $173,800.00. Blackbaud may pay more or less based on employee qualifications, market value, Company finances, and other operational considerations.

Stay up to date on everything Blackbaud, follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Blackbaud powers social impact through purpose‑driven technology and responsible AI. Guided by our Intelligence for Good® vision, we’re building a culture where innovation, trust, and human expertise come together to help organizations make a greater difference in the world.

Blackbaud is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community-nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare institutions and individual change agents-Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through software, services, expertise, and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and CRM, marketing, advocacy, peer‑to‑peer fundraising, corporate social responsibility, school management, ticketing, grantmaking, financial management, payment processing and analytics. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.