AI Project Manager

Hydrogen Group; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 149,000 - 156,000; Part time

Job summary

Hydrogen Group is seeking an AI Project Manager for a hybrid role in San Diego, CA. This 6-month contract requires delivering enterprise AI initiatives from intake to production, coordinating cross-functional teams and governance.

Responsibilities include managing AI roadmaps, vendor/SOW oversight, adoption planning, and executive-status reporting. Candidates should have strong PM skills and hands-on AI delivery experience in regulated environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• 5+ years managing technical delivery or enterprise technology projects.
• Experience leading AI or ML initiatives from concept through production at enterprise scale.
• Direct experience delivering generative AI initiatives such as enterprise search, document intelligence, or conversational assistants.
• Practical experience delivering agentic AI or multi-step automation capabilities.
• Experience in regulated environments with Legal, Security, and Compliance approvals.
• Experience with vendor management, SOW administration, or contract management.

Responsibilities

• Manage delivery from intake through pilot and production deployment.
• Maintain scopes, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and launch plans.
• Establish a transparent prioritization model connecting business value, delivery requirements, and available pod capacity.
• Document and communicate roadmap changes, prioritization decisions, and scope adjustments.
• Coordinate AI Policy Review Committee submissions and ensure governance activities are completed on schedule.
• Engage Legal, Security, IT, Compliance, and other governance stakeholders early in the project lifecycle.
• Evaluate AI workflows to determine which processes are appropriate for autonomous or agentic execution.
• Define human review checkpoints, escalation paths, monitoring requirements, guardrails, and rollback procedures for agentic AI solutions.
• Coordinate implementation across enterprise AI and automation platforms and technical teams.
• Monitor vendors and implementation partners to ensure delivery aligns with SOW requirements and timelines.
• Establish pilot programs and measure utilization and adoption against defined targets.
• Coordinate enablement activities alongside AI literacy initiatives.
• Track and report production adoption rather than deployment metrics.
• Develop executive-level status reports and steering materials.

Skills

Project management

AI governance

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IT/Engineering/Business

5+ years technical delivery experience

PMP or Agile certified

Experience with AI governance

Tools

Claude

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Glean

Power Automate

UiPath

Azure

SharePoint

Teams

Job description

AI PROJECT MANAGER

LOCATION: SAN DIEGO, CA (HYBRID)

DURATION: 6-MONTH CONTRACT

PAY: 108-113 USD per hour

Job Responsibilities

In this role, you will manage and support a portfolio of enterprise AI initiatives, driving projects from intake through pilot and production.

Key responsibilities include

• Managing and prioritizing multiple AI initiatives across R&D, Commercial, Manufacturing, and Corporate functions, including:
• Enterprise search and conversational assistants.
• Document Q&A and document intelligence.
• Report drafting and meeting intelligence.
• Request triage and workflow automation.
• Agentic AI and multi-step automation capabilities.
• Sequencing an active AI roadmap against available team and pod capacity.
• Making and documenting prioritization decisions regarding initiatives that proceed, defer, or stop.
• Driving AI initiatives from intake through pilot and production, including scope, milestones, dependencies, risks, and launch activities.
• Removing blockers and coordinating delivery across small technical and business-focused pods.
• Leading the delivery of agentic AI and multi-step automation capabilities, including human-in-the-loop controls, escalation paths, guardrails, monitoring, and rollback provisions.
• Partnering with Legal, Security, IT, Compliance, and other stakeholders to ensure governance and approvals are incorporated into delivery plans.
• Managing implementation partners and SaaS vendors against SOWs, timelines, and committed deliverables.
• Developing and executing adoption plans for each AI capability, including pilot cohort design, utilization tracking, and user enablement.
• Preparing status updates, decision materials, and steering communications for VPs and executive leadership.

Essential Duties and Job Functions

• Manage project delivery activities from initial intake through pilot and production deployment.
• Maintain project scopes, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and launch plans.
• Establish and maintain a transparent prioritization model that connects business value, delivery requirements, and available pod capacity.
• Document and communicate roadmap changes, prioritization decisions, and scope adjustments.
• Coordinate AI Policy Review Committee submissions and ensure required governance activities are completed on schedule.
• Engage Legal, Security, IT, Compliance, and other governance stakeholders early in the project lifecycle.
• Evaluate AI workflows to determine which processes are appropriate for autonomous or agentic execution.
• Define human review checkpoints, escalation paths, monitoring requirements, guardrails, and rollback procedures for agentic AI solutions.
• Coordinate implementation across enterprise AI and automation platforms and technical teams.
• Monitor vendors and implementation partners to ensure delivery aligns with SOW requirements and committed timelines.
• Establish pilot programs and measure utilization and adoption against defined targets.
• Coordinate enablement activities alongside AI literacy initiatives.
• Track and report production adoption rather than relying solely on deployment or launch metrics.
• Develop executive-level status reports, decision documents, steering materials, and other communications.
• Establish delivery cadences, intake processes, and documentation practices that can be sustained by the internal team following completion of the engagement.

Knowledge & Skills

• Strong project management, delivery, documentation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong understanding of enterprise AI, generative AI, automation, and machine learning delivery.
• Practical experience with agentic AI workflows, including tool use, orchestration, multi-step execution, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Working knowledge of enterprise AI and automation platforms such as Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Glean, Power Automate, and UiPath, or comparable technologies.
• Ability to evaluate AI platform and vendor capabilities and translate technical concepts into practical business requirements.
• Understanding of data and analytics delivery, including how data readiness and platform architecture impact AI outcomes.
• Strong understanding of AI governance, risk management, security, compliance, and approval processes.
• Experience working with Legal, Security, IT, Compliance, and other cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong vendor and stakeholder management skills, including experience managing SOWs and implementation timelines.
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and make effective tradeoff decisions in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong executive-level written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and operate effectively within a lean team environment.
• Familiarity with Microsoft technologies, including Azure, Fabric, Entra ID, SharePoint, and Teams.
• Understanding of data governance concepts, including data classification, data ownership, stewardship, and access frameworks.
• Ability to establish productive relationships with internal teams, external vendors, and implementation partners.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience managing technical delivery or enterprise technology projects.
• Demonstrated experience leading AI or machine learning initiatives from concept through production at enterprise scale.
• Direct experience delivering generative AI initiatives such as enterprise search, document intelligence, conversational assistants, or similar solutions.
• Practical experience delivering agentic AI or multi-step automation capabilities.
• Experience delivering projects in a regulated environment where Legal, Security, and Compliance approvals are part of the critical path.
• Experience with AI governance or AI review committee processes preferred.
• Experience in biopharma, life sciences, or another regulated industry preferred.
• Familiarity with GxP or MNPI considerations preferred.
• Experience with vendor management, SOW administration, or contract management preferred.
• PMP, Agile, or equivalent certification is a plus.