Artificial Intelligence Governance Lead WCC625146

Citywest Homes; United States; Remote; USD 93,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

Westminster City Council is seeking an AI Governance Lead to provide strategic leadership for the AI Governance Framework, ensuring safe, ethical, and legally compliant AI adoption aligned with public-sector priorities. The role involves defining standards, templates and controls, and presenting papers to senior boards.

You will coordinate assurance activities, monitor regulatory changes, and collaborate with Data Protection, ICT, Legal and Procurement teams to embed governance into projects and

Qualifications

• Experience leading or maturing AI, data, information or technology governance in a complex, regulated organisation.
• Working knowledge of UK GDPR and related laws and regulations.
• Ability to translate legal and regulatory requirements into practical standards and controls.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for the AI Governance Framework to ensure safe, ethical and legally compliant AI adoption.
• Define governance standards, templates, controls and guidance for delivery teams, and prepare papers for senior boards.
• Coordinate assurance activities, monitor legislation changes and produce strategic risk reports for senior leaders.
• Collaborate with various teams (Data Protection, Information Governance, Cyber Security, Procurement, Legal and Delivery) to embed governance into procurement and delivery processes.
• Maintain records and align governance activities across teams, providing practical advice to resolve issues promptly.

Skills

Governance

Risk management

Data governance

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Degree or equivalent in governance/risk/IT

Job description

As AI Governance Lead you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster's success. Providing strategic leadership for the Council's AI Governance Framework, it will be your task to ensure that AI adoption is safe, ethical, legally compliant and aligned to corporate priorities, public-sector expectations and our ambitions. Designing, leading and working to assure proportionate AI risk classification, governance and approval processes, and ensuring relevant cases receive the correct amount of scrutiny, you'll also evaluate the risks of proposed and existing AI.

Defining and maintaining governance standards, templates, controls and guidance for delivery teams, and writing papers, recommendations and decisions for senior boards and forums, we'll expect you to maintain oversight of compliance, assurance outcomes and audit findings. Working to integrate AI governance with the Council's wider data, information and technology governance arrangements, we'll also expect you to set expectations for data ownership, stewardship, classification, lineage, retention, quality and use, and embed requirements into strategic procurement, programme delivery, architecture review, service transition and operational change.

You'll have a number of additional responsibilities - these include maintaining records, aligning governance activities across different teams, and providing practical advice that enables your colleagues to meet the necessary requirements and resolve issues promptly. Delivering targeted support that improves our AI capabilities, you'll coordinate the investigation and resolution of any issues that arise, monitor changes in legislation, regulation and public-sector guidance, and help our senior leaders make informed decisions by producing strategic reports on risks, controls, compliance, benefits, assurance trends and governance maturity.

To be a success in this varied and fast-moving role you should have significant experience of leading or maturing AI, data, information or technology governance in a complex, regulated organisation, and be capable of translating legal, regulatory and organisational requirements into practical standards and controls. It's vital that you have working knowledge of UK GDPR and other relevant laws and regulations, and we'll also look for experience of applying data governance principles to procurement, project delivery, service transition or operational change.

Capable of exercising strong professional judgement in complex circumstances, and balancing innovation, risk, ethics, legal compliance and public value, you'll possess the ability to convert governance requirements into clear, usable processes, standards and guidance. Your excellent writing skills will enable you to produce clear, concise and evidence-based advice, papers and reports for a diverse range of audiences, and your interpersonal abilities will see you influencing senior stakeholders and multi-disciplinary teams as you resolve competing priorities and secure agreement on governance outcomes.

We'll expect you to be ready to coordinate assurance activities, maintain records and drive actions to completion, and have the confidence to communicate with authority, challenge appropriately, explain complex decisions and advise senior forums. When it comes to qualifications you should have a degree or equivalent professional experience in governance, risk, assurance, data, technology, public policy or a related field, and evidence of continuing professional development. We'll also expect you to be capable of analysing assurance data and emerging developments to identify trends and recommend improvements, and be ready to collaborate with Data Protection, Information Governance, Cyber Security, Architecture, Procurement, Legal and Delivery teams.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF 809 CONNECTED BUSINESSES

Digital and Innovation in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where creative and enterprising people put local residents and businesses first.

Today, Westminster is the most connected borough in London. But, when David joined us in the mid-2010s, small businesses were still struggling to get connected to fibre. Without gigabit-capable broadband, some companies even resorted to biking memory sticks around the city, simply to share files with clients.

Although still in a junior role, David took the initiative and successfully made the business case for £2.8 million of European funding to support connectivity for small businesses across Westminster. Feedback from businesses has been overwhelmingly positive as the project has enhanced their communications with clients. The new connectivity allows them to make video calls and work remotely. As the pandemic hit and many more people needed to work from home, it became clear just how vital this investment had been.

Fast-forward a few years. Westminster is leading the way for connectivity, as a result of the project businesses are thriving, and David is heading up a service of his own responsible for delivery of the Smart City strategy., Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority (GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (formally known as B.A.M.E , Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments., Westminster is an amazing place.

We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, and over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in our borough. Westminster City Council is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city's future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diversity, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is Our Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/

As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.