Associate Director, Responsible AI Solutions

FORD FOUNDATION; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 181,000 - 202,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

The Ford Foundation seeks an Associate Director, Responsible AI Solutions to lead ethical AI initiatives within its Information Technology team. You will partner with the CITO and senior leaders to design, govern, and scale AI solutions aligned with the foundation’s mission and values, balancing ethics with real-world impact.

You will manage an AI portfolio, translate complex challenges into responsible AI programs, and drive governance, risk assessment, and vendor management across the

Qualifications

• 8+ years of related professional experience in AI/ML or tech leadership.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, AI, ML, or related field.
• Proficiency in Python and AI frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch).

Responsibilities

• Lead development and implementation of responsible AI solutions aligned with the Foundation’s mission.
• Oversee AI portfolio and coordinate cross-functional IT teams.
• Refine and scale the Foundation’s AI strategy across departments.

Skills

Ethical AI

AI Strategy

Vendor management

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

NLP

GenAI

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Vertex AI

Gemini Enterprise

GCP

AWS

Azure

Hadoop

Spark

Kubernetes

Job description

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

The Ford Foundation's Information Technology team seeks an Associate Director, Responsible AI Solutions. Reporting to the Chief Information and Technology Officer (CITO), the Associate Director leads the development and implementation of ethical, cutting-edge AI solutions that align with our mission. The Associate Director works closely with the CITO and senior leaders across the foundation in refining and implementing the foundation's evolving AI strategy. Partnering with staff at all levels and external vendors and consultants, the Associate Director will use their experience, deep systems knowledge and understanding of best practices around governance and policy development to design and scale AI solutions that foster a culture of responsible innovation balancing ethical principles with real world solutions to create significant impact.

HOW YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE

• AI Portfolio Management: As the focal point for all AI initiatives within the IT team, manage a dedicated AI portfolio and consult with the cross-functional IT teams on their AI projects, fostering a cohesive approach to AI development and implementation.
• Develop and implement ethical AI solutions: Identify and translate complex business challenges into AI solutions. This involves assessing organizational needs, recommending ethical solutions, gathering requirements, designing and developing AI solutions, and deploying them into production environments within required budget and quality standards expectations. This includes defining project scope, gaining insight and agreement from others, allocating resources, managing timelines, and mitigating risks.
• AI Strategy: Collaborate with the CITO and senior leaders from cross-functional teams on refining the foundation's AI strategy to ensure that the foundation's AI systems, guidelines, processes, and procedures are aligned to the foundation's mission and values and are being scaled throughout the entire foundation.
• Governance & policy development: Monitor evolving AI regulations and data privacy laws. As a key member of the AI Advisory Group, draft, implement, and maintain clear, accessible Responsible AI guidelines, safety policies, and use-case criteria for the whole foundation to follow. Ensures all AI-related activities, all relevant stakeholders are aware of and adhering to ethical guidelines and protecting organizational data. Promote responsible AI development and deployment within the organization across departments, while considering potential biases, fairness, and transparency in AI systems.
• AI Model evaluation and optimization: Continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and performance of AI models, identifying areas for improvement and implementing optimization strategies to reduce our carbon footprint and enhance accuracy, efficiency, and scalability.
• Vendor & technology assessment: Remain up-to-date with emerging AI trends, technologies, and best practices. Research and recommend new AI tools and techniques to improve operational efficiency and drive innovation. Evaluate, propose and manage AI vendors and consultants to deliver strategic value within an approved budget.
• Education, culture & capacity building: Partner with People & Culture and other departments to build organization-wide AI literacy and upskilling, responsible prompt engineering, and ethical awareness. Cultivate a culture of responsible innovation across different teams, empowering non-technical staff to identify potential ethical risks early.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders: Clearly and effectively communicate project solutions, requirements and updates, technical details, and AI concepts to technical and non-technical audiences, including senior management, business stakeholders, and team members. Translate complex technical information into clear business value for non-technical stakeholders.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• 8+ years of related professional experience and a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or a related field (or an equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Proficient in Python and AI frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch), with expertise in machine learning, deep learning, NLP, foundational models, and GenAI technologies.
• Experienced in Generative AI techniques (e.g., LLMs, LangChain, RAG), Agentic architecture, and establishing connections using Model Context Protocol (MCP).
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Vertex AI, and production deployment using Gemini Enterprise or equivalent platforms (working knowledge of Google's ADK is a plus).
• Familiar with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), data technologies (SQL, Hadoop, Spark), and AI Ops principles (CI/CD pipelines, containerization, automated testing).
• Experienced in deploying AI models to cloud environments—optimizing for performance, latency, cost, and resource utilization (GPU/TPU)-and troubleshooting issues like performance drift.
• Strong capability in working with large datasets, extracting meaningful insights from unstructured data, and understanding content management systems, knowledge graphs, and information retrieval techniques.
• Demonstrated ability to recommend and apply practical AI solutions to real-world problems within content-rich domains.
• Deep conceptual understanding of how models process data, exhibit bias, and handle data privacy.
• Excellent project management skills with experience managing complex AI projects using Agile development methodologies.
• Experience managing AI vendors and the technical capability to evaluate vendor claims regarding model safety, data retention, and training data provenance.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and relationship-management skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for executive and non-technical audiences.
• Ways of working and engaging that align with the Foundation's mission, core values, and commitment to creating a culture of excellence.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: This position is primarily a sedentary role. However, the person in this position may need to occasionally move about inside the office to liaise with internal staff, access files, office machinery and a copy machine/printer. The Ford Foundation is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its programs, and operations. As part of this commitment, the Foundation will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application process, please contact, [e-mail].

SALARY: The Ford Foundation is committed to salary transparency. The minimum salary for this position is $181,000 and the maximum is $202,000. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of this range. A candidate’s relevant experience and our commitment to internal equity determine the final offer. We review global compensation regularly to ensure market competitiveness and equity. The hiring range for this position has been carefully crafted to align with the market.

LOCATION: This position is based in the foundation’s New York office. We operate in a hybrid model and require staff to be in the office three days per week.

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: This is a permanent position.

#LI-Hybrid

WORKING AT FORD

Commitment to creating a culture where everyone feels respected. A hybrid working model and flexible work arrangement policies offer colleagues the opportunity to engage in meaningful ways and the space to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Professional development and ample opportunities to build your expertise and expand your network.

• Comprehensive benefits package designed for your well-being and work-life needs, including medical, dental, and vision benefits effective on your first day.
• Generous time off, including personal, vacation, sick, extended holiday time off, and wellness days.
• Generous parental leave policy, including birth, surrogacy, adoptive, foster parents, and resources for backup child and elder care that support our colleagues’ ability to attend to family responsibilities.
• Comprehensive retirement benefits options (with employee and employer contributions of up to 13%), allowing you to invest in your financial future with confidence.

Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at The Ford Foundation, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law. The Ford Foundation does not discriminate against formerly incarcerated individuals.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant‑making organization. For more than 80 years it has worked with visionary people on the front‑lines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has ten regional offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.