Senior AI Strategist - Futures Lab

Edward Jones; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k retirement plan

Medical & prescription

Dental

Vision

Disability insurance

Life insurance

AD&D insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Paid holidays

Job summary

Edward Jones seeks a Senior AI Strategist for the Futures Lab to define future-state visions of AI-enabled systems and translate strategy into decision-grade materials for leadership.

You will partner with executives across business, technology, risk, and governance to shape roadmaps, monitor AI trends, and ensure disciplined exploration before funding or deployment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years demonstrated experience in strategy, strategic foresight, systems thinking, business transformation, product strategy, or enterprise innovation, with subject‑matter expertise in AI and emerging technologies.
• Ability to translate emerging signals and technology shifts into future-state concepts and strategic options for enterprise leaders.
• Experience evaluating opportunities across strategic fit, value, feasibility, adoption, risk, readiness, and dependencies.
• Ability synthesize business, human, technology, data, and risk perspectives into senior-level decision materials.

Responsibilities

• Defines and refines future-state visions and strategic framing for AI-enabled systems linked to business objectives.
• Explores long-range AI opportunities to inform roadmaps and governance pathways.
• Frames and evaluates AI and emerging-technology spaces with decision criteria for leadership.
• Builds alignment across business, design, technology, analytics, and governance stakeholders.
• Shapes narratives and inputs that clarify trade-offs and outcomes for executives.
• Monitors external AI developments to refine priorities and surface value opportunities.

Skills

Strategy

Strategic foresight

Systems thinking

Business transformation

Product strategy

Enterprise innovation

AI expertise

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

This job posting is anticipated to remain open for 30 days, from 08-Oct-2026. The posting may close early due to the volume of applicants.

Join a financial services firm where your contributions are valued. Edward Jones is a Fortune 500¹ company where people come first. With over 9 million clients and 20,000 financial advisors across the U.S. and Canada, we’re proud to be privately-owned, placing the focus on our clients rather than shareholder returns.

Behind everything we do is our purpose: We partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. We are an innovative, flexible, and inclusive organization that attracts, develops, and inspires performance excellence and a sense of belonging.

People are at the center of our partnership. Edward Jones associates are seen, heard, respected, and supported. This is what we believe makes us the best place to start or build your career.

View our Purpose, Inclusion and Citizenship Report.

¹Fortune 500, published June 2024, data as of December 2023. Compensation provided for using, not obtaining, the rating.

The Futures Lab Senior AI Strategist defines and pressure-tests future-state vision of how AI and emerging technologies may reshape the future of work, clients, and advice. This role translates enterprise strategy, external signals, and emerging technology shifts into decision-grade artifacts that help leaders look beyond near-term roadmap work, evaluate long-range strategic options, and determine what the firm should pursue and why before committing to funding, governance, or execution.

What You’ll Do

• Defines and continually refines future-state visions and strategic framing for AI-enabled systems, connecting long-range possibilities to business objectives, market signals, emerging technology trends, and future enterprise capabilities.
• Explores long-range AI and emerging technology opportunities to better inform roadmap priorities, clarifying which concepts should guide near-term strategy, remain exploratory, be reframed, or be stopped before they enter formal governance or delivery pathways.
• Identifies, frames, and evaluates potential AI and emerging-technology opportunity spaces, providing decision criteria and recommendations for consideration through established strategy, portfolio, and governance processes.
• Comfortable vibe-coding artifacts that help leaders evaluate trade-offs, dependencies, and capability implications across products, data, controls, and AI-enabled interactions.
• Models system-level impacts across Financial Advisors, associates, clients, AI systems, and enterprise platforms to ensure concepts are logically complete and evaluable across dependencies with emphasis on AI, emerging tech, hybrid intelligence, and related.
• Builds strategic alignment across business, design, technology, analytics, and governance stakeholders so future-state initiatives advance with shared purpose and realistic execution pathways.
• Shapes strategic narratives, decision materials, and roadmap-shaping inputs that clarify trade-offs, expected outcomes, and capability dependencies for executive audiences.
• Monitors external developments in AI, data, emerging tech, and related to refine priorities, strengthen competitive positioning, and surface new opportunities for value creation.
• Fosters new concepts, products, and services that drive competitive advantage, shaping how AI capabilities should be applied to create business value (conceptual fluency, not build-level expertise).
• Operates with high autonomy and exercises judgment in ambiguous, precedent-limited environments by structuring coherent futures where formal data, precedent, or governance inputs may not yet exist on decisions carrying significant cost, complexity, and long-term operating-model implications.
• Experience defining explicit assumptions, evidence gaps, decision criteria, and handoff conditions for exploratory concepts moving toward validation, governance, product discovery, or delivery.
• Partners with Experience, Firm Strategy Product, Technology, Data, Risk, and Compliance leaders to incorporate specialist evidence, avoid duplicate exploration, and establish clear transition points when a future-state concept is ready for deeper research, validation, product discovery, or delivery.

Minimum Knowledge

• Bachelor’s degree required in Business, Strategy, Design, Data or Computer Science, Engineering, Analytics, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years demonstrated experience in strategy, strategic foresight, systems thinking, business transformation, product strategy, or enterprise innovation, combined with recognized subject‑matter expertise in AI and emerging technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret emerging signals and technology shifts and translate them into future-state concepts, strategic options, and implications for enterprise leaders.
• Experience evaluating opportunities across strategic fit, potential value, feasibility, adoption, risk, readiness, and capability dependencies.
• Experience synthesizing business, human, technology, data, and risk perspectives into decision materials for senior and cross‑functional audiences.
• Proven ability to build alignment and influence decisions across business, product, design, technology, analytics, risk, and governance stakeholders.
• Demonstrated judgment and autonomy in ambiguous, pre‑roadmap environments where precedent, requirements, or governance pathways may not yet be established.
• Required to complete and maintain firm training on information security, privacy, responsible AI, and applicable governance standards.

Preferred Knowledge

• Experience in regulated or risk-sensitive environments, such as financial services.
• Experience applying structured foresight methods, including horizon scanning, scenario development, implications analysis, or uncertainty mapping.
• Familiarity with product discovery, systems design, service design, experience strategy, and business architecture methods.
• Familiarity with AI governance, explainability, human oversight, responsible AI, model risk, privacy, and security.
• Hands‑on experience using generative AI, agentic systems, AI‑assisted prototyping, or related emerging technologies to test assumptions and make future possibilities tangible.
• Experience assessing how AI may reshape workflows, roles, decision rights, products, services, client interactions, and enterprise operating models.

Candidates that live within a commutable distance from our Tempe, AZ and St. Louis, MO home office locations are expected to work in the office four days per week.

Talent Capability and Generations Hub Locations:

Colleagues assigned to work within a Talent Capability or Generations Hub are expected to work a minimum of four in-office days per week, unless engaged in business offsite. Any changes in strategic direction will be determined by the General Partner responsible for the business segment.

At Edward Jones, we are building a place where everyone feels like they belong. We're proud of our associates' contributions to the firm and the recognitions we have received.

Check out our U.S. awards and accolades: Insights & Information Blog Postings about Edward Jones

Check out our Canadian awards and accolades: Insights & Information Blog Postings about Edward Jones

Edward Jones does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

Edward Jones' compensation and benefits package includes medical and prescription drug, dental, vision, voluntary benefits (such as accident, hospital indemnity, and critical illness), short- and long-term disability, basic life, and basic AD&D coverage. Short- and long-term disability, basic life, and basic AD&D coverage are provided at no cost to associates. Edward Jones offers a 401k retirement plan, and tax-advantaged accounts: health savings account, and flexible spending account. Edward Jones observes ten paid holidays and provides 15 days of vacation for new associates beginning on January 1 of each year, as well as sick time, personal days, and a paid day for volunteerism. Associates may be eligible for bonuses and profit sharing. All associates are eligible for the firm's Employee Assistance Program. For more information on the Benefits available to Edward Jones associates, please visit our benefits page.