Senior Director, AI Strategy - 141457

UC San Diego; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 137,000 - 268,000; Full time

Job summary

UC San Diego is seeking a Senior Director of AI Strategy to serve as a senior advisor on artificial intelligence across the University of California system and UC San Diego. You will work directly with the Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, and senior leaders to shape AI strategy and investments, advising on make/buy/defer decisions and leading an AI transformation program.

You will design priorities, oversee pilots, and guide the creation of scalable AI tools and enablement, aligning with campus

Qualifications

• Demonstrates superior strategic-thinking and consulting skills.
• Possesses superior consulting, relationship building, and strategic thinking skills.
• Knowledge of higher education organizational environments and client priorities.
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills for influencing change.
• Expert knowledge of organizational development theories and models.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, planning and implementation abilities.
• Ability to influence across levels and handle ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Directs programs with organization-wide impact and administers policies, processes, and resources.
• Applies organizational development expertise to high-impact projects across the university and system.
• Understands business needs and how technical and non-technical systems support them.
• Advices on AI strategy across UC system and UC San Diego with senior leaders.
• Shapes AI strategy, roadmap, and investment through executive sessions and governance bodies.
• Leads university-wide AI transformation practice and oversees pilot initiatives.
• Represents UC San Diego with national entities and translates opportunities into pilots.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Consulting

Relationship building

Organizational development

Project management

Communication

Analytical thinking

Job description

DESCRIPTION

This is a UC San Diego Department-Only Internal Recruitment open to UC San Diego OPERATIONAL STRATEGIC INIT Employees Only

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW:

The Office of Operational Strategic Initiatives (OSI) was established as an outcome of UC San Diego's first campus-wide strategic planning process to deliver university-wide impact. OSI identifies, leads, and supports campus opportunities to improve administrative processes and enhance the University's people and service-oriented culture, with a focus on continuous improvement and operational excellence across all UC San Diego operations.

The department implements strategic initiatives and programs that directly impact all Vice Chancellor areas. This includes leading strategic planning engagements, defining and implementing business process and continuous improvement projects, conducting organizational assessments to identify opportunities for improvement, providing ad hoc support to strategic initiatives, leading university-wide operational excellence efforts, managing Chancellor initiatives and programs, and consulting on a wide range of strategic and operational topics.

By acting as an agile, strategic, and objective collaborator across all UC San Diego departments and Vice Chancellor areas, OSI:

• Aligns campus resources with UC San Diego's Mission and Strategic Plan,
• Optimizes processes,
• Improves financial effectiveness and efficiency,
• Enhances customer service, and
• Fosters innovation and growth.

OSI also serves as a key resource across the UC system, leading initiatives and consulting at other UC campuses and the UC Office of the President.

POSISTION OVERVIEW:

Broadly, this position is recognized as an organization-wide expert, exercising significant impact and influence over organizational policy and program development. It regularly leads projects of critical importance to both the university and the UC system, work that carries substantial consequences for success or failure.

Key components of the role include:

• Directs programs with organization-wide impact, at times extending beyond the University, that include formulating strategies and administering policies, processes, and resources.
• Independently applies wide-ranging experience and proficiency in organizational development, effectiveness, business process analysis, and strategic planning to projects that typically carry organization-wide impact.
• Understands business needs and how both technical and non-technical systems can support them.

Drawing on that wide-ranging experience, applies organizational development concepts and organizational objectives to resolve the most complex issues, particularly those with organization-wide impact or significant political sensitivity, where analysis of circumstances and information requires in-depth evaluation of the relevant factors. Specifically, the Senior Director of AI Strategy serves as a senior strategic advisor on artificial intelligence across the University of California system and at UC San Diego, working directly with the Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, and other senior leaders to shape AI strategy and investment.

The role advises the UC AI Steering Committee, a UC President's initiative, helping shape its multi-year roadmap, working group structure, and systemwide convening program, including a series of AI Showcases across the UC system.

The Senior Director of AI Strategy also:

• Advises Vice Chancellors and their senior leadership teams on AI strategy and build/buy/defer decisions for their areas, and designs and leads the executive strategy sessions where those decisions are made, serving as a strategic advisor to senior campus leadership.
• Directs a university-wide AI transformation practice: selecting and overseeing pilot initiatives, working with unit leaders to define priorities and scope, and guiding the development of custom AI tools and enablement.
• Represents UC San Diego with national organizations, industry, other UC systems, and federal funding programs, converting these relationships into pilots and shared solutions that benefit UC San Diego and peer institutions.
• Establishes consistent methods for measuring AI value and total cost of ownership, including contract line items, staff time, and organizational resources. This gives leadership a clear, comparable basis for decisions about renewal, expansion, and future investment, and helps translate AI opportunities into measurable, scalable, and strategically aligned outcomes.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Demonstrates superior strategic-thinking and consulting skills in guiding the organization toward workable strategies and solutions.
• Possesses superior consulting, relationship building, and strategic thinking skills.
• Knowledge of the organizational environment of higher education and large research universities to understand client priorities, issues, motivations and constraints.
• Have superior written, verbal and presentation skills for influencing and facilitating sustained change.
• Expert knowledge of the organizational development and effectiveness field, theories, models to assess, design and implement customized organizational interventions.
• Demonstrates superior analytical, problem-solving, project planning and implementation skills.
• Ability to facilitate and influence people at all levels. Ability to persuade through both logic and appeal to positive motivations. Ability to handle multiple constituencies, agendas, engagements and tasks, and to deal productively with ambiguity and conflict.
• Demonstrates ability to learn quickly, reason, synthesize and generalize based on information obtained; sound judgment; ability to draw unbiased conclusions.
• Ability to focus on priorities, strategies, and vision.
• Knowledge of the consulting process to effectively lead highly significant engagements from inception to conclusion.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Job offer is contingent upon a satisfactory clearance based on background check results.

Pay Transparency Act

Annual Full Pay Range: $136,600 - $267,600 (will be prorated if the appointment percentage is less than 100%)

Hourly Equivalent: $65.42 - $128.16

Factors in determining the appropriate compensation for a role include experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The Hiring Pay Scale referenced in the job posting is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. The Annual Full Pay Range may be broader than what the University anticipates to pay for this position, based on internal equity, budget, and collective bargaining agreements (when applicable).