Strategic AI Governance Lead

M&T Bank; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 124,000 - 206,000; Full time

Job summary

M&T Bank is seeking a senior leader to own the design and execution of the enterprise AI governance program in Buffalo, NY. You will build standards, policies, and procedures guiding AI use cases from idea to production, and structure the roadmap across intake, classification, value assessment, and control design.

You will stand up use case and model governance functions, define the target state for AI governance, and drive an implementation plan with clear monitoring and KPIs aligned to

Qualifications

• Combined minimum of 10 years' higher education and/or operational/business analytics/systems development experience.
• Experience building a governance framework or program in a large or complex organization.
• Working knowledge of model risk management practices (e.g., SR 11-7) and AI/ML systems.
• Experience designing intake, classification, and risk assessment processes for technology or data initiatives.
• Experience working cross-functionally with engineering, legal, compliance, and business teams.
• Strong written communication skills; able to produce policy documents, standards, and executive-level reporting.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field; advanced degree a plus but not required in place of experience.

Responsibilities

• Author and maintain AI governance standards, policies, and procedures covering the full lifecycle of AI use cases and models.
• Design the governance roadmap organized into intake, classification, value assessment, and control design stages.
• Define risk tiers and controls proportional to use case risk (e.g., low/medium/high risk classification tied to required controls).
• Build the intake process for new AI use cases: how requests enter the pipeline, what information is captured, who reviews them.
• Establish classification criteria (risk level, data sensitivity, regulatory exposure, business criticality).
• Design value assessment methodology to prioritize use cases against cost, risk, and business impact.
• Define control requirements per classification tier (documentation, testing, sign-off, monitoring).
• Establish model risk management practices: validation, documentation, versioning, approval gates.
• Set standards for third-party and open-source model vetting.
• Define the target state for AI governance and design the governance team structure, roles, and operating model.
• Set RACI across governance, engineering, legal, risk, and business stakeholders.
• Build a phased implementation plan with milestones and owners; monitor KPIs and escalation paths.

Skills

Policy writing

Risk classification

Stakeholder management

Program/project management

ML lifecycle knowledge

Data literacy

Facilitation & negotiation

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Advanced degree a plus but not required

Job description

M&T Bank is seeking a senior leader to own the design and execution of the enterprise AI governance program in Buffalo, NY. You will build standards, policies, and procedures guiding AI use cases from idea to production, and structure the roadmap across intake, classification, value assessment, and control design.

You will stand up use case and model governance functions, define the target state for AI governance, and drive an implementation plan with clear monitoring and KPIs aligned to