Director, AI Service Delivery & Solutions

Reporting to the Sr. Director of Emerging Technologies, the Director, AI Service Delivery & Solutions (AIaaS) will own end-to-end delivery and operationalization of AI as a Service (AIaaS) across Columbia University. This role serves as CUIT’s centralized “front door” for AI demand—translating institutional needs into governed, scalable solutions, orchestrating cross‑CUIT delivery, and ensuring successful adoption and measurable outcomes for teaching, research, and administration.

The Emerging Technologies team is a fast-paced, startup inspired group that develops extremely innovative solutions to some of the most challenging problems in higher education and research.

The ideal candidate will be the following:

• Service Delivery Leader – You run an enterprise service from intake to launch to continuous improvement, with clarity, urgency, and strong customer orientation.
• Portfolio & Operating Cadence Owner – You manage demand, prioritization, resourcing, and executive reporting with metrics that demonstrate value and risk management.
• Non‑Technical Solutions Engineer – You translate needs into scope, requirements, and solution paths without being the primary builder, partnering effectively with technical teams.
• Executive Communicator – You synthesize ambiguity into crisp narratives, decisions, and stakeholder communications across academic and administrative audiences.

The successful candidate will be a pragmatic, high‑judgment operator who can balance speed, compliance, and institutional risk while delivering measurable impact through repeatable service operations.

Responsibilities:

• AIaaS Intake & Use‑Case Shaping: Manages the standardized intake process; conducts discovery; defines use cases, success metrics, and requirements; ensures appropriate routing and timely decisions.
• Portfolio Prioritization & Delivery Governance: Maintains a transparent delivery pipeline and roadmap; facilitates prioritization with leadership; tracks KPIs (adoption, value, delivery health, risk); provides executive updates.
• Governed Solution Pathways: Translates needs into solution approaches (reuse platform capabilities, pilot, vendor, or custom build) and ensures alignment with data privacy, security, accessibility, and institutional policies.
• Cross‑CUIT Orchestration: Coordinates execution with InfoSec/Risk, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure/Cloud, Service Management/Service Desk, Vendor Management, and PMO to deliver reliably at scale.
• Adoption & Change Management: Drives enablement plans (communications, training, documentation, onboarding) and partner with schools/units to scale successful implementations.
• Vendor & Partner Engagement: Supports evaluation, implementation planning, and ongoing relationship management for AI tools and services in partnership with CUIT procurement and vendor management practices.
• Continuous Improvement: Identifies bottlenecks; improves processes, templates, and playbooks; strengthens customer experience and operational maturity of the AIaaS service.
• All other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and/or its equivalent required.
• Minimum 7-9 years related experience.
• 7 of progressively responsible experience in service delivery, program/portfolio leadership, customer success, or solutions delivery roles.
• 4 years leading complex cross‑functional initiatives in a matrixed environment; demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority.
• Demonstrated experience translating business needs into solution requirements, implementation plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to communicate complex topics to non‑technical audiences and executive stakeholders.
• Working understanding of AI‑enabled solutions and the practical considerations of deploying them in an enterprise setting (risk, privacy, data, governance, adoption).
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environment with changing priorities and multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Ability to be precise and attentive to detail; ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Ability to work weekend and off-hour work on occasion as needed to support major launches or critical service milestones.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Information Systems, Public Administration, Business, Communications, or related).
• Experience in higher education, research, or similarly complex regulated environments.
• Experience establishing or operating an enterprise technology “front door” (intake, triage, service catalog, delivery governance, metrics).
• Familiarity with service management practices and partnering with service desks/support organizations.
• Experience with change management and adoption strategies for new digital services.
• Experience supporting vendor selection and implementation planning for enterprise platforms and services.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.