AI Process/Implementation Leader

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Artificial Intelligence Process/Implementation Leader will drive enterprise-wide AI adoption to accelerate profitability, improve operational efficiency, enhance working capital performance, and create scalable processes in a private equity–backed mid-market company.

This role is highly execution-focused and ROI-driven. The leader will identify the most impactful AI opportunities, train company personnel to increase AI adoption, design and implement the overall company AI roadmap and create/monitor business cases with specific ROI targets across functions of the organization.

KEY OBJECTIVES:

• Train operational/sales and back-office teams on how to use AI to improve their processes and increase efficiency
• Partner with business teams and corporate functional leaders to identify most impactful projects to incorporate AI into
• Create overall company AI roadmap and business cases with specific milestones and ROI
• Reduce manual process costs across SG&A functions
• Improve forecasting accuracy and enhance working capital performance (DSO, inventory optimization).
• Lead the responsible development of AI solutions in full compliance with global data protection, cybersecurity, and regulatory frameworks (e.g., GDPR), ensuring consistency across jurisdictions.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Value Creation & AI Strategy
   • Partner with business teams and functional leaders to align AI initiatives with company’s financial goals
   • Build and maintain a prioritized AI roadmap focused on high-ROI initiatives.
   • Develop financial business cases with clear payback periods
2. Rapid Execution & Deployment
   • Lead rapid pilot programs to test AI use cases.
   • Leverage existing SaaS platforms and AI tools to avoid unnecessary custom builds.
3. Process Optimization & AutomationTarget high-impact functions including:
   • Finance: automated reconciliations, predictive forecasting, pricing analytics
   • Sales: lead scoring, churn prediction, pricing optimization.
   • Operations: demand forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling optimization.
   • Customer Support: AI chat, case triage, response automation.
4. Governance & Risk Management
   • Establish practical AI governance frameworks appropriate for a mid-market organization.
   • Ensure data security, compliance, and model risk management.
   • Implement performance dashboards and ROI tracking mechanisms.
5. Change Management & Capability Building
   • Upskill functional leaders in AI-enabled decision-making.
   • Drive adoption across business units with measurable utilization metrics.
   • Create playbooks for scaling AI across future acquisitions.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience:
  • 8–15 years in process improvement, digital transformation, data analytics, or AI deployment.
  • Experience in a private equity–backed company preferred but not required
  • Demonstrated track record of delivering profitability improvement
• Technical & Business Skills:
  • Strong understanding of AI, automation, and data analytics tools.
  • Experience with ERP, CRM, and business intelligence systems (SAP, Microsoft, etc.)
  • Ability to build AI business cases, ROI models and translate AI initiatives into financial impact.
  • Knowledge of cloud platforms and SaaS AI applications.
• Leadership Traits:
  • Highly execution-oriented delivering outcomes while balancing innovation, risk and global regulatory requirements
  • Bias toward action and rapid experimentation.
  • Strong communicator capable of influencing peers and business/functional leaders across multiple regions
  • Hands-on operator willing to roll up sleeves.
  • Change agent able to anticipate resistance while driving adoption across a global organization

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Profitability improvement from AI initiatives
• Forecast accuracy improvement
• Working capital improvement (DSO, inventory turns)
• AI adoption and utilization metrics
• ROI vs. business cases

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or Business, preferred
• Master’s in Computer Science, Data Science, or Business, preferred

TRAVEL:

• Occasional Travel Required, 20%

Salary: $130,000 - $160,000, based on experience.