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AI Centre of Excellence Lead
UNOPSUnited NationsInformation and Communications TechnologySenior LevelICA - IICA - Regular
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Full Description
**Job Highlight**
This is an exceptional opportunity to lead AI initiatives within a leading UN organization, shaping the future of AI adoption in international development and humanitarian operations. We are looking for a senior leader to head our new AI Centre of Excellence.
**Job Specific Context**
The AI Centre of Excellence is being established with the ambition of rolling out a robust AI infrastructure and innovative AI-based solutions, ensuring scalability for future growth and technological advancements. The AI Centre of Excellence Lead serves as the strategic lead, ensuring AI initiatives are grounded in user needs, ethically governed, and scaled across the organization’s global portfolio.
**Role Purpose**
The AI Centre of Excellence Lead will report to the CIO and be responsible for the governance, pipeline management, development, implementation, and scaling of AI solutions across UNOPS. This role involves leading a team, fostering innovation, ensuring responsible AI adoption, and driving measurable impact through the deployment of AI products.
**Functions / Key Results Expected**
1. Strategic Governance and Inter-Agency Partnership
• Provide the implementation vehicle for the AI Strategy as promulgated by ITG and contribute to revisions of the policy by providing feedback from within the organization, peer UN agencies, and external partners.
• Full accountability for the AI Centre of Excellence’s delivery of a coordinated response to AI developments, including the documentation and classification of AI use cases.
• Establish and enforce a governance and risk management framework for AI ethics, transparency, data privacy, and responsible deployment.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with peer UN agencies to drive joint initiatives and shared learning, ensuring alignment with UN80 commitments.
• Represent the AI Centre of Excellence internal and external forums to build UNOPS reputation in inter-agency AI collaboration.
2. Pipeline Management and Stakeholder Engagement
• Identify and validate new AI product opportunities by engaging with HQ and field offices to ensure solutions meet verified user needs.
• Lead the AI request intake process, assessing and prioritizing requests based on strategic fit, operational readiness, and potential for impact.
• Define AI readiness criteria for field offices, including data maturity, connectivity, staff capability, and leadership buy-in.
• Serve as the primary interface between business stakeholders, end users, and the Core Systems Engineering (CSE) team.
3. Development, Implementation, and Scaling
• Own the rollout of AI products, ensuring operational fit and defining standardized quality gates for field implementations.
• Manage the relationship with the CSE team, bringing in information on needs from interaction with various parts of the organization and possibilities for quality and efficiency gains through AI.
• Drive AI adoption to ensure deployed products deliver measurable efficiency gains and improve the quality of key outputs like project briefs and donor reports.
• Oversee the implementation of advanced AI algorithms tailored to address complex business challenges.
4. Leadership and Knowledge Management
• Lead a team of Coordinators and Analysts, fostering a culture of collaborative innovation and mentoring team members.
• Build and sustain a global AI community of practice across UNOPS to share knowledge, use cases, and lessons learned.
• Continuously scan and report on emerging trends, risks, and opportunities in technology to inform future use case development.
• Provide regular updates to ITG leadership on pipeline status, adoption metrics, risks, and resource needs.
**Skills**
Innovation Development, Stakeholder Management, Team Leadership, Technical Leadership, Strategic Thinking
**Education Requirements**
Required
• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or related fields with 9 years of relevant experience OR
• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any of the above or related fields with 7 years of relevant experience is required
**Experience Requirements**
Required
• Relevant experience working in technology, digital solutions, data-driven initiatives, or operational leadership in organisations with multiple stakeholders or related areas.
• Experience managing the end-to-end lifecycle of programmes or initiatives, from needs assessment and intake through to implementation and scaling across multiple locations or country office.
• Proven experience establishing governance structures, risk management frameworks, or compliance processes.
• Experience acting as a strategic interface between technical engineering teams and senior business leadership, translating organisational priorities into actionable plans.
Desired
• Experience with AI, machine learning, or emerging technology adoption in an organisational set
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