Associate Director, AI Transformation

Position Overview

CHAI is building a team within its Global Operations function to drive the organization’s internal AI transformation. The Associate Director, AI Transformation, will lead that team. This is a role for someone who is both a genuine builder and a credible enterprise leader - a person who can design and ship AI-powered tools themselves. They should also be able to drive organization-wide adoption of AI across a complex, distributed, mission-driven organization.

Reporting to the Director, Operations and managing one direct report (with scope for the team to grow in the future), the Associate Director provides both the strategic direction and the day-to-day management of CHAI’s internal AI capability. This includes setting the internal AI strategy, leading organization-wide adoption efforts, and overseeing the development and deployment of bespoke AI tools created for general management and operational use across the organization. The internal AI team is expected to work closely with the Innovation team, which has a complementary scope focused on AI use in CHAI’s technical and programmatic work in global health. The role also requires close coordination with CHAI’s IT team on systems' integration, and with CHAI’s AI Advisory Committee to ensure strong governance.

The right candidate brings demonstrable building experience - they can code, they can ship, and they know modern AI development tools firsthand - alongside the organizational range to drive change across senior stakeholders, functional leaders, and country teams. This is not a role for a pure strategist, and it is not a role for a pure engineer. It is for a leader who is genuinely both, and who wants to put that combination to work in service of a global health mission.

This role can be offered at either the Associate Director or Director level, commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate. The base location is flexible; candidates can be based in any of the geographies that CHAI operates in, subject to work authorization and necessary approvals.

What Success Looks Like

The following give a concrete sense of the kinds of outcomes we are looking for; they should be viewed as illustrative, and not comprehensive:

• CHAI is a more effective organization because of internal AI adoption. Staff across functions and country teams are doing their jobs better and faster, with less friction, and with better access to the knowledge and tools they need. The efficiency gains are real and measurable, and they are freeing up time for work that actually moves the mission forward.
• Bespoke AI tools are live and driving value. The Associate Director has personally contributed to the design and development of the tools that matter most - not just overseen them from a distance. The team is shipping, not just advising, and the quality and ambition of what gets built reflects a leader who is genuinely in the work.
• The internal AI function has become a driving force in how CHAI evolves. Senior leaders see internal AI adoption as essential, actively champion its growth, and bring the team’s work into the room when the most important operational decisions are being made. CHAI is not watching the AI revolution from a distance - it is inside it, continuously adopting what is most powerful and most relevant.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive CHAI’s internal AI transformation strategy, identifying where AI can most effectively transform enterprise operations, internal workflows, and staff productivity across CHAI’s global teams.
• Design, build, and ship bespoke AI-powered tools alongside the Manager, AI Transformation, working directly in code and AI-native development environments (e.g., Claude Code and Cowork) on the most important builds; set the technical bar for what the team produces.
• Co-own CHAI's AI tool portfolio alongside the Innovation team, overseeing the evaluation, selection, procurement, and ongoing governance of AI platforms and tools used across the organization; establish practical AI governance frameworks that protect CHAI without slowing it down.
• Drive organization-wide AI adoption of internal AI tools across CHAI’s global offices, including approaches that reach staff with varying levels of technical knowledge across diverse geographies and functions; establish metrics to track adoption, engagement, and return on investment.
• Manage and mentor the Manager, AI Transformation, providing clear technical and professional direction and investing meaningfully in their growth.
• Engage senior stakeholders across CHAI - functional leaders, country directors, the C-suite - to build support for the internal AI agenda and translate it into concrete organizational action.
• Stay current with the rapidly evolving AI development landscape by evaluating new tools, frameworks, and approaches and bringing the best of them into the team’s practice; undertake other responsibilities as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent and at least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including direct experience leading AI, digital transformation, or technology adoption initiatives at scale in complex organizations.
• Demonstrated hands-on building experience - you have personally designed, built, and shipped AI or software tools that others use. This is not a role where technical credibility can come from oversight alone.
• Practical fluency with software engineering tools and practices - version control (e.g., GitHub), automated testing, and code review. Hands-on experience with LLM APIs, AI development frameworks, and AI-native development environments (e.g., Claude Code and Cowork). Programming language proficiency (e.g., Python) is helpful, but not required.
• Deep, practical familiarity with modern AI tools - particularly large language models, RAG, and memory management - and a sophisticated understanding of their capabilities, limitations, and appropriate enterprise use cases.
• Experience managing and developing technical staff, with the ability to set a high technical bar and support professional growth.
• Strong judgment under ambiguity, and a track record of making things happen in environments with limited structure or precedent.
• Genuine commitment to CHAI’s mission and the operating realities of a global health organization working in resource-constrained, cross-cultural contexts.

Advantages

• Background in AI engineering, data science, or a related technical discipline.
• Familiarity with AI governance frameworks, data privacy, and responsible AI principles in complex operating environments.
• Experience in global health, international development, or a comparable mission-driven sector.
• Exposure to health data, health systems, or public health contexts.

Key skills/competency

• AI Transformation
• Associate Director
• Global Operations
• Enterprise Leader
• AI Development
• Machine Learning
• LLM APIs
• AI Governance
• Team Management
• Software Development