Head of Digital & AI

Head of Digital & AI — Abu Dhabi, UAE

Lead the end-to-end digital and AI transformation of a major UAE group.

We're partnering with a leading Abu Dhabi-based holding group to appoint a Head of Digital & AI — an executive role accountable for the full digital and AI agenda across the enterprise. This is a rare mandate with board-level sponsorship, a defined operating model, and a well-resourced delivery partnership. Reports to the Chief Information & AI Officer with two direct reports (one dotted). The role ensures the enterprise evolves from a systems-centric IT organization to a product-led, AI-enabled business — while retaining decision rights, IP ownership, and operational accountability in-house.

What you'll own:

Digital & AI Strategy Ownership

• Define and execute the enterprise Digital & AI strategy aligned to business objectives, safety, operational resilience, and growth.
• Translate board-level strategy into multi-year roadmaps across enterprise systems, digital platforms, and AI products.
• Act as executive sponsor for the transition to an AI-enabled, product-led operating model.

Enterprise Business Solutions Leadership

• Own the enterprise application landscape (ERP, HRMS, AMOS, Digital Ocean, GRC, ESG) and processes spanning crew, fleet, finance, procurement, compliance, and analytics.
• Ensure enterprise systems are digitized, integrated, standardized, data-ready, and AI-enablement ready.
• Govern system modernization, vendor roadmaps, and lifecycle decisions (build/buy/retire).

AI Target Operating Model Ownership

• Own and evolve the AI Target Operating Model: Interface Team, Delivery Squads, and Run & Operate.
• Enforce clear separation of duties across portfolio and value ownership, delivery execution, operational reliability, and security/governance/risk.
• Enforce the decision-rights model approved by SteerCo.

AI Portfolio, Product & Value Governance

• Sponsor the AI Product Portfolio across Everyday AI and Enterprise AI.
• Chair portfolio-level stage gates: investment prioritization, architecture and data readiness, governance and risk approval, operational acceptance and scaling.
• Ensure all AI initiatives have clear business cases, measurable KPIs, and ongoing value realization tracking.

Delivery Partnership & Vendor Orchestration

• Act as executive counterpart to the primary AI delivery partner for capability build and delivery.
• Define boundaries between client-side control/governance/run and partner-led delivery acceleration.
• Ensure the delivery partner operates within architecture standards, security and data governance guardrails, and defined acceptance and handover criteria.
• Prevent long-term vendor dependency through capability transfer and internal enablement.

Governance, Risk & Compliance Oversight

• Ensure Responsible AI, data protection, security, and regulatory compliance are embedded by design across enterprise systems, digital platforms, and AI solutions.
• Sponsor AI governance councils and escalation forums.
• Maintain audit-ready assurance across all digital and AI initiatives.

Organization, Talent & Culture

• Build and lead high-performing digital and AI teams across product, data, engineering, governance, and change leadership.
• Sponsor the AI Champions program and enterprise-wide adoption initiatives.
• Drive cultural shift toward product thinking, automation-first mindset, and data-driven decision making.

Key decision rights (accountable):

• Enterprise digital and AI roadmap approval.
• AI portfolio funding and prioritization.
• Architecture and platform standards.
• AI governance stage-gate approvals.
• Operational go-live authorization for critical digital and AI systems.
• Delivery partnership scope and escalation authority.

What you bring:

• 15+ years in enterprise digital transformation leadership covering enterprise systems leadership, data & AI programs at scale, and operating model design and execution.
• Proven experience running large, complex vendor ecosystems in regulated environments.
• Bachelor's or Master's in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
• Executive presence — able to engage confidently at board and SteerCo level and translate strategy into multi-year delivery.

Preferred certifications:

• PMI-CPMAI or AI Business Leadership certifications
• TOGAF or equivalent Enterprise Architecture
• Cloud and AI platform certifications (Azure preferred)

Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

Employment Type: Full-time

Experience: 15+ years

Salary Range: 45,000 - 53,000 (AED per month)

Pay: AED45,000.00 - AED53,000.00 per month

Work Location: In person