Head of Artificial Intelligence & Enablement

Please note that this position is based in Princeton NJ. Acadias hybrid model requires this role to work in our office three days per week on average.

Position Summary

The Executive Director Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy & Enablement will oversee the companys enterprise AI agenda ensuring that AI adoption is safe ethical and value-driven. This individual will define the AI strategy champion education and cultural change oversee platform and architecture choices and establish governance frameworks to ensure responsible and compliant AI adoption across Acadia globally. As a close partner to the business the Executive Director will shape how AI creates business value at scale from accelerating innovation in R&D increasing our impact in commercialization to transforming corporate operations while ensuring trust transparency and risk management. This role oversees the enterprise AI governance framework chairs the AI Governance Council and holds final recommendations on AI native platform selection and architecture standards balancing capabilities cost performance data residency and security.

Primary Responsibilities

• Define the enterprise AI strategy and roadmap aligning with business priorities and overall company vision.
• Publish and iterate on a 24-month AI portfolio roadmap with value hypotheses build-vs-buy decisions target architectures (LLM Ops / ML Ops) and deprecation plans.
• Institutionalize an AI use-case intake and prioritization process (value feasibility risk) reviewed quarterly with senior leadership.
• Partner with leadership to identify and prioritize high-value AI opportunities across R&D Commercialization and Corporate Functions.
• Track AI trends emerging technologies and regulatory landscapes to keep the organization at the leading edge.
• Facilitate RFI / RFP initiatives for evaluating new technology solutions and partnerships.
• Launch a tiered AI Literacy curriculum (Executive Manager Practitioner) with certifications and communities of practice; publish adoption dashboards.
• Drive change management and cultural adoption of AI as a strategic business capability.
• Establish forums to accelerate responsible experimentation and knowledge-sharing across the enterprise.
• Lead platform selection for GenAI/ML (model endpoints vector stores agent frameworks guardrails) including TCO data residency and security posture.
• Publish reference architectures and reusable patterns for enterprise AI adoption.
• Define LLM Ops / ML Ops standards (model registry evaluation benchmarks prompt/version control observability rollback).
• Implement an enterprise AI system of record for models prompts and datasets with lineage approvals and audit trails.
• Partner with Information Technology Data Insights and Analytics and Information Security to ensure infrastructure platforms and governance frameworks support priority objectives.
• Chair the cross-functional AI Governance Council spanning risk legal security and business leader membership.
• Maintain policies for lifecycle management bias/robustness testing explainability human oversight and incident response.
• Map controls to major frameworks/regulations (e.g. NIST AI RMF EU AI Act readiness) with annual assurance.
• Ensure compliance with global AI regulations and ethical standards. Lead a product-centric agile delivery model for AI adoption across the enterprise.
• Run a quarterly AI portfolio review with functional leadership to prioritize investments based on value feasibility and risk.
• Partner with Insights & Analytics leaders on their delivery of analytics use cases while focusing on AI strategy platforms literacy and governance to support their ability to derive insights and actions ultimately supporting business outcomes
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Education/Experience/Skills

• Bachelors degree in Information Systems Computer Science Data Sciences or an equivalent technical discipline; Advanced degree preferred.
• Targeting 10 years of progressively responsible experience deploying and implementing ethical AI frameworks and practices. Targeting 5 years biopharmaceutical experience. An equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be considered.
• Visionary leader with the ability to set a bold AI strategy
• Deep knowledge of emerging AI technologies vendors and regulatory landscape.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills to simplify complex AI topics for non-technical leaders.
• Strong collaboration across business data technology and risk functions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills strong business acumen executive presence and ability to influence at the executive level.
• Naturally connects and builds strong relationships with others demonstrating strong emotional intelligence and an ability to communicate clearly and persuasively.
• Ability to deal with ambiguity and the corresponding capacity to make decisions or recommendations based on potentially incomplete information.
• Adaptability to quickly and proactively implement change initiatives.
• Proven success in driving team performance by setting clear ambitious goals and fostering a culture of accountability.
• Committed to continuous improvement and consistently delivering measurable results.
• Experienced working in a regulated environment following GxP processes.
• Trusted advisor to executives on AI opportunities and risks.
• Change agent who drives education adoption and cultural transformation.
• Ethical leader ensuring AI is deployed responsibly safely and compliantly.
• Must be able and willing to travel both domestically and internationally.

Physical Requirements

This role involves regular standing walking sitting and the use of hands for handling or operating equipment. The employee may also need to reach climb balance stoop kneel crouch and maintain visual verbal and auditory communication in a standard office environment and while working independently from remote locations. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. This position requires the ability to travel independently overnight and/or work after hours as required by travel schedules or business needs.

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Required Experience:

Director