AI Project Manager (Contract)

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Job Description:

Job Summary:

Airbus North America Information Management (IM) is seeking a Lead AI Project & Portfolio Manager to join the AI and Analytics domain. This key role is responsible for leading priority AI initiatives from Proof of Concept (PoC) to industrialization while simultaneously facilitating the coordination and tracking of the North American AI project portfolio.

As a Project Lead you will champion execution standards coordinate closely with other Project Managers and serve as a principal facilitator for the AI Center of Excellence (CoE). You will act as a critical bridge between senior leadership technical specialists and business departments ensuring that Airbus Americas successfully drives organizational adoption of key AI capabilities

Primary Responsibilities:

1) AI Project Delivery & Industrialization (PoC to Scale): 55%

• End-to-End Delivery: Manage the end-to-end implementation deployment and industrialization of high-value AI solutions with a strong focus on Generative AI and Agentic AI applications.

• Use Case Evaluation & Selection: Support the upstream ingestion pipeline of new AI ideas; review qualify and prioritize proposed AI use cases to select and recommend the right initiatives for Airbus investment.

• Methodology & Gate Assurance: Apply Airbus LBIP (Lifecycle Business Improvement Process) gates and SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) structures to guarantee project quality compliance and standard alignment from initiation through to operations.

• Technical Readiness: Secure technical readiness by defining scope deployment strategies operating models and structured transition plans.

2) AI Portfolio Management & Project Leadership: 20%

• Portfolio Governance: Support portfolio-level tracking for North American AI initiatives maintaining visibility of active and pipeline projects to monitor progress track budgets and report status metrics to leadership..

• PM Support & Enablement: Provide guidance advice and onboarding support to other domain Project Managers on AI-specific management activities and delivery standards..

• Quality Assurance & Review: Periodically review the project plans risk registers and key deliverables of other Project Managers to ensure delivery consistency and execution quality.

3) AI Center of Excellence (CoE) & Change Management: 15%

• CoE Leadership: Coordinate and facilitate the activities of the North American AI Center of Excellence (CoE) to build local capability and foster an AI-first corporate culture

• Training & Literacy: Design organize and manage AI training programs workshops and upskilling sessions for both technical teams and business counterparts.

• Champions Network:Coordinate nurture and maintain the AI Champions Network aligning key business advocates and driving community-led adoption initiatives across all sites..

• User Enablement: Secure organizational change management by overseeing the delivery of user manuals documentation and tailored enablement strategies.

4) Additional Responsibilities: 10%

• Other duties as assigned.

Qualified Experience and Training:

Education:

Required:

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Systems Business Administration Project Management or a related field.

Preferred:

• Masters degree or advanced professional certification (e.g. PMP SAFe SPC/POPM).

Experience:

Required:

• Minimum of 6 years of Enterprise IM Project Management experience with experience supporting or leading complex technical initiatives.

• Proven experience managing the end-to-end implementation of AI/ML projects including leading PoCs from initial data qualification to production-grade deployment (industrialization).

• Experience supporting or managing multi-project program tracks or facilitating portfolio-level tracking.

• Experience collaborating with supporting or sharing best practices with other Project Managers or business analysts.

• Demonstrated experience facilitating community-of-practice activities such as a Center of Excellence (CoE) champion networks or corporate training initiatives.

• Strong familiarity with gate-based corporate structures (e.g. Airbus LBIP or equivalent) and Agile frameworks (SAFe/Scrum).

Preferred:

• Prior experience in high-tech aerospace manufacturing or innovation environments.

• Experience working with international teams and managing parent-company dependencies (e.g. Europe-US coordination).

Licensure/Certifications:

• Required: NA

• Preferred: Project Management Professional (PMP) Agile/SAFe Certification (e.g. SAFe Agilist SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager).

Travel Required:

• 10% Travel

Citizenship:

• Authorized to Work in the US

Clearance:

• NA

Qualified Skills:

Knowledge Skills Demonstrated Capabilities:

Required:

• Strategic Opportunity Framing: Ability to evaluate technical viability data readiness and ROI of new AI proposals in collaboration with technical specialists to make highly informed investment recommendations.

• Portfolio Governance: Competency in project portfolio coordination techniques including resource tracking health monitoring and status reporting

• AI Delivery Competency: Deep understanding of the AI lifecycle (data collection MVP testing scaling MLOps and post-production monitoring) specifically applied to Generative and Agentic AI.

• Peer Support & Collaboration: Natural ability to share best practices collaborate effectively with other PMs and align execution standards to drive team quality.

• Change Management & Literacy Advocacy: Passion for driving organizational adoption with proven capabilities in organizing educational events and fostering cross-department communities.

Preferred:

• Familiarity with enterprise data security data governance frameworks and cloud deployment pipelines (GCP/Azure).

Communication Skills:

Required:

• Active Listening & Translation: Exceptional ability to distill complex technical AI and mathematical concepts into plain business logic for senior non-technical stakeholders.

• Stakeholder Navigation & Consensus: Highly skilled in building trust resolving conflicts and driving alignment between business units and technical delivery teams.

• Presentation & Influence: Confident presentation skills to pitch business cases present portfolio health metrics and justify project selection choices to executive Steering Committees.

Technical Systems Proficiency:

Required:

• Proficiency in project and portfolio tracking suites

Preferred:

• Familiarity with enterprise data ecosystems (e.g. Palantir Foundry / Skywise).

Complexity of the Role:

Level of Decision Making:

• Evaluates and recommends which proposed AI use cases proceed to investment PoC and subsequent scale-up.

• Defines MVP scopes project roadmaps and determines readiness to pass through formal LBIP gate reviews.

• Provides guidance and reviews the work packages of other project managers flagging issues and recommending corrective measures to maintain overall domain health.

• Manages budget and resource allocation for the North American AI and Analytics portfolio within designated thresholds.

Organizational Information:

• N1: Head of AI and Analytics

• Direct Reports: Is this a people manager No (Functional lead/mentor role)

• # of Exempt Reports: 0

• # of Non-exempt Reports: 0

Job Dimensions:

• International environment with highly diverse cultures and mindsets.

• Diverse company products portfolio and highly complex systems: commercial and military aircraft commercial and military helicopters space systems and local operational divisions.

• All business activities represented in the North American perimeter requiring close alignment with Sales Manufacturing Supply Chain Quality Engineering and Corporate Functions (HR Finance Procurement).

• Highly complex environment composed of multiple divisional entities not yet fully integrated and spread across the North American region on more than 23 sites. Most of these entities have a dependency on their parent company in Europe requiring meticulous and complex coordination.

Nature of Contacts:

• Daily communication with Digital domain managers Product Managers Product Owners and technical AI delivery teams.

• Regular interaction and consultation with other domain Project Managers to offer advice review plans and coordinate activities.

• Regular reporting and alignment with business sponsors division representatives and leadership across Commercial and Helicopter divisions.

• Periodic alignment and coordination with global European IM teams.

Physical Requirements:

• Onsite: 60% (Hybrid/Onsite split depending on location: Grand Prairie TX / Mobile AL)

• Vision: Daily able to see and read computer screens and other electronic equipment with screens able to read documents reports and project roadmaps.

• Hearing: Daily able to hear to participate in conversations in person and via teleconference or phone.

• Speaking: Daily able to speak in conversations and meetings deliver information and participate in project ceremonies.

• Equipment Operation: Daily use of personal computer telephone copier and related office equipment; use of electronic identification card to enter building floors.

• Carrying: Daily able to carry documents electronic equipment up to 10 lbs.

• Sitting: Daily able to sit for long periods of time in meetings and working on computers.

• Standing: Daily able to stand for discussions in offices or during team events.

• Travel: 10% of time able to travel independently and at short notice.

• Walking: Daily able to walk through office and production areas.

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Required: Required PPE includes but is not limited to Safety Shoes Safety Glasses Hearing Protection and/or Protective Gloves as required by specific site and/or customer site guidelines.

Equal Opportunity:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color sex sexual orientation gender identity religion national origin disability veteran status age marital status pregnancy genetic information or other legally protected status.

As a leader in our field Airbus provides relocation assistance for qualified positions and a comprehensive compensation and benefits package.

As a matter of policy Airbus does not sponsor visas for US positions unless specified. Only applicants with current work authorization will be considered.

Airbus does not offer tenured or guaranteed employment. Employment with Airbus is at will meaning either the company or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time with or without cause with or without notice.

NOTE: Airbus reserves the right to revise or change job duties and responsibilities as the need arises. This position description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.

This job requires an awareness of any potential compliance risks and a commitment to act with integrity as the foundation for the Companys success reputation and sustainable growth.

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