AI PORTFOLIO PRINCIPAL MANAGER

BBVA

$150K — $180K *
Finance & Insurance
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8–10+ years in Corporate & Investment Banking, Business transformation, or related leadership roles.
  • Proven leadership of complex cross-functional projects in international organizations.
  • Experience managing large-scale strategic initiatives with multiple stakeholders and teams.
  • Strong understanding of project governance including planning and risk management.
  • Experience collaborating with Business, Product, Data, and Engineering teams on digital and AI initiatives.
  • Excellent stakeholder management skills, engaging senior leaders effectively.
  • Knowledge of CIB's business and operational model is an advantage.

Responsibilities

  • Lead end-to-end execution of strategic AI transformation projects.
  • Coordinate multidisciplinary teams across various functions including Business and Engineering.
  • Drive delivery in line with scope, timelines, KPIs, and business objectives.
  • Proactively manage risks and remove delivery blockers, escalating critical issues when needed.
  • Translate portfolio priorities into executable roadmaps and delivery plans.
  • Monitor project progress and provide transparency on delivery status and risks to stakeholders.
  • Track business KPIs to ensure initiatives deliver measurable value and strategic outcomes.

Benefits

  • Participation in strategic AI transformation projects with measurable business impact.
  • Collaboration with multidisciplinary teams across a global organization.
  • Opportunities for continuous improvement and optimizing delivery throughout the project lifecycle.
  • Engagement with senior business and technology leaders in the industry.
Full Job Description

About the job:

About the Role:

  • As part of CIB's AI Transformation organization, this role is responsible for driving the execution of strategic AI transformation projects, ensuring initiatives are delivered efficiently, at scale and with measurable business impact.

  • Reporting to the AI Portfolio Lead, the roletranslates strategic priorities into executable delivery plans, coordinating multidisciplinary teams across Business, Product, Data, Engineering, AI Factory, Risk and Operations.

  • The role is accountable for leading complex transformation projects from planning through deployment, managing dependencies and risks, removing delivery obstacles, and ensuring initiatives are delivered on time, within scope and in line with business objectives, governance standards and quality expectations.

  • The successful candidate will work within the AI Transformation Portfolio delivery model, leveraging the capabilities of the Centers of Excellence (CoEs) and the AI Factory, in close collaboration with the business teams involved in each initiative.

Key responsibilities:

  • Project delivery & execution:

    • Lead the end-to-end execution of strategic AI transformation projects from planning through deployment and business adoption.

    • Coordinate cross-functional teams across Business, Product, Data, Engineering, AI Factory, Risk and Operations.

    • Drive delivery against agreed scope, timelines, KPIs and business objectives.

    • Proactively manage risks, dependencies and delivery blockers, ensuring timely escalation and resolution of critical issues.

    • Coordinate project roadmaps, backlog planning and execution priorities together with the rest of stakeholders.

  • Delivery Governance:

    • Translate portfolio priorities into executable roadmaps, delivery plans and implementation milestones.

    • Monitor projects and provide regular reporting to senior stakeholders, ensuring transparency on delivery status, risks and key decisions.

    • Ensure initiatives comply with AI governance, delivery standards, architectural principles and best practices.

    • Promote scalable, reusable and globally consistent solutions across CIB..

    • Coordinate deployment activities across geographies, ensuring consistent execution and alignment with the Group operating model.

  • Business value realization:

    • Track business KPIs and ensure initiatives deliver measurable business value and strategic outcomes.

    • Support deployment, business adoption and continuous improvement across geographies.

    • Identify opportunities to optimize delivery and maximize value throughout the project lifecycle.

    • Monitor adoption, operational efficiency and business impact, proposing corrective actions when delivery outcomes deviate from expectations.

  • Stakeholder management:

    • Act as the main coordination point across Business, Engineering  and cross functions.

    • Build consensus across diverse stakeholders, balancing business priorities, delivery constraints and strategic objectives.

    • Foster collaboration and effective communication across global and local teams to ensure successful delivery.

    • Work closely with business stakeholders to ensure delivered solutions meet functional expectations and support the successful adoption of AI capabilities across CIB.

Experience & Qualifications:

  • 8–10+ years of experience in Corporate & Investment Banking, Business transformation, Project management, Consulting or related leadership roles.

  • Proven track record leading complex cross-functional transformation projects in international and matrix organizations.

  • Experience managing large-scale strategic initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, teams and delivery workstreams.

  • Strong understanding of project and program governance, including planning, risk management, dependency management, executive reporting and delivery oversight.

  • Experience working closely with Business, Product, Data and Engineering teams to successfully deliver digital and/or AI-enabled transformation initiatives.

  • Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience engaging senior business and technology leaders.

  • Knowledge of CIB's business, products, client lifecycle and operating model will be highly valued.

  • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Economics or a related discipline.

  • MBA or postgraduate qualification is considered a plus.

  • Fluent English (C1 or above) is required.

Success profile:

The ideal candidate combines strong project delivery and execution capabilities with strategic thinking and a strong understanding of business and operating models.They are recognized for their ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives, coordinate multiple teams, align stakeholders around common objectives and translate strategic priorities into successful delivery and measurable business impact. They are comfortable working in complex environments, driving execution excellence while enabling the successful adoption of AI transformation initiatives across the organization.

Skills:

Project Execution Plan, Project Implementations, Work Execution

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