As Business Operations Lead, VP/ED, supporting AI Research, you will be the strategic operating partner to the leadership of one of the most ambitious AI research organizations in financial services. You will shape how the team plans, invests, executes, and scales – aligning talent, capital, and infrastructure behind a bold research agenda. This is a rare seat at the intersection of cutting-edge AI, executive strategy, and enterprise execution – ideal for a leader who thrives on turning ambiguity into structure and enabling brilliant people to do their best work.

Job responsibilities

• Serve as the strategic operating partner and chief of staff to the Head of AI Research, driving execution of the team’s strategy and long-term roadmap.
• Orchestrate executive management reviews, leadership offsites, and deep-dive sessions – shaping the agenda, framing key decisions, and driving follow-through on outcomes.
• Lead portfolio strategy and governance: intake and prioritization of research and line of business initiatives against the highest-value opportunities across the firm.
• Own executive reporting and narrative development – communicating progress, impact, and strategic direction to senior stakeholders across CDAO and the lines of business.
• Steward the financial resources of the team to enable innovation and implementation in a fiscally responsible way – partnering with finance on multi-year planning, headcount strategy, and disciplined allocation across talent, compute, and external commitments.
• Shape the team’s presence at flagship, signature AI/ML conferences – setting a coherent external engagement strategy that elevates the firm’s research brand and talent pipeline.
• Partner with analytical, data, and infrastructure platform teams to unlock the capabilities researchers need – compute, models, tooling, and data – and ensure AI Research’s priorities are represented in enterprise platform roadmaps.
• Champion responsible AI governance and a balanced application of controls – enabling the team to move fast, take smart risks, and innovate within a strong risk and compliance posture.
• Aid the talent strategy and operating fabric of the team – hiring, onboarding, workplace, and culture initiatives that make AI Research a destination for the best researchers in the world.

Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills

• 5+ years of business operations, COO, chief-of-staff, or strategy leadership experience – ideally supporting a research, technology, or highly technical organization.
• Track record as a trusted advisor to senior executives, translating vision into operating plans and driving cross-functional execution.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen – multi-year planning, resource allocation, and stewarding investment in innovation.
• Portfolio and prioritization instincts – able to focus a talented team on the highest-impact work amid many competing demands.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; produces crisp executive narratives, board-ready materials, and clear strategic updates.
• Sound judgment on risk, controls, and governance – with the instinct to balance speed of innovation with responsible execution.
• Highly organized, detail-aware, and outcome-driven, with a bias to action and calm under ambiguity.
• Collaborative operator who builds trust and influence across research, engineering, product, legal, finance, and business partners.
• Genuine curiosity about AI/ML and a passion for the mission of applying frontier research to real-world financial services problems.
• Energized by enabling others – you take pride in making a world-class team even more effective.

Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills

• Experience operating inside a large financial services or otherwise regulated environment.
• Familiarity with AI/ML research workflows, top-tier academic conferences, and the publication and IP lifecycle.
• Exposure to technology and infrastructure investment decisions (e.g., compute/cloud economics, platform prioritization, model governance).
• Advanced degree (MBA, MS, or equivalent) in a business, engineering, or quantitative discipline.