Director of AI
VP / Senior Director of AI Strategy & Governance
Abbott · Healthcare / Medical Devices & Diagnostics · 50,000+ employees · 📍 Illinois, United States
Abbott is standing up a net-new enterprise AI Portfolio Office and needs a senior operator to translate AI ambition into governed, measurable business value across a 115,000-person global healthcare company.
AI Maturity
building
Reports To
CTO
Why Role Exists
New position
Company Stage
public
Source
linkedin
Key Responsibilities
- Stand up and lead the enterprise AI Portfolio Office (APO) managing demand intake, evaluation, and cross-BU prioritization
- Build a 12–24-month AI roadmap sequencing lighthouse use cases with platform enablers and rubric-based scoring
- Operationalize Responsible AI standards (fairness, transparency, privacy, safety, explainability) across the full AI lifecycle
- Oversee model risk classification, AI risk registers, human-in-the-loop controls, and audit readiness
- Lead process reengineering to make enterprise workflows AI-ready, including new roles, policy guardrails, and controls
- Drive adoption, change management, and measurable value realization across all business units
- Govern third-party AI/LLM providers in partnership with Legal, Procurement, and Security
- Establish stage-gate governance with clear exit criteria, investment thresholds, and benefits tracking
Requirements
- Proven experience building and leading enterprise AI strategy or portfolio management functions
- Deep understanding of Responsible AI principles, model risk, and regulatory compliance in complex industries
- Track record of cross-functional stakeholder leadership at the C-suite and Division level
- Experience operationalizing AI governance frameworks and change management at scale
- Ability to translate technical AI/ML/GenAI capabilities into prioritized, P&L-linked business outcomes
Signals
- ⚠ No salary or compensation range disclosed
- ⚠ Role description truncated mid-sentence, suggesting incomplete posting
- ⚠ Extremely broad scope (portfolio, governance, transformation, change management, process reengineering) may indicate under-resourcing or unclear organizational boundaries
- ⚠ Building from scratch with no existing team signals significant organizational lift
- ✓ Net-new organizational unit signals genuine executive commitment and budget
- ✓ Direct partnership with Corporate and Division leaders indicates real C-suite sponsorship
- ✓ Explicit mandate to tie AI use cases to P&L and strategic objectives shows business seriousness
- ✓ Abbott is a large, stable public company with resources to fund enterprise AI at scale
- ✓ Role spans full lifecycle from intake to value realization — not siloed or advisory