VP of Artificial Intelligence
VP, AI Enablement
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) · Public Transportation / Government · 5000+ employees · 📍 Washington, DC
WMATA's first senior AI executive to build and lead enterprise AI strategy, teams, and adoption across a major public transit authority undergoing digital modernization.
AI Maturity
building
Reports To
CDO
Why Role Exists
New position
Company Stage
public
Source
linkedin
Key Responsibilities
- Lead enterprise AI strategy and roadmap aligned to WMATA's digital transformation goals
- Drive AI adoption across operations, customer experience, safety, and infrastructure
- Provide executive leadership to Enterprise Architecture, Data Analytics, AI Platform/Product, and Data Governance teams
- Ensure AI initiatives integrate with enterprise data management, cloud platforms, and architecture
- Establish and enforce responsible AI, data governance, security, and compliance frameworks
- Accelerate AI deployment from strategy through production in a safety-sensitive environment
Requirements
- 10+ years in AI, advanced analytics, enterprise data management, or digital transformation
- 8+ years of Director-level or higher leadership in a large, complex organization
- 5+ years leading enterprise AI or advanced analytics initiatives end-to-end (strategy to production)
- 5+ years integrating AI with enterprise data platforms and cloud environments
- 5+ years establishing data governance and responsible AI in regulated or mission-critical environments
- Bachelor's degree in CS, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Math, Business, or related field
Signals
- ⚠ No salary or compensation range disclosed — unusual even for public sector roles
- ⚠ Government/public sector pay scales may lag private market significantly for AI talent
- ⚠ No prior AI leadership posting history suggests this may be a newly created function with undefined organizational muscle
- ⚠ Public transit environment adds complexity: regulatory constraints, union dynamics, legacy infrastructure
- ✓ Clear executive mandate with CDO sponsorship and digital modernization strategy in place
- ✓ Broad multi-team ownership signals real organizational authority
- ✓ WMATA is a large, high-visibility public institution with meaningful societal impact
- ✓ Safety-critical, mission-driven environment attractive to purpose-oriented AI leaders
- ✓ Explicit scope across operations, customer experience, safety, and infrastructure — not siloed