AI Director

Global University Systems is building a modern AI platform to power how our universities recruit, teach, support, and serve students. The Director of AI will lead this transformation, turning promising ideas into production‑grade AI solutions that create real value for students and staff.

In this role you will own the AI roadmap end‑to‑end: from identifying high‑impact use cases, to running rapid experiments, to scaling successful solutions across multiple Higher Education Institutions.

• Own and continually refine the AI initiatives portfolio and roadmap for the group.
• Run a structured intake process for new ideas, assessing value, feasibility, data readiness, ethical risk, and compliance.
• Define clear success measures for every proof of concept (PoC) and MVP, including KPIs, leading indicators, and decision gates to continue, pivot, or stop.

• Run time‑boxed PoCs (2–8 weeks) and MVPs (8–16 weeks) using Agile methods (Scrum or Kanban) with regular demos and retrospectives.
• Build and lead cross‑functional squads including Product Owner, Data Scientists, ML Engineers, Integration Engineers, Solution Architect, and domain experts from Admissions, Registry and Student Services.
• Design experiments, test hypotheses, and iterate quickly, ensuring human‑in‑the‑loop for critical decisions such as admissions triage or student risk flagging.
• Embed Responsible AI practices from the start, including bias assessment, explainability, accessibility, documentation, and impact assessments tailored to higher education.

• Take validated MVPs into production with robust architecture, integration patterns, security controls, SLAs, and operational runbooks.
• Establish MLOps across the university environment, including model registry, CI/CD for ML, feature stores, monitoring for drift, and retraining policies.
• Build reusable AI platform capabilities (e.g., orchestration, RAG services, prompt safety, connectors) that support multiple domains such as:
• Recruitment & Admissions: enquiry triage, lead scoring, document extraction, and decision support.
• Student Records & Registry: data quality checks, anomaly detection, and predictive alerts for progression and retention.
• Timetabling & Operations: demand forecasting, optimisation support, and conflict detection.
• Teaching & Learning: content summarisation, tutoring assistants, accessibility tools, and feedback synthesis respecting academic integrity.
• Student Support & Wellbeing: intelligent case routing, early warning signals, and proactive nudges designed with strong ethics and safeguarding.
• Research Administration: grant discovery, compliance support, and metadata enrichment.
• Coordinate integrations with core systems including SIS (e.g., Banner, Workday Student), LMS/VLE (Moodle, Canvas), CRM (Salesforce), library systems, HR/Finance (ERP), and identity platforms (e.g., Azure AD).

• Implement a practical AI governance framework that includes a use case register, risk scoring, impact assessments, model documentation, and audit trails.
• Ensure compliance with GDPR, accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG), information security policies, and emerging AI regulations.
• Define and enforce guardrails for data and GenAI use: data access controls, PII handling, prompt/data leakage prevention, and content moderation.

• Partner with Deans, Registry, Admissions, Student Services, IT, Legal and other stakeholders to align on priorities and rollout plans.
• Communicate progress through clear dashboards and storytelling, highlighting wins and lessons learned to build momentum.
• Prepare teams and students for AI adoption with training, standard operating procedures, ethical use guidelines, and tailored communications.

• Lead RFPs and SOWs for AI vendors, data providers, and implementation partners, including evaluation of cost, performance, and scalability.
• Track and optimise cloud and AI platform spend, balancing cost with value; negotiate campus‑wide licensing where beneficial.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science,…