Head of AI, IT & Systems

Overview: Delivery Associates (DA) is seeking a Head of AI, IT & Systems to lead and integrate our enterprise technology, systems, and AI agenda. This is a senior leadership role responsible for shaping how core IT systems, digital capabilities, and AI enable DA’s strategy, operations, and impact. We are looking for someone who can operate at the strategic executive level while remaining close enough to execution to drive change.  

The role spans three distinct but closely connected domains— AI as a client-facing and commercial capability, enterprise IT and systems, and data as a strategic asset —working in close partnership with dedicated data leadership to ensure clarity of ownership and speed of delivery. 

• AI client proposition: Commercial strategy, product design, revenue (competitive offerings and client value creation) 
• Technology/infrastructure: System performance, cost, security, platforms (reliable, scalable, secure infrastructure) 
• Data as enterprise asset: Governance, definitions, operations, quality, accessibility, reuse (trustworthy, reusable information powering all decision-making) 

About Delivery Associates (DA): 

Delivery Associates (DA) is a global social impact consultancy specializing in transforming the public sector. We help governments, philanthropies, and social impact organizations turn ambitious goals into an everyday reality for the people they serve. At the heart of what we do is the methodology: Deliverology®, the evolving science of getting things done in the public and social sectors. We use our expertise—strategic planning, delivery and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, digital solutions, and strategic communications—to build the capacity of our partners to deliver at every stage of the implementation life cycle, both with us and beyond us. At DA, we value excellence, humility, and passion, ensuring that we deliver the highest quality work while staying committed to making a meaningful difference. As digital technologies and AI reshape how organizations operate and deliver outcomes, DA is looking to continue building strong internal capability and credible external offerings. This role is central to that ambition. 

Job Description 

We are seeking a senior technology leader to join our global team as Head of AI, IT & Systems, with a mandate to connect our core technology, digital, and AI agenda to the way we operate as a firm and the outcomes we deliver for clients. This role is strategic, crosscutting, and executive-facing. The Head of AI, IT & Systems will shape how DA uses technology and AI to improve the way we support governments and social impact organizations, while ensuring our internal systems are secure, reliable, and fit for growth. 

The role combines responsibility for enterprise IT and systems, AI and digital transformation, and technology governance and execution. This role is critical to ensuring that our data and digital tools, IT investments, and AI initiatives are aligned with DA’s strategy, values, and client needs. The ideal candidate combines a strong track record in digital transformation and AI with deep experience in enterprise IT, systems, and product development. They are also comfortable engaging hands-on when needed and developing client facing opportunities. They bring strong judgment, credibility with senior leaders, and the ability to make sound, timely decisions in complex and evolving contexts, helping steer the organization toward clear strategic choices while building trusted relationships with clients. 

Key Responsibilities 

AI, Data Science, & Digital Transformation Leadership 

• Developing a client facing portfolio for AI and digital transformation with P&L responsibility 
• Define and lead DA’s AI and digital transformation strategy, aligned with organizational priorities. 
• Identify, prioritize, and sponsor high-impact AI use cases, ensuring clear commercial rationale, delivery ownership, and measurable value.  
• Set strategic direction and governance for responsible AI adoption, including ethics, governance, data privacy, and security.
• Build internal AI literacy and capability, embedding AI into workflows rather than isolated pilots. 
• Act as a strategic thought partner to senior leadership on how AI reshapes consulting, delivery, and advisory models. 

Enterprise IT & Systems Ownership: 

• Own DA’s enterprise IT strategy, architecture, and investment direction, ensuring infrastructure, platforms, and security enable reliability and scale. 
• Ensure systems are secure, reliable, scalable, and cost-effective, supporting a global, remote-first organization. 
• Lead technology architecture and platform decisions, balancing innovation with operational resilience. 
• Set direction and accountability for cybersecurity, access controls, data protection, and compliance, working with operational IT leads and vendors. 
• Manage technology vendors and partners (cloud providers, platforms, and specialist vendors). 

Governance, Strategy & Execution 

• Develop and maintain a clear digital transformation and AI roadmap with defined priorities, milestones, and success metrics. 
• Establish strong technology governance, including decision rights, escalation paths, and investment discipline. 
• Ensure alignment between IT investments, AI initiatives, and broader organizational strategy. 
• Translate strategy into execution through clear plans, routines, and accountability. 
• Clarify and maintain decision rights and escalation paths between AI strategy, enterprise IT, and data operations to avoid duplication and delivery risk. 
• Scope clarity: While this role sets strategic direction and governance expectations for data and AI, it does not own the day-to-day operation of enterprise data platforms, data quality management, or the execution of data governance, which sit with dedicated data leadership. 

Leadership & Collaboration 

• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing AI, IT & Systems team. 
• Work closely with senior leaders across DA’s practices, regions, and corporate functions to ensure AI enables growth. 
• Provide trusted leadership and strategic counsel to the Board and Executive Leadership Team, translating complex priorities into clear decisions while fostering alignment, confidence, and accountability at the highest levels. 
• Build and sustain high-performing executive relationships, collaborating effectively with senior leader peers to navigate ambiguity, resolve competing interests, and drive enterprise-wide outcomes. 
• Lead through influence and partnership, creating the conditions for collective ownership, constructive challenge, and decisive action across governance, executive, and senior leadership forums. 
• Communicate complex technical topics clearly to non-technical audiences. 
• Foster a culture of curiosity, experimentation, reliability, and continuous improvement 

Core Competencies 

We are looking for people with the following competencies: 

• Results Orientation: Takes clear ownership for outcomes across AI, IT & Systems. Ensures priorities are delivered, decisions are followed through, and technology investments translate into tangible organizational impact. 
• Strategic Thinking: Able to see the big picture, set a clear direction for enterprise technology and AI, and make sound choices about where to invest, sequence, or stop initiatives over time. 
• Communication: Communicates clearly and credibly with senior leaders, internal teams, and external partners. Translates complex technical and AI topics into clear options, implications, and decisions. 
• Technical Leadership: Brings strong technical grounding across enterprise IT, data science, and AI. Understands modern architectures, data and ML lifecycles, and system design well enough to review approaches, challenge assumptions, and engage hands-on when needed to support delivery. 
• Problem Solving & Risk Management: Proactively identifies, assesses, and mitigates technical, data, security, and delivery risks. Comfortable navigating trade-offs and stepping into complex problems to unblock progress. 
• Executive Leadership & Management: Builds, leads, and develops multidisciplinary technology teams, setting clear expectations, fostering accountability, and creating the conditions for high performance, colleague growth and development.
• Adaptability & Systems Thinking: Operates effectively in a global, multi-country, and evolving environments, understanding interdependencies across technology, data, processes, and people, and adapting approaches as context and constraints change. 

Mindsets  

We work closely in diverse, global teams, leaning on each other’s strengths. We don’t expect any one person to do all these things perfectly. Our teams are made up of people who are:   

• Accountable: Takes ownership for AI, IT & Systems outcomes, following through on decisions and commitments 
• Decisive: Makes timely, well-judged technical and strategic decisions in complex and evolving contexts 
• Hands-on: Willing to engage directly with technical details when needed to unblock progress, review critical decisions, or support teams, while ensuring clear execution ownership sits with the right leaders.  
• Strategic: Thinks long-term, sets clear direction, and balances short-term delivery with strong durable foundations and capacity-building 
• Collaborative: Works effectively across technical and non-technical teams, valuing different forms of expertise and the change management aspect of this role 
• Curious: Continuously learns and stays close to development in AI, enterprise systems and data science 
• Humble: Confident in expertise while open to challenge, evidence, and different ideas 

Required Skills/Experiences 

• Educational background: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, business, or a related field. Extensive professional experience may be considered in place of formal education. 
• Professional experience: Significant senior experience leading enterprise IT, systems, digital transformation, and/or AI agendas, preferably in global organisations and in consulting or professional services. 
• Technical proficiency: Strong understanding of digital technologies, data, and AI with experience moving from experimentation to scaled, operational impact and in product development.  
• IT & systems leadership: Deep experience with enterprise IT systems, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data platforms, and vendor management. 
• Hands-on technical credibility: Comfortable engaging at a practical level when needed. Able to dive into technical details, review designs, prototype solutions, or support teams in solving concrete problems. 
• Governance & execution: Proven ability to establish technology governance, manage risk, and translate strategy into executable roadmaps. 
• Stakeholder management: Ability to work effectively with senior leadership, technical teams, internal colleagues, and external partners. 
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Fluency in English is required; additional languages are a plus. 
• Program & portfolio management: Experience managing multiple, interdependent technology and AI initiatives in fast-paced environments. 
• Remote leadership: Ability to lead and operate effectively in a distributed, remote-first global organization. 
• Authorization + location requirements: Preference for candidates Brazil or Peru with flexibility for other locations.  Delivery Associates will not sponsor applicants for work visas, nor will this role be eligible for employee benefits beyond contractual agreements. 

What we offer 

• Impactful work: Opportunities to engage with senior leaders and work on transformative projects. 
• Global team collaboration – Work with diverse teams across geographies. 
• Excellent colleagues: We strive to be as talent-dense and diverse as possible, so we are always learning from each other. Access to world-class training programs and mentorship from senior leaders. 
• Growth environment: Everyone’s career pathway is unique-be part of a growing organization committed to continuous improvement. 
• Flexibility: Remote working environment with opportunities for global collaboration. 
• Healthy compensation: Our contractors are offered competitive market rates for the effort they put in. 

Our Values 

These values serve as an anchor, enabling us to stay true to who we are and what we stand for. 

• Passion: It is all about impact. 
• Excellence: Delivering to the highest standards. 
• Humility: Pride without ego. 

For more information, visit deliveryassociates.com/our-work or contact our talent team at talent@deliveryassociates.com 

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