Head of AI enablement and programme management in Sunbury-on-Thames

Overview

Reporting to VP digital disciplines, Data and AI. This role preserves autonomy within the business lines while creating the cross-enterprise visibility, standards, and acceleration needed to scale AI responsibly and profitably. It evolves AI from pilots to a sustained repeatable value realizing enterprise capability. AI experimentation is accelerating across our business lines – from predictive analytics in Production & Operations to optimization and automation in Refining, to automated deal entries in Trading, and Mobility. Each BU has its own digital priorities and delivery rhythm. As these initiatives multiply, it’s important to see and drive a fuller picture: Which efforts matter most? Where is there risk of duplicating? How do we drive reuse and knowledge sharing? How do we accelerate scale‑up safely and efficiently? We’re reaching an inflection point where AI delivery needs orchestration. The Head of AI Enablement & Program Management exists to connect and amplify the work happening across our business lines – preserving business autonomy while ensuring alignment, transparency, and acceleration!

Establish enterprise visibility into the most important AI initiatives, enabling clear prioritization, progress tracking, and value realization. Enable speed and consistency by promulgating a shared AI fabric, enablement playbook and lightweight readiness standards created by the AI and engineering teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Bring together and reuse learning – ensuring that tools, evaluations, and model patterns from one BU can benefit another.
• Proactively manage vendor and investment risk before duplication or lock‑in emerge.
• Provide the Digital LT with data‑driven insight into AI maturity, dependencies, and business impact across the company.
• In essence, this role enables autonomy with coordination – enabling federated ability to innovate while ensuring the enterprise learns, scales, and governs with shared purpose.

Accountabilities:

• Enterprise Program Leadership

• Lead and maintain a unified portfolio of high‑value AI programs across all business lines.
• Act as the primary liaison to BU VPs of Digital, aligning priorities, budgets, and resources for top AI opportunities.
• Chair the AI Program Review cadence, producing standardized reporting and executive dashboards for progress, risk, and impact.

• Develop and maintain the AI Delivery Playbook defining readiness criteria, governance checkpoints, and evaluation standards.
• Embed enterprise standards for safety, ethics, and lifecycle management across all AI engagements.
• Build enablement assets and toolkits that help business teams deploy AI responsibly and repeatably.

• For the highest priority AI initiatives, help connect AI specialists, engineers, data scientists, UX researchers, product managers, and others as needed into one cohesive delivery rhythm.
• Translate field feedback into prioritized updates for the AI Platform and Digital Delivery roadmaps.

• Design and maintain an AI Delivery Dashboard, integrating data from project trackers, model registries, and performance logs.
• Establish feedback loops to capture lessons learned, share success stories, and refine delivery methods.
• Drive measurable improvements in deployment cycle time, model adoption, and cross-BU reuse.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, data science, business or equivalent work experience.
• Master’s degree or MBA in computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, data science, business or equivalent work experience.
• Combined deep experience in product management, data & analytics, software engineering and/or program management.
• Managing teams and cross‑functional leadership experience.

Differential/Desirable

• Specialization in AI/ML – understanding of ML infrastructure, data governance and ethics.
• Accomplished experience and certified in Program Management: PMP, PMI‑ACP, PSPO, SAFe.
• Customer‑centric and agile.
• Commercial with deep focus on unlocking customer and business value through digital technology.
• Growth‑minded with thirst to learn and apply emerging technologies for business value.
• Digitally enabled and data‑driven.
• Passionate about growth and development of commercially feasible customer‑focused offers.
• Masters backlog management and prioritization across complex global portfolios.
• Masters programme management (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid) across complex global portfolios.
• Strong collaboration across matrix organization.
• Creates strategic partnerships, manages risks, unblocks and manages escalation paths for effective implementation.
• Develops capabilities across big‑scale organization – unlocks AI learning, development and knowledge management at scale across global organizations.
• Creates innovation and change; is comfortable with uncertainty and constantly evolving environment.
• Up to 25 % travel should be expected with this role.
• This role is not eligible for relocation.
• This position is a hybrid of office/remote working.

Benefits

We invest in the growth and wellbeing of our people, providing the resources, networks, and development opportunities needed to thrive. Our total rewards package includes competitive pay, bonuses, share options, and a range of flexible benefits designed to meet your needs – from health care and retirement plans to paid time off and agile working. We recognise that people have multifaceted lives, and we strive to offer a career experience that reflects that.