Director - AI Execution Office - Barclays

Date live: 20/08/2026

Business Area: Functions Technology

Area of Expertise: Change

Contract: Permanent

Reference Code: JR-0000125285

Stakeholder Management and Leadership

The role holder will engage senior stakeholders across Technology, Business, Risk and Control to support delivery of enterprise AI priorities, including:

• Act as a trusted execution partner to the AI Office Lead, providing clear visibility of programme health, risks, issues and decisions requiring attention.
• Engage confidently with senior leadership across Technology and Business on AI delivery, governance and escalations.
• Provide a single, reliable view of AI progress so leaders can make timely, informed decisions.
• Work closely with the CTO organisation on platform delivery timelines, engineering capacity and technical dependencies.
• Partner with Business Unit CIOs to understand demand, align priorities and report on value realisation.
• Maintain an active stakeholder map to ensure key relationships are managed effectively.
• Influence across a complex matrix of Technology, Business, Risk and Control stakeholders without direct authority.
• Promote transparency, pace and outcome orientation, ensuring the AI Execution Office is seen as an enabler of delivery.
• Establish delivery standards, templates and ways of working that drive consistency and professionalism.

The role holder will balance competing demand and constrained capacity, ensuring delivery decisions support both immediate execution needs and the long-term enterprise AI strategy. They will be required to:

• Make operational decisions on programme sequencing, enablement squad allocation and escalation routes within the strategic framework set by the Group CIO.
• Determine appropriate governance routes for AI initiatives, balancing speed, risk and compliance requirements.
• Shape reporting cadence, content and format to support senior stakeholder engagement and decision quality.
• Apply judgement on when to resolve issues directly and when material items require senior escalation.
• Assess AI portfolio health, investment efficiency and value realisation trends using structured analysis.
• Translate adoption, ROI, cost and usage data into actionable insights for executive audiences.
• Balance near-term delivery pressure with the long-term enterprise AI roadmap.
• Identify where processes, governance or operating model elements need to evolve to support scale.
• Use data-driven insight to inform prioritisation, resourcing and performance improvement.

Risk and Control Objective

Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Enterprise-Wide Risk Management Framework and internal Barclays Policies and Policy Standards.

Person Specification