Axial AI Governance Director

Axial AI Governance Director

Introduction to role:
Are you ready to shape how responsible AI unlocks value across a global, end-to-end enterprise? This role builds the guardrails and accelerators that let our teams innovate with confidence, ensuring AI advances business performance while protecting patients, data, and reputation.

You will join a high-energy, cross-functional group driving a once-in-a-generation transformation. Partnering with product, engineering, legal, privacy, security, and compliance, you will design and operationalize AI governance that enables safe experimentation, fast scaling, and measurable outcomes—from discovery to delivery. Can you see yourself setting standards that become the benchmark for responsible AI at enterprise scale?

Accountabilities:

AI Governance Framework and Strategy: Lead the design and rollout of a comprehensive AI Governance Framework, defining goals, roadmap, and alignment with global AI and data governance strategies to accelerate safe, compliant adoption.

Policies, Standards, and Controls: Define, monitor, and remediate policies and standards for Generative and Agentic AI and broader AI systems, including control libraries, risk tiers, and exception handling processes that reduce risk while enabling innovation.

Subject Matter Leadership: Apply deep expertise to resolve complex AI governance challenges, establish demand routing, and influence strategic decisions that shape enterprise-wide AI use.

Forums and Working Groups: Set direction and manage AI Governance forums and cross-functional working groups to drive cohesive, timely decision-making and accountability.

Risk, Compliance, and Ethical AI: Design and implement policies balancing benefit and risk, working with privacy, legal, security, and ethics partners to ensure appropriate controls and monitoring for AI data access and usage.

Regulatory Readiness and Audits: Prepare for audits and partner with governance forums to sustain compliance with evolving AI regulations, demonstrating control effectiveness and continuous improvement.

Incident Response: Lead responses to AI-related incidents, including root cause analysis, remediation planning, and lessons learned, strengthening resilience and reducing recurrence.

Compliance Checks and Reporting: Define the approach and drive execution of compliance checks to verify adherence to policy, and report outcomes to collaborators to advise action.

AI Data Risk Management: Identify, report, and act upon AI data risks, ensuring issues are surfaced early and addressed decisively.

Environment Management and Enablement: Develop and implement strategies that enable safe experimentation and testing of AI models while protecting critical data assets and intellectual property.

Embedded Governance: Work with product and engineering to seamlessly embed governance into build and deployment pipelines, enabling rapid, compliant scaling of new AI capabilities.

Solution Catalog Stewardship: Manage the catalog of approved AI agents, models, and components to improve reuse, transparency, and quality across programs.

Connector and Tool Governance: Govern enablement of connectors and external AI tools in close consultation with Architecture, Product, and Engineering to mitigate integration risk and ensure value.

Governance Technology Adoption: Champion adoption of governance technologies such as automated policy enforcement and AI risk monitoring to improve oversight and efficiency.

AI Standards and Ontologies: Lead cross-functional development of AI-specific data standards, including conceptual models, glossaries, and ontologies, to improve consistency and interoperability.

AI Data Quality Strategy: Define data quality strategy and metrics for AI-ready data and AI outputs, ensuring continuous measurement and reporting to partners.

Lifecycle Governance: Establish procedures to govern each AI model and associated data asset across its full lifecycle, from design to retirement, ensuring traceability and accountability.

Dashboards and Reporting: Build and maintain dashboards to monitor compliance, risk posture, and control effectiveness, enabling leadership insight and timely intervention.

Collaborator Partnering: Provide deep subject matter expertise to internalcollaborators, influencing program and project direction to achieve compliance and mitigate high-level risks.

AI Literacy, Culture, and Change: Lead change and improvement initiatives for AI literacy and compliance, devising communication, training, and support strategies that embed responsible AI into everyday practices.

Essential Skills/Experience:
- Proven ability to design and implement an AI Governance Framework aligned to global AI and data governance strategies, goals, and roadmap.
- Experience defining, monitoring, and remediating AI policies and standards for Generative and Agentic AI and broader AI systems, including control libraries, risk tiers, and exception handling.
- Deep subject matter expertise to address complex AI governance challenges, establish demand routing, and influence strategic decisions.
- Experience leading AI Governance forums and cross-functional working groups to drive cohesive decision-making.
- Demonstrated capability to design and implement AI policies that balance benefit and risk for responsible use across internal and external contexts.
- Collaboration with privacy, legal, security, and ethics functions to establish controls for AI data access and usage, including monitoring mechanisms.
- Audit readiness and sustained compliance with evolving AI regulations through partnership with governance forums.
- Leadership in AI-related incident response, root cause analysis, remediation planning, and lessons learned documentation.
- Defining and driving compliance checks ensuring AI processes adhere to policy, with effective reporting and action.
- Identifying, reporting, and acting upon AI data risks to reduce exposure and enhance resilience.
- Developing and implementing environment management strategies for safe experimentation and model testing while protecting critical data assets.
- Embedding governance into product and engineering build and deployment processes to enable rapid, compliant scaling.
- Managing a solution catalog to improve reuse and transparency of approved AI agents, models, and components.
- Governing connector enablement and external AI tool usage in close consultation with Architecture, Product, and Engineering.
- Championing governance technology solutions such as automated policy enforcement and AI risk monitoring tools.
- Leading development of AI-specific data standards, conceptual models, business glossaries, and ontologies for AI-driven solutions.
- Defining data quality strategy and metrics for AI-ready data and AI outputs with continuous reporting.
- Establishing effective lifecycle governance procedures for AI models and associated data assets.
- Building dashboards and reporting mechanisms to monitor compliance, risk posture, and control effectiveness.
- Providing subject matter expertise to influence AI programs, projects, and services to achieve compliance and mitigate high-level risks.
- Leading communication, training, and support strategies to improve AI literacy, culture, and compliance.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

- Experience operationalizing automated policy enforcement and AI risk monitoring technologies at enterprise scale.
- Track record of partnering with product, engineering, and architecture to embed governance in modern delivery pipelines.
- Expertise in developing business glossaries and ontologies that improve interoperability across complex data landscapes.
- Background in designing metrics and dashboards that turn compliance and risk data into clear, actionable insights.
- History of leading change initiatives that raise AI literacy and embed responsible AI behaviors across diverse partner groups.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge
perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual 
flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $153,480.80 - $230,221.20. Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives—an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles. Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans. 

Date Posted

Why AstraZeneca:

Join a mission-led, fast-growing organization where your work shapes how AI accelerates scientific progress and delivers medicines to patients worldwide. You will collaborate with diverse experts who value ambition and kindness, combine modern technology with rigorous governance, and operate in a transformative program that touches the entire enterprise. Expect open dialogue, coaching, and recognition, with unexpected teams working side by side to turn bold ideas into practical outcomes that matter.

Date Posted

Closing Date

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.