Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Governance Officer

Northwest Bank · Independence

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Job Description

The AI Governance Officer is a senior-level contributor responsible for administering the Bank's enterprise AI governance framework and supporting the oversight of artificial intelligence use cases throughout their lifecycle. The role exercises sound judgment in assessing AI-related risks, facilitating risk-based governance decisions, coordinating cross-functional review processes, and ensuring compliance with internal standards and regulatory expectations. The position plays a critical role in enabling responsible innovation while maintaining transparency, accountability, and effective oversight of AI capabilities deployed across the institution.
Essential Functions

• Leads administration of the Bank’s enterprise AI risk governance framework and supporting procedures. Coordinates activities across all business lines and corporate functions.
• Coordinate intake, assessment, and governance activities for proposed AI use cases. Determine and document the classification of solutions as models, agents, tools, job aids, or other categories defined by policy.
• Serve coordinator for the AI Working Group, including preparation of agendas, meeting materials, decision logs, and action item tracking.
• Maintain the enterprise inventory of AI use cases and associated governance records.
• Assess proposed AI implementations to determine applicable governance requirements and control expectations.
• Develop management reporting and dashboards related to AI inventory, approvals, issues, and emerging risks. Monitor compliance with AI governance standards and escalate material issues to executive leadership.
• Promote awareness and understanding of AI governance requirements throughout the institution.
• Develops and maintains enterprise policies, standards, and procedures governing AI risk.
• Serve as a senior member of the Model Risk team, exercising sound judgment in evaluating model risk and making decisions on model approvals and issue closures as a delegate of the Chief Model Risk Officer.
• Participate in the research and evaluation of emerging modeling techniques, including AI/ML, and assess their applicability and risk implications within the institution.
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of the model risk management framework, including validation methodologies, documentation standards, and governance practices.
• Review academic and industry research, summarize key insights, and propose practical applications to improve model risk oversight and innovation.
• Ensure compliance with Northwest’s policies and procedures, as well as applicable federal and state regulations including SR26-2, interagency AI/ML guidance, and the U.S. Treasury Financial Services AI Risk Management Framework.
• Interprets evolving regulatory expectations relating to artificial intelligence and translates them into practical governance requirements.
• Serves as the primary coordinator for regulatory examinations, audits, and independent reviews of AI governance.

Additional Essential Functions

• Ensure compliance with Northwest’s policies and procedures, and Federal/State regulations
• Navigate Microsoft Office Software, computer applications, and software specific to the department in order to maximize technology tools and gain efficiency
• Work as part of a team
• Work with on-site equipment

What You Bring to the Team

• Participate in enterprise initiatives involving emerging technologies and advanced analytics.
• Own the design, implementation, and enhancement of governance workflows within Archer or similar systems.
• Recommend customer service enhancements

QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Education
Bachelor's Degree    Undergraduate degree in risk management, business, economics, statistics, mathematics, information systems, computer science, law, or related discipline.
Master's Degree    Master's degree in risk management, business, economics, statistics, mathematics, information systems, computer science, law, or related discipline.
Work Experience
8 - 12 years    Experience in a financial institution or consulting environment, with demonstrated exposure to AI governance And
3 - 5 years    Experience evaluating or governing AI/ML use cases across the lifecycle, including:

• pre-implementation assessment
• control design
• post-deployment monitoring

Experience with generative AI, machine learning, or decision-support systems, including understanding of associated risks (e.g., bias, explainability, data dependency, automation risk)
Experience supporting or interacting with internal audit, regulators, or independent model review functions
Experience supporting or interacting with internal audit, regulators, or independent model review functions
Additional Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to apply risk-based judgment in ambiguous situations, particularly in evaluating AI use cases where regulatory expectations and governance standards are evolving
• Ability to analyze complex AI/ML concepts and communicate risks, limitations, and trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to challenge and influence business and technology stakeholders to ensure appropriate risk identification, control design, and governance outcomes
• Ability to identify patterns, emerging risks, and systemic issues across multiple AI use cases rather than evaluating them in isolation.
• Ability to make sound governance decisions in gray areas, including classification (model vs agent vs tool), control requirements, and escalation thresholds
• Ability to coordinate cross-functional governance processes and drive clear outcomes across Risk, Technology, Compliance, Legal, and Business teams
• Ability to develop and interpret risk metrics, monitoring outputs, and performance indicators for AI systems

Licenses and Certifications   
Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC)
Financial Risk Manager (FRM)
Certified Third-Party Risk Professional (CTPRP)
Relevant AI governance certifications

Northwest is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

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