Senior Lead, AI, Digital and Data Capacity Development at Save the Children

Role purpose

A key component of AI, Digital, and Data is ensuring all our people are able to maximise value from these tools in their ongoing work. This will be achieved through a focus on capacity strengthening through formal and informal channels, led by the AI, Data and Digital team. Central to this role is driving a clear vision for the broad adoption of AI across general productivity — setting the strategic direction and governance framework for how the organisation identifies high-value general productivity approaches and selects the Digital and AI solutions that accelerate its work, and securing the cross-functional engagement needed to deliver them at scale. As part of this, the role holder will lead global engagement across SCI functions and country leadership to drive adoption of AI across those teams, chairing senior leadership forums and holding SLT, ELT, and Country Director-level staff accountable for their teams’ use of Digital, Data, and AI. At a Save the Children movement level, the role holder will hold accountability for convening and chairing key cross-entity forums that build alignment and collaboration on the use of Digital, Data, and AI, bringing together leaders from ~15 member entities and driving consensus on joint, movement-wide decisions.

To enhance the use of data and AI in making decisions, building capacity of staff to analyse data, use analytical tools, and apply AI effectively will be essential to our culture change. This role will drive that capacity-building, oversee the development and rollout of AI training and culture change initiatives, embed organisation-wide standards for the responsible and ethical use of AI, and help shape the strategy for the business intelligence tools and processes that serve end users across the organisation.

Principal Accountabilities

• Set strategic direction for how Save the Children will capture value through driving use of AI, Digital, and Data cross-functionally. As a key part of this, drive and oversee execution of the vision for AI in General Productivity across the organisation.
• Own the multi-year strategy, roadmap, and prioritisation for Digital, Data, and AI general capability development across Save the Children, making the trade-off and resource-allocation decisions required to maximise organisational value.
• Lead the development and implementation of data, analytics, and AI training programmes to enhance organisational capacity, overseeing the design and rollout of initiatives that build AI fluency and drive culture change across the organisation, ensuring all initiatives align with SCI's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Drive key communities, including SCA AI Forum and the SCI AI Ethics & Risk Working Group. Foster an environment that promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual learning among all participants
• Drive uptake of organisational policies related to data, analytics, and AI — including guidelines for the responsible and ethical use of AI — ensuring they reflect SCI's values of ambition, accountability, and integrity
• Support engagement with users to gather insights and represent their needs in the design and development of cross-functional data products and tools, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility 
• Oversee the evaluation and continuous improvement of training and capacity-building efforts, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of the organisation and its diverse members
• Build and steward senior-level relationships and strategic partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to drive strategic initiatives and advocate for the importance of data, analytics, and AI in achieving SCI's mission
• Act as the organisation's senior accountable lead for AI capability, accountable to the Executive Leadership Team for the delivery and measurable impact of the enterprise-wide AI adoption strategy
• Represent Save the Children externally as a senior spokesperson and thought leader on the responsible adoption of AI in the international development sector

Experience and Skills
Essential

• Senior leadership and strategic planning: Proven experience setting and owning organisation-wide strategy at a senior leadership level, with accountability for delivery across multiple functions and geographies
• Senior stakeholder influencing: Demonstrated ability to influence and secure commitment from executive-level (ELT/SLT) and Country Director-level leaders across a global, federated organisation
• Setting a vision: Ability to set ambitious and strategic goals for data and analytics training initiatives, ensuring alignment with the organisation's values and mission.
• Change Management: Proficient in driving organisational change and fostering an environment receptive to continuous improvement
• Data Proficiency: Knowledge of data analysis, visualisation, and interpretation techniques to drive evidence-based decision-making.
• Analytics Tools Expertise: Familiarity with various data analytics tools and platforms (e.g., SQL, Python, R, Tableau, Power BI)
• User-Centric Design: Proficient in gathering and incorporating user insights to design inclusive and accessible data products and tools
• Stakeholder Engagement: Proven track record of effectively identifying and engaging key stakeholders, maintaining strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders to advance strategic initiatives

Desirable

• Non-profit sector knowledge/experience (especially international development projects)
•  Second language – French, Spanish or Arabic

Education and Qualifications 
Essential

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree or equivalent work experience.