Job Information
Central Garden & Pet Company Senior Director, Artificial Intelligence in Atlanta, Georgia
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
AI Strategy and Direction
- Define and maintain the enterprise AI vision and multi-year roadmap
- Align AI investments to growth, efficiency, and MandA integration priorities
- Issue formal statements of architectural direction for AI platforms
- Anticipate emerging technologies and guide adoption decisions
- Ensure AI strategy aligns with enterprise architecture principles
Leadership of the AI Center of Excellence
- Lead and scale the AI Center of Excellence (AI COE)
- Establish reusable frameworks, playbooks, and delivery models
- Standardize AI engineering practices across the enterprise
- Promote enterprise-wide AI fluency and adoption
- Create a scalable operating model for AI delivery
AI Architecture and Assurance
- Provide architectural assurance for AI initiatives in flight
- Review designs for scalability, security, and sustainability
- Partner with Enterprise Architecture and Architecture Review Board
- Prevent platform fragmentation and tool sprawl
- Maintain technical coherence across the AI landscape
Standards, Governance and Practices
- Establish AI lifecycle engineering standards
- Define model governance and ethical AI guardrails
- Create deployment and monitoring frameworks
- Ensure compliance, privacy, and risk management
- Maintain enterprise trust in AI systems
Enterprise AI Learning and Enablement Strategy
- Define and lead enterprise AI learning strategy
- Build structured AI fluency programs across roles
- Develop training libraries and best practice repositories
- Partner with HR and Learning and Development to institutionalize AI skills
- Grow internal AI champions and power-user communities
- Measure workforce AI maturity and adoption
Vendor and Ecosystem Management
- Manage strategic relationships with AI platform vendors
- Lead evaluation of emerging tools and ecosystems
- Drive vendor selection aligned with architecture principles
- Negotiate enterprise partnerships and cost structures with CIO
- Prevent vendor sprawl through disciplined strategy
Financial and Business Partnership
- Model AI platform cost structures and investments
- Partner with finance to forecast AI operating expenses
- Develop business cases with business leaders
- Ensure ROI visibility and measurable outcomes
- Balance innovation speed with cost discipline
AI Industry Liaison and RandD Leadership
- Serve as liaison to AI research and innovation ecosystem
- Maintain relationships with industry thought leaders
- Translate external innovation into enterprise capability
- Lead enterprise RandD pilots with business units
- Represent the company in AI forums and partnerships
- Position the organization as an AI-forward enterprise
Roadmapping and Enterprise Alignment for AI
- Build AI enablement roadmaps with Enterprise Architecture
- Align with Architecture Review Board priorities
- Sequence platform evolution intentionally
- Prioritize capabilities based on business value
- Define long-term AI maturity trajectory
QUALIFICATIONS
Senior enterprise technology leadership experience (ideally 10+ years)
Deep expertise in AI/ML platforms and cloud ecosystems
Proven ability to scale technical organizations
Enterprise architecture strategy experience
Vendor negotiation and platform strategy expertise
Financial modeling and investment prioritization skil