Group Operations AI Lead

Prudential's purpose is to be partners for every life and protectors for every future. Our purpose encourages everything we do by creating a culture in which diversity is celebrated and inclusion assured, for our people, customers, and partners. We provide a platform for our people to do their best work and make an impact to the business, and we support our people's career ambitions. We pledge to make Prudential a place where you can Connect, Grow, and Succeed.

We are seeking a visionary Group AI Lead to spearhead our AI and advanced analytics initiatives within the operations domain.
This role is ideal for a seasoned professional who thrives at the intersection of cutting-edge technology, ethical AI, and strategic business impact. You will lead the development and deployment of high-impact data science solutions, drive innovation in Generative and Agentic AI, and champion responsible AI practices across the organization.
The Group AI Lead will be responsible for designing end-to-end AI solutions that comply with the Group Solution Blueprint, AI architecture, Responsible AI principles, and cost standards. You will also oversee the deployment of these solutions across Local Business Units (LBUs).
This role serves as the central coordination point between AI solution owners and LBU AI teams, ensuring that each implementation aligns with the Group Solution Blueprint while allowing for adaptation to local regulatory and business needs.
Additionally, the AI Lead will act as a trusted partner to leaders across Technology, Data, and Group Operations, enabling scalable AI deployments across key operational pillars such as Claims Management, New Business Underwriting, CRM systems, and digital servicing.

Key Responsibilities

1. AI Solution Design (Group Level)

• Translate strategic business objectives into actionable data science and AI requirements.
• Lead AI-related activities for Group-wide solutions by collaborating with Group Pillar workstream leads, LBU AI leads, and their teams.
• Design and architect reusable traditional and agentic AI solutions, leveraging both off-the-shelf and custom-built technologies.
• Evaluate vendor-developed AI solutions for performance, cost-efficiency, and reusability to ensure alignment with business needs.
• Define AI integration points across business processes and translate them into technical architecture in partnership with Engineering and Enterprise Architecture teams.
• Specify structured and unstructured data requirements for AI solutions in collaboration with Data Leads.
• Develop implementation roadmaps considering data quality, availability of key AI assets, and required resources.
• Build AI solution prototypes when needed, providing a foundation for LBUs to rapidly develop localized versions.

2. AI Solution Build & Implementation (Execution)

• Coordinate with LBU AI teams during the implementation of Group-level solutions.
• Support local customization of AI solutions while ensuring adherence to global design standards throughout the model development lifecycle—including feature selection, model/LLM selection, bias and fairness testing, robustness validation, and integration.
• Assist LBU execution by augmenting AI resources, either internally or via vendor partnerships.
• Ensure standardized testing and timely submission for AI Governance approvals.

3. Solution Testing, Deployment & Maintenance

• Oversee User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to validate AI solution performance, bias mitigation, and cost projections.
• Manage deployment of AI solutions into technology platforms, following the global solution design blueprint.
• Ensure the creation of performance monitoring and cost dashboards with robust feedback loops for continuous improvement—via online or offline methods.
• Conduct periodic reviews of AI solutions across LBUs to identify opportunities for enhancement and fine-tuning.

4. Team Leadership

• Mentor and manage a high-performing team of data scientists and AI engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence.
• Ensure sufficient AI resource availability for solution design and implementation, through internal hiring or vendor support.

Key Skills & Experience

• Master's or PhD in Data Science, Computer Science, AI, or related quantitative field
• 10+ years (Master's) or 7+ years post-PhD in AI/Data Science
• Experience in Python, SQL, LangChain, Hugging Face
• At least 3 out of the following - conversational chatbots utilizing LLMs for intent detection, AI enablement for CRM systems like next best action, AI based routing, sentiment analysis, voice transcription and audit, Fraud Waste and Abuse detection, LLM based OCR and Intelligent Document Processing
• Experience managing C-suite stakeholders and their key people, and partnering with them to develop and deliver enterprise-wide AI enablement roadmaps
• Exceptional ability to communicate across technical and non-technical audiences, translating business needs to AI solution design.
• Hands-on experience with Azure or Google Cloud
• Experience in managing ML artifacts and LLM cost optimization is a strong plus
• Proven track record managing delivery teams of data scientists and AI engineers for at least 3+ years
• Demonstrated ability to translate AI solutions and performance to monetary/business impact, and ability to drive AI solution design keeping key commercial outcomes in consideration.
• Strong team player with cross-functional and cross-geography collaboration skills, partnering with multiple technical and business teams, and external vendors to come to a common solution.
• Demonstrated critical thinking and analytical capabilities

Attributes That Will Help You Succeed

• Strong leader and facilitator, able to influence without authority.
• Comfortable working in federated operating models.
• Can translate business needs into practical AI solutions.
• Highly structured, pragmatic, outcome-driven.
• Resilient, patient, and diplomatic—able to navigate complexity.

Prudential is an equal opportunity employer. We provide equality of opportunity of benefits for all who apply and who perform work for our organisation irrespective of sex, race, age, ethnic origin, educational, social and cultural background, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, disability or part-time / fixed-term work, or any other status protected by applicable law. We encourage the same standards from our recruitment and third-party suppliers taking into account the context of grade, job and location. We also allow for reasonable adjustments to support people with individual physical or mental health requirements.

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