Office of the AI Lead

What will you do?

The Office of AI Lead is responsible for building and operationalising Sanlam's Office of AI function and translating AI strategy into a commercially focused, governed, portfolio-managed capability that delivers measurable commercial value across the Group. The Office of AI is responsible for facilitating the identification, commercialisation and delivery assurance for the top AI opportunities across the group to coordinate AI transformation across the group.

This role sits at the intersection of commercial assurance, AI governance, portfolio oversight, and business enablement, and operates in close partnership with the Head of Tech Strategy, CAIO, the Sanlam Chief Data Officer, Sanlam Cluster AI Leads and the Sanlam AI Nerve Centre.

This is a delivery and commercially focused role, requiring strong business acumen, commercial savvy and technical ability, i.e. you will need to understand how technical and AI solutions work, and be expected to build a few of your own, and empower agents to do your work, as well as operate under continued pressure.

What will make you successful in this role?

Strategy & Reporting

• Support the development of the Group AI strategy and translate it into operating plans and commercial business plans with each cluster, the AI nerve centre and the Office of AI
• Facilitate commercial value delivery assurance and KPI measurement
• Produce Steering Committee and AI council reporting and maintain a clear view of portfolio performance against commercial and strategic targets.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary point of coordination between the Office of AI and cluster AI leads, Group Risk, Group Information Security, the AI Nerve Centre and Group Internal Audit.
• Facilitate Steering Committee cadence and decision-making, as well as AI council preparation, reporting and cadence
• Work with cluster executives to shape opportunities to ensure strategic and commercial impact and facilitate activities with teams to help them reimagine their processes in an AI-first manner.
• Facilitate groupwide communication and internal campaigns.

Portfolio Management

• Own the AI opportunity pipeline, from submission through to prioritisation, approval, tracking and value delivery assurance, keeping cluster AI leads accountable for delivery
• Maintain portfolio visibility across clusters and ensure initiatives are classified, risk-assessed, and commercially grounded before review and approval
• Actively manage the live initiative portfolio, i.e. sequencing work, surfacing dependencies, and ensuring the portfolio is progressing against commercial and strategic targets.
• Maintain a consolidated view of portfolio value (committed, in-flight, and realised benefits) and provide the Steering Committee with the information needed to make resourcing and prioritisation decision.

Governance & Risk

• Develop and maintain the AI governance framework, classification standards, and risk controls that enable responsible AI adoption across a regulated financial services environment, in close collaboration with the Head of Risk and Governance and Group Risk functions

Qualification

• Degree in Computer Science / Information Systems

Experience:

• 5 years experience as a senior manager within consulting or tech roles
• Commercial and business acumen – a deep understanding of business, value generation, business transformation and commercial indices (i.e. ROI, NPV, IRR)
• Business case and transformation plan development and mobilisation
• Deep experience in Financial Services
• Proven experience in AI, data, or technology strategy and execution; essential
• Strong command of AI governance, risk, and responsible deployment principles
• Ability to operate credibly at executive level while driving operational delivery
• Experience managing cross-functional programmes or portfolios in complex organisations
• Familiarity with the South African regulatory landscape (advantageous)
• Practitioner-level understanding of AI, Cloud ML concepts; deep technical expertise not required, but they ability to build and structure basic technical designs is essential

Knowledge and Skills

Personal Attributes

Build a successful career with us

We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping  our employees to realise their worth. Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.

Core Competencies

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers. 

Closing date: 8 May 2026

Our commitment to transformation