Executive Director - AI Development Lead

Wealth Management Technology is undertaking a transformation in how software is designed, developed, tested, deployed, and operated. As AI reshapes software engineering, we are evolving from traditional delivery models toward AI-enabled, AI-augmented, and ultimately AI-native ways of working. 

We are seeking an Executive Director to lead the adoption and scaling of AI-Driven Development across Wealth Management Technology. This leader will partner with senior engineering, architecture, platform, and business leaders to accelerate the transformation of software delivery through AI-enabled practices, modern engineering capabilities, and organizational change. 

The successful candidate will be responsible for translating strategy into execution by driving adoption, establishing scalable delivery patterns, building organizational capability, and delivering measurable improvements in engineering productivity, quality, predictability, and speed-to-market. This role requires a combination of strong engineering leadership, large-scale transformation experience, executive stakeholder management, and a passion for helping organizations evolve how technology is delivered.  

Key Responsibilities 

• Lead the AI-Driven Development Transformation 

• Lead the execution and scaling of Wealth Management's AI-Driven Development strategy across engineering and platform organizations. 

• Partner with senior technology leaders, architects, and engineering teams to evolve and operationalize AI-enabled software delivery practices. 

• Drive adoption of AI-assisted, AI-augmented, and emerging AI-native delivery capabilities across the division. 

• Build alignment across stakeholders and establish consistent approaches for AI-driven development, adoption, measurement, and governance. 

• Serve as a trusted advisor to technology leadership on AI-driven engineering practices, industry trends, and emerging capabilities. 

• Transform the Software Development Lifecycle 

• Lead the implementation of AI-enabled software delivery practices across the full SDLC. 

• Drive adoption of modern engineering approaches including spec-driven development, AI-assisted engineering, intelligent automation, agentic workflows, and shift-left quality engineering. 

• Establish repeatable delivery patterns, playbooks, and best practices that can be scaled across engineering teams. 

• Partner with engineering, architecture, product, and platform teams to improve delivery effectiveness and reduce friction throughout the development lifecycle. 

• Build Scalable AI Engineering Capabilities 

• Establish reusable frameworks, accelerators, agents, workflows, prompts, and engineering assets that enable teams to scale AI adoption efficiently. 

• Partner with platform teams to establish the tooling, telemetry, and governance required to support enterprise-scale AI-driven development. 

• Develop measurement frameworks to track adoption, productivity improvements, quality outcomes, and business value realization. 

• Drive continuous improvement through data, experimentation, and outcome-based decision making. 

• Lead Organizational Change and Adoption 

• Develop and execute a comprehensive adoption strategy across product, engineering, testing, and platform organizations. 

• Establish and lead communities of practice, AI champions, and capability-building programs. 

• Define training, coaching, and enablement strategies that accelerate organizational maturity. 

• Foster a culture of experimentation, learning, innovation, and continuous improvement. 

• Drive Engineering Productivity and Business Outcomes 

• Establish engineering productivity and effectiveness metrics aligned to organizational goals. 

• Identify opportunities to improve delivery speed, reduce waste, increase throughput, and improve quality across software delivery teams. 

• Partner with business and technology leaders to ensure AI-driven development capabilities translate into measurable business outcomes. Create executive-level reporting and transparency around transformation progress and value realization. 

• Executive Leadership and Stakeholder Management 

• Collaborate with senior leaders across Technology, Product, Operations, Architecture, Risk, and Business organizations. 

• Influence investment priorities and transformation roadmaps related to AI-enabled delivery. 

• Present progress, risks, opportunities, and adoption outcomes to executive leadership forums. 

• Represent Wealth Management Technology in firmwide AI and engineering transformation initiatives.  

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of technology leadership experience with a strong background in software engineering and delivery transformation. 

• Proven track record leading large-scale engineering or operating model transformations across complex organizations. 

• Demonstrated success driving organizational change and adoption across multiple technology teams. 

• Experience building and scaling engineering capabilities, centers of excellence, communities of practice, or enterprise enablement programs. 

• Strong understanding of modern software engineering, Agile delivery, DevSecOps, cloud platforms, platform engineering, and software development lifecycle practices. 

• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to influence technical and executive audiences. 

Preferred Experience 

• Experience implementing AI-enabled software development capabilities at scale. 

• Experience with AI-assisted engineering, agentic workflows, generative AI platforms, and software engineering productivity initiatives. 

• Experience developing reusable engineering frameworks, accelerators, and delivery assets. 

• Deep understanding of engineering productivity, measurement frameworks, and value realization models. 

• Experience working within large-scale financial services or highly regulated organizations. 

• Experience leading modernization, platform transformation, or enterprise technology change initiatives. 

Leadership Characteristics - The ideal candidate: 

• Is a builder and operator who excels at translating vision into execution. 

• Has credibility with engineers, architects, delivery leaders, and senior executives alike. 

• Can lead large-scale organizational transformation through influence rather than authority alone. 

• Uses data and measurable outcomes to drive decision making. 

• Balances innovation with operational rigor and governance. 

• Has a passion for improving how technology organizations deliver value. 

• Thrives in complex environments requiring collaboration across multiple teams and stakeholders.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years.  Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices​ into your browser.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background.  Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.