Director of Strategic Initiatives

   

Department

The Cornell AI Initiative is a university-wide effort to advance Cornell’s leadership in research and education in artificial intelligence, while creating, applying, and evaluating human-centered AI as a tool across the university — from classrooms and laboratories to clinics and university administration. By leveraging Cornell’s breadth of expertise, the Cornell AI Initiative aims to understand how AI affects learning, scholarship, operations, and public engagement, and to advance responsible strategies for AI use — and intentional non-use — in service of Cornell’s mission.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

The Opportunity

The AI Initiative is seeking a collaborative and highly organized Director to provide university-wide coordination across a portfolio of more than 30 programs and services spanning research, education, operations, and public engagement. The Director will be a critical driver of AI initiatives across multiple campuses.

Reporting directly to the Vice Provost for AI Strategy, the Director serves as Chief of Staff and provides strategic partnership, planning and project oversight to the office. The Vice Provost, a member of the University's senior academic leadership team, leads or co-leads many university-wide initiatives, working through various department stakeholders.

This is a full time on campus position (within daily commuting distance from Ithaca, NY). Some hybrid activities are possible, but the employee will be expected to be on campus regularly and frequently. Fully remote work is not available for this position.

As a strategic advisor and thought partner to the Vice Provost, the Director must possess a broad command of the AI Initiative portfolio across its four verticals and Weill Cornell Medicine counterparts. In this capacity, the Director works to optimize the Vice Provost’s ability to achieve institutional goals by:

• Setting and refining strategic priorities across the Initiative's research, education, operations, and public engagement portfolios.
• Aligning functional groups and vertical leads to promote knowledge sharing and coordinated planning around Initiative-wide goals.
• Managing agenda setting and preparation for AI Strategy Council (AISC) meetings and other director-level forums.
• Identifying items needing immediate attention, follow-up response, or closure, and tracking commitments to completion.
• Preparing the Vice Provost for relevant meetings, briefings, and presentations, including talking points, background materials, and follow-up communications.
• Serve as a strategic extension of the Vice Provost, triaging issues, coordinating escalation, and resolving matters on behalf of the Vice Provost wherever possible.
• Serving as the Vice Provost's representative in conversations with campus partners.
• Overseeing communications to key stakeholders and varied audiences, including coordination with the Initiative's communications function.

What We Need

For full consideration, applicants must include both a resume and cover letter with their application. 

The successful candidate must have a Master’s degree in a relevant field and a minimum of 5 years of full-time work experience in program or project management ideally within a large, decentralized, or academic/research institution where formal authority does not map to the coordination required.

• Demonstrated success working across a matrixed organization — coordinating multiple independent units or leaders toward a shared outcome.
• A high degree of emotional intelligence, drive for results and process, growth mindset, and exceptional tact and discretion with confidential information.
• Strong ability to influence without authority: earning the trust of senior faculty and administrative leaders.
• Sound organizational judgment to manage issues as they arise and demonstrated ability to triage complex issues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize input from multiple stakeholders into clear, executive-ready materials.
• Discretion in handling sensitive or confidential institutional information, including materials prepared for governance bodies and senior leadership.

Preferred:

• Experience in a chief-of-staff, secretariat, program-management-office, or network-coordination role supporting a senior academic or executive leader.
• Experience in similar function in higher education, preferably a research institution serving a large division.
• Familiarity with university shared-governance structures or a comparable governance environment.
• Experience designing or operating lightweight goal-tracking or portfolio-management systems (e.g., OKR-style cadences, dependency or RAID logs) suited to a low-bureaucracy environment.

Rewards and Benefits

• Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, and sustainability.
• The position is covered under the ENDOWED benefits program. Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. We invite you to follow this link to get more information about our benefits: Understand Your Benefits | Working at Cornell.
• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions we also offer two additional floating holidays. Learn more about our generous leave provisions: Holiday and Accrued Time Off | Working at Cornell
• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program. Learn more about our extensive educational benefits: Education Benefits | Working at Cornell
• Follow this link to learn more about the Total Rewards of Working at Cornell: Total Rewards | Working at Cornell.

   

University Job Title:

Administrator VI

   

Job Family:

Administration

   

Level:

H

   

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

   

Pay Range:

$150,167.00 - $183,537.00

   

Remote Option Availability:

Onsite

   

Company:

Endowed

   

Contact Name:

Cyndi Morris

   

Contact Email:

[email protected]

   

Job Titles and Pay Ranges:

Non-Union Positions

Noted pay ranges reflect the potential pay opportunity for each job profile. The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:

• Prior relevant work or industry experience

• Education level to the extent education is relevant to the position

• Unique applicable skills

• Academic Discipline

To learn more about Cornell’s non-union staff job titles and pay ranges, see Career Navigator.

Union Positions

The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined in accordance with the rates in the respective collective bargaining agreement. To learn more about Cornell’s union wages, see Union Pay Rates.

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2026-11-12