Vice President, AI Strategy & Enablement

Job Title: Vice President, AI Strategy & Enablement

Department: Information Technology

Reports To: Chief Technology Officer

FLSA Code: Exempt 

Estimated Salary: $235,000 - $245,000 

Job Summary:

The VP, AI Strategy and Enablement will be responsible for spearheading Cohen & Steers’ enterprise-wide AI product strategy. This critical role will work closely with both the CTO and COO to own, manage, and prioritize all AI initiatives at the intersection of our business and technology. You will be instrumental in formulating our AI strategy, streamlining our technological capabilities, building AI roadmaps, driving prioritization, and managing successful rollouts of impactful AI solutions.

As the VP, AI Strategy and Enablement, you will be instrumental in shaping our technical AI roadmap in close partnership with the Cohen & Steers’ IT team. Your mission will be to ensure the development and deployment of impactful, scalable AI solutions that accelerate productivity and innovation across the organization. The ideal candidate will possess a strong foundation in asset management and/or engineering, with a proven ability to translate complex business needs into cutting-edge technical solutions. You'll navigate Cohen & Steers’ diverse business units, identifying opportunities for AI to deliver significant value and championing a user-centric, agile approach to product development. Cohen & Steers is committed to an inclusive culture, valuing diversity in support of our people and clients.

Major Responsibilities/Activities:

• Own the end-to-end AI product strategy across the enterprise, from ideation to delivery and iteration, ensuring tight alignment with Cohen & Steers’ strategic business goals across all relevant departments.
• Act as the primary liaison and strategic partner for business units, collaborating deeply with stakeholders across Operations, Finance, Investments, Distribution, etc. to surface requirements, understand pain points, drive prioritization, and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Partner closely with the Cohen & Steers’ IT team, strategic vendors and stakeholders to build AI solutions to specification and budget, while ensuring scalability, performance, and seamless integration within our existing technological landscape.
• Translate ambiguous or emerging business challenges into clear problem statements and comprehensive product requirements for AI solutions, ensuring a deep understanding of the underlying business value.
• Drive the execution of the enterprise AI product roadmap, expertly managing dependencies, trade-offs, and timelines while maintaining a strong focus on delivering tangible business value and technical excellence.
• Stay current with industry trends and innovations in AI/ML, enterprise software vendors, and AI governance. Continuously incorporating best practices into Cohen & Steers’ product thinking and strategy.

Minimum Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in business analysis or engineering within established financial services organizations, with at least 3 years specifically focused on AI or ML.
• Deep and practical understanding of the entire AI/ML product lifecycle, including model development, deployment, and integration with third-party platforms.
• Strong technical acumen, demonstrated by the ability to engage confidently and productively with Cohen & Steers’ IT team, strategic vendors and stakeholders on architecture, APIs, model selection, and infrastructure decisions.
• Proven track record of success in building, launching, and scaling enterprise-level AI solutions that have delivered clear, measurable business impact.
• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence and align diverse stakeholders from both technical and non-technical backgrounds.
• Strategic thinker with a strong bias for action, a high degree of curiosity, and a consistent track record of driving innovation and transformation within an organization.
• Demonstrates inclusive behaviors in support of a culture that values diverse perspectives.
• Is able to abide by the firm’s hybrid work arrangement policy in New York City office (4 days in-office/1 day remote).

Beneficial Skills:

• Understanding of Microservices and Model-Context-Protocol interfaces.
• Experience with Data Lakehouse and/or Warehouse platforms supporting unified analytics such as Microsoft Fabric, Data Bricks, or Snowflake.
• Experience in AI model training and prompt engineering.
• Experience with Python and various data manipulation libraries
• Deep understanding of either buy-side investment workflows and processes, or financial sales and distribution equivalents

Note: This job description reflects management's assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned. The job title or duties and responsibilities may be changed by the Company at any time.