Director, Digital, Data & AI Enablement

Position Summary

The Director, Digital, Data and AI Enablement leads Oglethorpe Power Corporation's enterprise Digital, Data and AI function within the CIO Office, converting data, automation and artificial intelligence into measurable business value.

The role owns enterprise data and BI strategy, AI and automation enablement, digital experience, technology adoption and related governance.

The position represents the OPC business and end-user perspective; it does not duplicate day-to-day service delivery performed by the shared-services IT provider or vendors. The Director coordinates with Technology Operations on platform and integration readiness and with Cybersecurity and Resilience on security, access, data protection and AI-risk controls.

This is a hands-on leadership role in a lean team, with enterprise scope, technical depth and accountability.

Essential Responsibilities

AI and Automation Enablement

• Define and prioritize an enterprise AI and automation roadmap with business-unit leaders, including decision-support use cases such as resource adequacy and load-growth planning, as well as productivity, reporting and workflow automation opportunities.
• Establish and operate the AI governance framework, including standards for risk classification, explainability, human oversight, acceptable use and evaluation of new AI tools before enterprise scaling.
• Measure and report AI adoption, identify barriers to effective use and recommend targeted enablement actions.

Data and Business Intelligence Strategy

• Lead enterprise data and BI strategy, including reporting and dashboard standards, data governance, data quality and data ownership.
• Oversee the data and BI reporting roadmap for analytics and decision-support tools used by OPC leadership and staff.
• Identify and resolve fragmented, duplicative or inconsistent reporting and data practices across departments.

Digital Experience and Technology Adoption

• Define user-experience expectations and adoption goals for OPC-facing systems, tools and platforms, regardless of delivery model.
• Assess workflow and usability pain points and lead simplification initiatives that improve productivity and decision-making.
• Represent the OPC user experience in shared-services provider and vendor service delivery, escalating material adoption or usability gaps.
• Build data and AI literacy by directly training and coaching associates and leaders on approved tools and practical use cases.

Governance and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Coordinate with Technology Operations on platform, integration and infrastructure readiness. Technology Operations owns infrastructure architecture and scalability; this role owns data architecture, data modeling and analytics/AI platform design.
• Coordinate with Cybersecurity and Resilience on security, access, data protection, compliance and AI/data risk controls for initiatives within this role's portfolio.
• Represent Digital, Data and AI priorities in CIO Office governance, budget planning and executive reporting.

People Leadership

• Build and lead the Digital, Data and AI team and recommend team growth as enterprise priorities and adoption mature.
• Set performance expectations, development plans and hiring priorities for direct reports in partnership with the CIO.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Data and Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Computer Science or a related field; an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered. Master's degree preferred.
• Seven or more years of progressive experience in data and AI, business intelligence or automation enablement, including substantive hands-on exposure to AI/ML concepts and implementations such as generative AI, predictive analytics or intelligent automation.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business and user needs into data, reporting or automation solutions and to drive adoption and measurable outcomes.
• Working knowledge of data architecture principles, including data modeling, integration and data lake or data warehouse design; ability to personally build and troubleshoot BI dashboards and work directly with data through SQL, data modeling or scripting.
• Experience leading or influencing cross-functional initiatives through shared-services providers, vendors or matrixed delivery teams.
• Strong stakeholder-engagement and communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to executive and non-technical audiences.
• Experience hiring, developing and managing a small technical or analytical team while remaining an active contributor in a lean delivery environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in an electric utility, cooperative or critical-infrastructure environment.
• Experience with enterprise AI tools and responsible-AI governance.
• Experience with BI/reporting platforms and data-governance frameworks.
• Experience with Databricks or comparable modern data and AI platforms, and/or utility business systems such as Maximo, Infor or PowerPlan.
• Data-governance or AI-governance certification, such as Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) or an equivalent responsible-AI credential.
• Experience operating within or alongside a shared-services technology model.