Associate Director, AI & Automation Strategy

Studs runs a fast-moving, operationally complex business and is making deliberate investments in AI and automation to scale it. The Associate Director of AI & Automation owns that program: governing the portfolio, holding the quality bar on what gets built, and taking direct ownership of high-priority initiatives from scoping through sustained adoption. This role reports to the CEO and operates across every function. In practice, that means sitting at the intersection of strategy and execution: shaping where the company invests, pressure-testing whether the work is actually solving the right problems, and seeing initiatives through to real adoption. It is a role for someone who wants meaningful ownership and is comfortable with the ambiguity that comes with it.

Portfolio Governance, Quality & Outcomes

• →Maintains a cross-functional AI and automation portfolio: what is in flight, what is queued, and what has been deprioritized and why
• →Evaluates incoming proposals against business impact, feasibility, and strategic fit before resources are committed
• →Reviews and stress-tests proposed solutions before build begins: scoping, problem definition, and success criteria
• →Owns outcomes across the portfolio; tracks deployed solutions against intended results and drives resolution when initiatives stall
• →Diagnoses underperformance by distinguishing between tool failure, implementation gaps, and adoption problems

Functional Transformation

• →Takes direct ownership of high-priority initiatives (typically cross-functional, ambiguous, and requiring both design and execution through to sustained use)
• →Gets into the work directly when needed: building workflows, configuring tools, or producing outputs rather than delegating everything to a builder or vendor
• →Manages scope, vendors or builders, and adoption end-to-end; does not hand off at launch
• →Partners with functional leadership to design solutions around how teams actually work and drives the behavior change required to make them stick

Cross-Functional Engagement

• →Partners with leads across Marketing, Operations, Finance, and People to surface opportunities and align on priorities
• →Moves ambiguous problems to clear decisions without unnecessary process overhead
• →Translates between business problems and technical solutions in both directions

Reporting & Executive Visibility

• →Produces concise portfolio reporting for the CEO and functional leadership on status, outcomes, and emerging priorities
• →Brings evidence-based recommendations on where to invest next

• 5 to 8 years of experience; background in top-tier management consulting is required
• Demonstrated ability to govern complex, multi-workstream programs, not just contribute to them
• Experience owning at least one end-to-end functional transformation from scoping through adoption, in an environment with incomplete systems or unclear ownership
• Track record of driving initiatives to completion when things stall; accountable for resolution, not escalation
• Naturally cross-functional and energized by it; this role requires someone who builds trust quickly, leads teams that do not report to them, and is comfortable being the person in the room who drives things forward
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders without formal authority
• Clear, direct communicator in writing and in person; comfortable presenting ambiguous situations to executive audiences
• Sufficient familiarity with AI and automation tooling to evaluate proposals and ask the right questions (deep technical background not required)
• Based in or willing to relocate to New York; hybrid schedule