Director, Digital, Data & AI

Overview & Responsibilities

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Director, Digital, Data & AI owns and operates Ebara Elliott Energy's (EEE) Digital Program end-to-end. This role brings the Automation & AI team, data engineering, data science and analytics, and application development together under one accountable leader to instill day-to-day program discipline, including prioritization, value tracking, fail-fast decision-making, and Finance-facing case-building. The incumbent establishes a single intake funnel, a scored prioritization process through a Digital Decision Team, Digital Pod execution, and a quarterly portfolio review. This governance spans all eight capability domains (Digital Engineering, Smart Manufacturing, Connected Products &

Services, Digital Customer Experience, Mobility, Intelligent Automation, AI & Advanced Analytics, and the Connected Workforce) organized around EEE’s three value arcs: Make the Product, Serve the Customer, and Run the Enterprise. The role is accountable for moving the program through a maturity path (from "Crawl" to "Transform") by judging every initiative on net value rather than novelty. A foundational responsibility is partnering with Finance to design and stand up a dedicated digital

funding model so flexible and variable program resources can be funded based on demonstrated value. Furthermore, the Director evaluates application-development decisions as genuine buy-versus-build choices weighed on business value and speed to market.

The role involves assessing the internal team to remove duplicative work and deliberately building toward a variable-cost model that incorporates offshore delivery capacity, managed services, and close partnership with EEE’s incoming IT Shared Services organization. The incumbent operationalizes digital governance policy, integrates cybersecurity testing from intake, aligns investments with EEE’s core Oracle E-Business Suite environment and broader ERP roadmap, and translates technical initiatives into business language.

BACKGROUND and EXPERIENCE

Education Requirement: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field required. Master’s degree (MBA or related technical/business discipline) is strongly preferred. Formal training or certification in a recognized digital/technology governance or value-management discipline (e.g., TBM Council, PMI/PgMP, SAFe) is a plus.

Minimum Experience: 15+ years of strategic IT leadership, including 5+ years driving Smart Manufacturing initiatives with proven credibility bridging corporate technology and shop-floor realities.

Preferred Experience: Deep working knowledge of ERP systems (Oracle E-Business Suite strongly preferred) and experience operating in a global/international manufacturing environment.

Knowledge and Skills:

· Proven track record building or running a digital transformation, automation, AI, analytics, or application-development program at scale.

· Direct experience conducting or commissioning digital/IT maturity and capability gap assessments.

· Demonstrated experience designing structured project scoring/prioritization frameworks and building disciplined net-value, ROI, and total-cost-of-ownership business cases.

· Experience evaluating application-development decisions as a mix of buy and build, weighing business value and speed to market.

· Direct experience designing and operating flexible, variable-cost staffing models (managed-services, staff augmentation, offshore delivery).

· Experience evaluating, selecting, and implementing enterprise CRM or

customer-data platforms.

· Working knowledge of IT/digital governance policy design and cybersecurity best practices.

· Demonstrated ability to translate technical initiatives into business language for executive audiences and build cross-functional consensus.

· Experience supporting IT/digital due diligence, integration, and separation activity around Mergers & Acquisitions.

NATURE OF THE JOB

This is a Director-level program-leadership position focused on developing, directing, and implementing a formal operating model for EEE’s Digital Program. The principal activities include directing the governance cadence, scoring and prioritizing initiatives based on business value, and designing a flexible staffing model spanning the entire digital portfolio. The role acts as a critical translator between technical teams and executive business stakeholders, ensuring clear communication of value and strategy. Much of the job involves responding to novel, unfamiliar situations, such as evaluating unproven technology, building financial cases without internal precedent, and negotiating new sourcing structures.

CONTACT WITH OTHERS

Internally, this role requires regular contact with the VP of Global IT & Digital Strategy, the CFO, the Digital Decision Team, the IT Architecture Review Board, Cybersecurity leadership, and business-unit sponsors across EEE’s manufacturing sites. Externally, the position involves direct interaction with outsourcing partners, offshore-delivery providers, systems integrators, ERP ecosystem partners, cybersecurity vendors, and advisory firms. The role also partners internationally with Ebara Corporation counterparts in Japan on digital strategy alignment and shared sourcing opportunities. Occasional domestic and international travel (approximately 10% to 20%) is required to regional offices, manufacturing sites, and offshore delivery locations.

SUPERVISION

This is a supervisory role with responsibilities for managers and staff-level individual contributors with direct responsibility for recommendations for hiring, discipline, discharge, performance appraisal and salary increase planning. At launch, this includes

direct leadership of the Automation & AI team, data engineering, data science/analytics, and application development (approximately two manager-level direct reports and nine staff-level individual contributors). The incumbent also provides matrixed leadership to cross-functional Digital Pod resources and governs outsourced, contracted, and offshore delivery resources.

SPECIFIC JOB RESPONSIBILITIES/COMPETENCIES

· Leads the Automation & AI, data engineering, data science/analytics, and application-development teams directly, along with matrixed Digital Pod resources, to establish and run the Digital Program’s governance and operating model.

· Applies a consistent net-value-versus-total-cost-of-ownership scoring methodology to evaluate, prioritize, and manage the portfolio of automation, AI, application-development, and analytics initiatives.

· Evaluates and selects the right technology, platform, and delivery approach for each initiative, applying disciplined build-versus-buy and architecture judgment.

· Builds and defends the business case (ROI, TCO) for every initiative and partners with Finance to design and implement the Digital Program’s funding model.

· Continually evaluates internal teams to identify duplicative work and deliberately builds a flexible, variable-cost staffing model spanning the Digital Program.

· Builds, establishes, and identifies offshore delivery models for digital, analytics, and application-development work to control costs and create flexible capacity.

· Evaluates significant application-development opportunities as a genuine build-versus-buy decision based on business value and speed to market.

· Serves as the primary translator between EEE’s technical teams and business stakeholders, preparing business cases and portfolio updates in business language.

· Translates digital governance policy into a practical operating cadence appropriate for EEE’s current maturity level.

· Partners with Cybersecurity to ensure digital initiatives are designed, reviewed, and tested against baseline security best practices from intake.

· Aligns Digital Program initiatives with EEE’s core Oracle E-Business Suite environment and broader application landscape to prevent duplicative investments.

· Owns the technology and governance strategy for EEE’s customer-data/CRM platforms, including stewardship of the customer golden record.

· Builds the Digital Program’s talent model and commissions periodic digital-maturity assessments to inform the strategic roadmap.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Ebara Elliott Energy is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by the federal, state or local laws of the United States. Applicants and employees are protected under U.S. federal law from discrimination. To learn more, click here.

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