AI Governance Lead / Head - Banking

As vector8 continues to grow, we are looking for an AI Governance Lead / Head - Banking to help design and operationalize a pragmatic, fast-moving governance framework for AI within the Swiss, UK and French regulated banking environments. This is a strategically important role for someone who can translate regulatory expectations into practical delivery methods, enabling vector8 to scale growth in highly regulated enterprise accounts while maintaining speed, credibility, and control.

This role sits at the intersection of AI governance, banking regulation, delivery methodology, and commercial enablement. You will help define how vector8 supports banks that want to deploy AI safely across review, decisioning, and workflow automation use cases - not only by advising on governance, but by embedding it into how solutions are designed, delivered, evidenced, and scaled.

The ideal candidate combines strong expertise in AI governance, Swiss and cross-border banking regulation, and the practical realities of enterprise AI deployment. You understand that in banking, the critical issue is not just whether AI is in use, but whether it can be clearly evidenced, governed within defined boundaries, overseen appropriately, and shown to operate in line with its intended purpose.
 
This role is an opportunity to shape a core capability at the center of AI adoption in vector8’s banking vertical. Your work will influence how vector8 delivers AI into regulated environments, how clients gain confidence in production deployment, and how the business differentiates itself in some of the most demanding enterprise settings. A key part of the role is turning this regulatory framework into a reusable asset that can be tailored by customer, rolled out across accounts, and embedded into vector8's broader solution and platform approach. 

You will help answer one of the most important questions banking clients are now asking: not simply whether AI is present, but whether it can be shown to operate within defined boundaries, under supervision, and in line with its intended mandate.

Responsibilities

• Build a streamlined, scalable, and supervisory-compliant AI governance framework tailored to the needs of Swiss/ EU regulated banking clients.
• Map the operational failure modes of active automation and AI-enabled workflows, and define governance controls that are proportionate, practical, and delivery-friendly.
• Stress-test vector8's governance approach against relevant regulatory expectations, including the EU AI Act, FINMA requirements, and relevant UK regulatory expectations for cross-border banking environments.
• Work directly with technical and delivery teams to embed a lightweight governance layer into vector8's delivery methodology, ensuring governance is built into implementation rather than added as an afterthought.
• Define approaches for documenting and evidencing that AI systems are operating within mandate, with appropriate boundaries, oversight, escalation paths, and accountability.
• Help shape governance patterns for AI agents and automated workflows used in review, decision-support, and process automation contexts.
• Translate evolving regulatory requirements into practical internal standards, client-facing frameworks, and repeatable engagement models.
• Bring thought leadership on AI regulatory compliance across Switzerland, the UK, and France, helping vector8 and its clients anticipate and respond to changing supervisory expectations across key European markets.
• Partner with banking clients and internal stakeholders to explain how governance can enable AI adoption rather than simply restrict it.
• Support the creation of a governance methodology that provides the operational scaffolding banks need to align AI deployments with emerging supervisory expectations.
• Turn vector8's regulatory governance framework into a scalable commercial asset that can be tailored for individual customers, rolled out across accounts, and baked into vector8's solution and platform approach to accelerate delivery, de-risk client decisions, and support growth in regulated enterprise accounts.

Requirements

• Strong expertise in AI governance, model governance, risk, controls, or regulatory strategy within financial services or other highly regulated sectors.
• Deep understanding of the Swiss banking regulatory environment, especially the expectations that shape technology adoption, operational control, and supervisory readiness.
• Excellent knowledge of the EU AI Act, FINMA guidance and expectations, relevant UK regulatory frameworks, and the French regulatory context affecting AI deployment in cross-border banking environments.
• Ability to provide thought leadership on AI regulation and compliance across Switzerland, the UK, and France, turning regulatory developments into practical guidance for clients and internal teams.
• Ability to identify and assess operational failure modes in AI, automation, and agentic workflows.
• Experience translating regulatory and governance requirements into practical frameworks, delivery controls, policies, or operating models.
• Strong understanding of modern AI use cases and architectures, including LLMs, agentic systems, decision-support workflows, and automation pipelines.
• Ability to collaborate closely with technical teams and embed governance into real delivery practices, rather than treating governance as a standalone advisory exercise.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage credibly with compliance, risk, legal, operations, technology, and senior client stakeholders.
• Commercial awareness and the ability to turn governance capability into a differentiated, trust-building proposition.
• Consulting, advisory, or enterprise transformation experience is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with supervisory questions around explainability, accountability, human oversight, audibility, model boundaries, and operational resilience.
• Understanding of how governance frameworks need to evolve for AI agents, workflow orchestration, and semi-autonomous decision processes.
• Experience creating reusable methodologies, accelerators, client playbooks, or go-to-market assets that can be tailored by customer and embedded into broader delivery or platform approaches.

 
Personal Attributes

• Pragmatic and highly credible
• Structured thinker with strong regulatory judgment
• Comfortable operating across business, risk, and technical teams
• Delivery-oriented and able to keep governance streamlined and usable
• Commercially aware and able to connect trust with growth
• Clear communicator who can simplify complex regulatory topics
• Motivated by building scalable, repeatable frameworks in emerging domains

Benefits

• Compensation & rewards: Competitive base salary with a variable performance-based bonus
• Work environment: Modern office in the heart of Zurich with access to an on-site gym, sports classes (yoga,pilates, spinning) and healthy snacks 
• Flexibility: Hybrid working model — balance remote work with in-office collaboration
• Learning & growth: Ongoing investment in your professional development, with clear opportunities to take on leadership
• Parental leave: 16 weeks fully paid maternity leave, with a flexible 50% return-to-work option in the first month (while receiving full salary) and 4 weeks fully paid leave for the second parent
• Travel & mobility: Paid Halbtax travel card to support sustainable commuting
• Team & culture: Join a diverse, international team across 5 locations, with regular team events and opportunities for cross-border collaboration
• Recognition & rewards: Attractive referral bonuses for both candidate and client conversions.
• Our values: A culture grounded in inclusivity, curiosity, ownership, and collaboration — where your ideas shape the future of AI consulting.