About this role

Overall Position Description:

World Food Program USA mobilizes American policymakers, businesses and individuals to support the World Food Programme (WFP) in its mission to end hunger. The Vice President, Technology, Innovation and AI will help transform how the organization works, turning technology and innovation into greater capacity, stronger decisions and measurable mission impact.

Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the Vice President leads the IT, CRM and Data Analytics teams and advances the strategic plan by equipping staff with the tools, skills and trusted data to work more effectively. This leader sets and implements an enterprise technology vision, scales integrated data capabilities and embeds useful, responsible AI into everyday work. Success will be demonstrated through sustained staff adoption, measurable return on investment and reliable data integration that improves decisions and donor engagement.

The Vice President combines strategic leadership, business judgment and technical depth. They stay close enough to the work to evaluate architecture, challenge assumptions and guide consequential decisions, stepping in directly when needed. They deliver primarily through team leaders, staff and vendors, translating business needs into effective solutions and presenting progress, opportunities and risks to executive leadership and the Board as appropriate.

General Responsibilities

Turn strategy into measurable value

- Develop and execute an enterprise technology, data and AI roadmap aligned with the strategic plan. Partner with department leaders to prioritize investments, sequence delivery and establish shared accountability for outcomes.

- Build business cases with clear baselines, full implementation and operating costs, expected benefits and adoption measures. Track realized ROI with Finance and business owners, distinguishing financial savings from capacity gains and service improvements.

- Set enterprise technology investment priorities and oversee the technology budget and vendor portfolio within delegated authority. Empower team leaders to manage delivery and assigned budgets. Partner with departments that hold technology budgets and ensure all technology selection, purchasing and implementation follows organizational processes, standards and protocols.

Make AI work for people

- Lead substantial AI initiatives from opportunity assessment through deployment and sustained use across functions. Select practical use cases, test value and reliability, and scale solutions that demonstrate measurable benefits.

- Partner with department leaders and People and Culture to build AI literacy and staff confidence through training, coaching, peer champions and hands-on demonstrations. Address barriers and use staff feedback to improve adoption.

- Embed change management in every major initiative, including stakeholder engagement, workflow redesign, communications, training and post-launch support. Measure effective use and business outcomes beyond licenses issued or training completed.

- Create a culture of thoughtful experimentation and continuous learning. Apply sound build-versus-buy judgment and guide teams and vendors toward maintainable solutions that fit organizational capacity.

Connect data to decisions

- Lead the continued development and integration of enterprise platforms through the CRM and Data Analytics leaders, who own their respective platform roadmaps and delivery. Align their work to provide a secure, trusted view of donors and organizational performance.

- Enable the Data Analytics team to scale reliable warehouse capabilities, data pipelines and integrations. Establish shared expectations for data quality, documentation and governance, with business stakeholders accountable for definitions and validation.

- Partner with Development, Marketing and Communications, Public Policy, Finance and other teams to translate operational needs into useful analytics, dashboards, automation and AI-enabled workflows.

- Set enterprise architecture principles and guide major platform and integration decisions. Establish one accountable technical owner for each integration across delivery, monitoring and ongoing support; resolve ownership and priority conflicts among IT, CRM and Data Analytics.

Build trust in technology

- Lead and empower functional leaders to deliver reliable technology services and platforms. Set service expectations, cybersecurity and continuity priorities, and escalation thresholds; review performance across IT, CRM and Data Analytics and remove barriers to delivery.

- Lead enterprise technology risk management, with IT responsible for shared infrastructure, identity and access, cybersecurity controls and incident readiness, and CRM and Data Analytics responsible for controls within their platforms. Escalate material risks and investment needs to the COO/CFO and relevant organizational leaders.

- Establish and maintain best practices for technology, data and AI governance, including policy development, clear standards and decision authority, and monitoring of adherence and effectiveness. Partner with department leaders and relevant advisers to keep governance practical and responsive to evolving needs.

Grow talent and lead together

- Attract, hire, develop and retain strong technical talent. Lead the leaders of IT, CRM and Data Analytics, organizing work around shared priorities and complementary strengths. Coach managers, support succession and hold teams accountable for delivery and service quality.

- Build on the strengths of current teams, support professional growth and recommend how capabilities, capacity and ways of working can best advance the strategy.

- Build trust across departments by listening to business needs, explaining tradeoffs clearly and resolving competing priorities with the COO/CFO and other leaders. Establish proactive staff communication about technology changes and disruptions, including why changes are happening, expected impact, timing, preparation and support. Ensure timely status updates and expected resolution or next-update times during disruptions.

Qualifications

Education

- Bachelors degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience required.

- Masters degree in information systems, technology management, computer science, business administration or a related field preferred.

Years of experience

- At least 15 years of progressively responsible relevant professional experience, including at least eight years of people management experience.

Specific qualifications

- Enterprise technology leadership spanning strategy, budgets, vendors, operations and the development of technical teams and managers.

- Proven leadership of at least one substantial AI implementation that moved into regular business use, achieved widespread and sustained adoption, and produced measurable organizational results. Experience must extend beyond pilots and individual tool use.

- Proven change-management leadership across departments, including stakeholder engagement, staff enablement, workflow change and measurement of sustained adoption.

- Experience leading enterprise data warehouse implementation or modernization, integration and governance to provide reliable, accessible business information.

- Deep technical judgment applied close to the work: evaluate architecture and integration choices, challenge vendor proposals and recognize when implementation needs intervention. Guide teams effectively and contribute directly when needed.

- Sound business judgment: weigh mission impact, cost, risk, staff capacity and competing priorities; make timely decisions and assess whether investments deliver their intended value.

- Ability to influence across departments, explain complex subjects clearly and build relationships with colleagues, executives and Board members.

- Demonstrated ability to hire, develop and organize technical talent, including leading managers and building collaboration across disciplines. Lead with curiosity, accountability, inclusion and respect.

- Experience leading the implementation and ongoing oversight of Microsoft Purview, including data classification, retention, data loss prevention, eDiscovery and related compliance controls.

- Highly professional collaborator with personal integrity and discretion in handling confidential information; adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity; strong leadership presence and ability to influence others without direct authority.

Preferred qualifications

- Substantial Salesforce experience, particularly CRM strategy, integration and adoption. Experience with Snowflake or a comparable enterprise data platform is also valuable.

- Experience in a nonprofit or mission-driven organization, with familiarity with fundraising, donor engagement or advocacy operations.

- Relevant professional certification in change management, enterprise technology, data architecture or information security. Credentials complement demonstrated delivery and adoption experience.

Location and work arrangement

This position is based in the Washington, DC office and requires a minimum of three days per week in the office. Candidates must reside in the Washington, DC, Maryland or Virginia metropolitan area by their start date. Candidates willing to relocate are welcome; relocation assistance is not available.