Vice President - Data & AI Risk
Charlotte, NC, US, 28202
SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.
In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.
Role Description
The Vice President (VP), Data and AI Risk Oversight, supports AI Risk Management for the SMBC Group Americas Division (AD) in accordance with applicable regulations, home office policies, and industry best practices.
The Risk Management Department (RMDAD) serves as the second line of defense, responsible for monitoring and assessing business practices against the firm’s risk appetite framework. Within RMDAD, the Tech, Data, and Cyber Risk Oversight (TDCRO) team maintains oversight responsibility for AI governance and AI risk management.
The VP, AI Risk Oversight, supports the Director, AI Risk Oversight by providing independent second line review and challenge of the design and execution of the firm’s AI governance approach, including alignment of controls to AI risks. The role helps develop and operate the second line AI risk management program, including the AI Risk Management Framework, ongoing lifecycle monitoring, risk foundations (policies, taxonomy), and key AI risk metric development and reporting.
Role Responsibilities:
• Support the Director, AI Risk Oversight and the ED, Data and AI Risk Oversight in providing second line oversight and effective challenge of AI/GenAI initiatives and use cases, ensuring AI related risks are appropriately governed, managed, and controlled.
• Support the build out and ongoing enhancement of the second line AI Risk Management Framework and oversight approach (risk identification, assessment, monitoring, and reporting), including the ability to produce and communicate overall risk profiles for AI use (on prem or third party hosted).
• Provide advisory support and partner with AI governance stakeholders (business, technology, data, model owners, and compliance) to drive timely remediation of identified issues, strengthen AI controls, and escalate themes/risks as needed.
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of second line AI risk policies, standards, and guidance, including aligning expectations to applicable regulatory and enterprise requirements.
• Review and challenge of first line AI governance policies, standards, procedures, controls, risk metrics/indicators, and Risk and Control Self Assessments (RCSAs) related to AI use (including GenAI), such as use case approval, human in the loop controls, monitoring, and incident management.
• Maintain awareness of regulatory changes, supervisory guidance, new products/initiatives, process changes, control enhancements, and issues impacting AI risk (e.g., model risk, privacy, cyber, third party, and conduct risk).
Qualifications and Skills
• Strong knowledge of AI/ML and GenAI risks and controls, with the ability to align AI risk considerations to the firm’s operational risk management framework.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in risk management, technology risk, model risk management, data governance, and/or AI/analytics within the financial services industry, including demonstrated experience leading cross functional initiatives.
• Experience with AI governance, model inventory, or GRC tooling (e.g., model registries, workflow/attestation tools, or governance platforms).
• Working knowledge of AI governance or risk frameworks (e.g., NIST AI Risk Management Framework), processes, and controls (e.g., model lifecycle management, validation, monitoring), and relevant industry guidance/standards.
• Experience preparing and delivering materials for senior management and board level committees, with strong communication skills and attention to detail.
• Strong organizational and time‑management skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent priorities in a matrixed environment.
• Experience supporting regulatory or audit remediation related to AI/model risk, technology risk, and data/privacy issues.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred.
• DCAM/DAMA/CDMP (or similar industry) certification preferred. Additional certifications in risk, audit, cloud, or analytics/AI (as applicable) are a plus.
SMBC’s employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.
SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during candidacy for applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at accommodations@smbcgroup.com.
Nearest Major Market: Charlotte