Managing Director – Regional Business — AI Safety Programme

The mandate

Fresh funding and changed sector economics have exposed the limits of several US operations managed through separate commercial and delivery owners. Each has defensible customers or capability, yet overlapping investment, inconsistent pricing and different leadership standards make regional performance difficult to judge. The Managing Director – Regional Business will establish one operating thesis around the AI safety programme and decide where selective expansion can create durable value.

The perimeter covers approximately US$750 million in AI product and services revenue and roughly 550 employees and material partners across the USA, New York and the wider region. It includes multiple customer, product and delivery clusters rather than one uniform business. Safety capability is a differentiator, but its evidence, specialist cost and customer obligations vary by proposition. The region needs a common view before further capital is deployed.

This is a commercial and operating role. You will identify which local businesses merit scale, which require repair and which should stop consuming leadership attention. Growth must reflect customer adoption, contribution after model and delivery cost, and the ability to reproduce safety evidence. Funding is available, but the board expects it to follow explicit gates rather than strategic enthusiasm.

Why this seat is open

The appointment was not in the approved hiring calendar. Post-funding scale created an urgent need for one permanent owner before the next operating gate. Interim coverage maintains critical decisions but cannot resolve competing priorities. The board aims to move from qualified candidates to offer within four to six weeks. The role is onsite in New York, supports international relocation and reports to the Group Chief Executive and board.

What you will own

You will build a regional portfolio map using revenue quality, customer value, product distinction, safety evidence, cost and leadership readiness. Each business should have a clear status and an accountable plan. Capital and talent will move towards propositions that clear agreed thresholds; weak cases need dated recovery or exit decisions.

One commercial system must replace inconsistent definitions. You will align qualification, pricing, customer commitments, delivery capacity and renewal ownership. Safety assurance cannot be an unpriced addition negotiated after sale. Major opportunities need early review of model consumption, evaluation, control evidence and implementation effort.

Operating integration should preserve useful customer proximity while removing duplicated governance and capability. Decide which leadership, technical and support functions belong regionally and which remain within product or country units. Shared decisions require service expectations and escalation routes, not recurring negotiation. Material partners must enter the same performance and risk cadence.

The 550-person employee and partner perimeter needs consistent leadership standards. Assess senior roles, appoint portfolio owners and create succession for pivotal seats. The regional review should reconcile revenue, cash, customers, delivery, technology, people and risk. Board papers must show one recommendation and the consequences of delay.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, reconcile business performance at customer and proposition level. Meet key clients and capital sponsors, test pipeline and safety evidence, assess leaders and stabilise urgent commitments. Present the board with a portfolio classification, funding gates, organisation principles and explicit early stop or reset decisions.

Between months four and nine, reallocate capital and talent, implement common commercial disciplines and make priority leadership changes. Scale selected propositions and repair or close those failing thresholds. Produce one early proof of profitable expansion in which customer adoption and safety assurance are supported by transparent economics.

By month twelve, portfolio profitability, leadership consistency and selective expansion should show across multiple reporting cycles. The next plan must reconcile demand, delivery, model capacity, controls and people. A three-year regional case should include actions if funded propositions miss adoption, cost or execution gates.

What the board will measure

First-year delivery should remain within 10% of the approved regional case, with variance surfaced before quarter close. Three successive forecasts must align revenue, cash, customers, capacity and workforce. A named constraint from post-funding scale should improve quantitatively from a trusted baseline.

Priority customer, safety and execution risks need closure by board dates with evidence that remediation lasts. At least 90% of critical talent should remain, and ready-now succession should cover 70% of direct reports. Severe escalations require formal resolution within 30 days and material surprises must reach governance.

The person

You are a Regional MD, Area President or multi-country General Manager with at least 28 years in AI, enterprise software, data infrastructure, cloud, analytics, applied research or a comparable enterprise. You have directly owned at least US$1.2 billion in P&L, budget, book or portfolio and led no fewer than 550 people.

Your record includes unifying several operations after funding or economic change, making portfolio exits as well as investments. You can quantify growth, contribution, customer and organisation outcomes and explain how technical assurance shaped commercial choices. References must distinguish your decisions from market momentum and show results lasting beyond the initial intervention.

Compensation and terms

The anticipated package is US$600,000–850,000 base plus annual incentive and long-term equity, calibrated to confirmed scope and candidate mix. Equity follows standard performance and vesting conditions. Notice up to six months can be accommodated. The MD will work regularly with the chair, executive committee and principal capital sponsors.

Confidentiality

The organisation, operating units and funding history remain undisclosed until mutual interest is confirmed under an undertaking. Public facts are rounded and combined to prevent identification.