Sr. Program Manager, AI Training & Adoption

Position Function:

The Sr. Program Manager leads Mississippi State University's first AI Training and Adoption team. The team's mission is to move AI from concept to practice — first inside individual departments, then at scale — with training as the core strategy. The role implements that strategy and the programming for staff AI training and development. This is a working-leader position: the Manager supervises the AI Educator while personally carrying an internal consulting and training load.
The Manager is also the operational front door for the program. Departments engage the team through this role, and the Manager triages each request, scoping it as a workshop, a consult, a non-code automation, or a technical project routed to the AI Builder. The role partners closely with the Senior Advisor for AI and Data Governance on strategy, reporting, and stakeholder communication.

Salary Grade:  17

Please see Staff Compensation Structure or Skilled Crafts and Service Maintenance Compensation Schedule for salary ranges.  For salary grade UC, these positions are "Unclassified" and salary ranges are determined by the hiring department.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and manage the departmental intake queue: receive requests, scope them, and assign work across the team based on complexity and capacity.
• Supervise the AI Educator and coordinate with partner efforts focused on faculty and student AI programming to maximize opportunities.
• Coordinate with the AI Builder on technical projects that require both education/change-management, coding and deployment work.
• Develop and manage goal setting, including performance indicators with outcome tracking and monthly activity reporting.
• Coordinate MSU student teams as part of an expanding initiative to engage students in solving real AI use cases for internal MSU clients and potentially external clients.
• Support related grant projects that may include design and management of AI-related projects.
• Contribute to MSU's external AI presence: in-state convenings, MAIN Hub coordination, and select national venues.
• Lead departmental consultations, including those that may involve leadership briefings or change-management planning.
• Deliver workshops and training sessions; mentor the AI Educator on facilitation and curriculum.
• Co-design AI adoption roadmaps with departments preparing for larger-scale deployments.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in a job-related field and 5+ years of relevant experience that combines program or project management with training, consulting, or organizational change work. Equivalent combinations of education and experience will be considered.
• Demonstrated supervisory or team-lead experience.
• Hands-on proficiency with current generative AI tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT) and their applied use in administrative or academic settings, with the ability to teach others.
• Excellent project management, prioritization, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to brief executive audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience standing up a new program or service line.
• Familiarity with non-code automation platforms (Microsoft Power Platform, Copilot Studio, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex) and an understanding of where technical deployment work begins.
• Familiarity with AI governance, data classification, and responsible-use frameworks.
• Prior experience in higher education or another large, decentralized institution.
• Master's degree.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

The ideal candidate brings hands-on proficiency with current generative AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT, familiarity with no-code automation platforms like Microsoft Power Platform and Copilot Studio, and a working understanding of AI governance, data classification, and responsible-use frameworks. They must be skilled in program and project management, staff supervision, stakeholder communication, and departmental consulting — including the ability to scope incoming requests, manage a team intake queue, track performance indicators, and produce executive-level reporting. Beyond operational expertise, the role demands strong facilitation and curriculum skills, the ability to t