Lead, AI
Job Summary
Dollarama is seeking a strategic and hands-on AI leader to lead its AI Center of Excellence and drive the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence across the business. Reporting to the VP of IT, this role is accountable for shaping the enterprise AI vision, overseeing a portfolio of AI initiatives, and ensuring that solutions deliver measurable business value while meeting governance, ethics, privacy and risk standards.
The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in AI, machine learning, data science, MLOps and AI governance with the leadership skills needed to influence senior stakeholders and scale AI capabilities across retail operations, back office, supply chain, merchandising, and corporate functions. This person will serve as the company’s internal AI authority, helping translate strategy into practical, high-impact execution.
Key Accountabilities
- Lead and develop the AI Center of Excellence as the central hub for AI strategy, standards, reusable assets and delivery practices
- Build and mentor a multidisciplinary team spanning data science, ML engineering, MLOps and AI governance
- Own the enterprise AI roadmap and prioritize initiatives based on strategic alignment, feasibility and business value
- Oversee end-to-end AI delivery, from opportunity identification and business case development to deployment, monitoring and adoption
- Advise senior leadership and the AI Steering Committee on investments, priorities, risks and emerging opportunities
- Establish governance for responsible AI, including model risk, privacy, security, bias mitigation, human oversight and compliance
- Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to identify high-impact use cases and scale adoption across the business
- Drive AI adoption and literacy across business users
- Represent the organization externally with partners, vendors and the broader AI ecosystem
Success in the First 6 Months
- Stand up a well-defined and operational AI Center of Excellence with clear roles, governance and delivery processes
- Launch a prioritized AI roadmap aligned to business strategy and supported by measurable KPIs
- Implement an enterprise AI governance framework covering responsible use, privacy, security and model oversight
- Deliver early flagship AI use cases into production with visible business impact
- Establish regular executive reporting on AI portfolio performance, risk, adoption and value creation
Job Requirements
The ideal candidate brings extensive leadership experience in AI, data or advanced analytics, with a strong record of building teams and delivering enterprise-scale solutions. A bachelor’s degree is required, while advanced education in AI, computer science, data science, mathematics, engineering or a related field is considered an asset. Experience in retail, consumer goods, supply chain or similarly complex operating environments is highly desirable.
Candidates should demonstrate expertise in modern AI techniques such as generative AI, large language models, retrieval-augmented generation and prompt engineering, as well as a strong understanding of enterprise data platforms, AI engineering and MLOps. Success in this role also requires strategic thinking, sound judgment, budget and portfolio management capability, and the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences in French and English.