AI Program Manager

Description

This role reports directly to the CFO and works in close partnership with Operations, IT, and Executive Leadership.

Why Columbia, Why Construction, and Why Now?

At Columbia, this is a chance to step into something real: executive support, actual budget, and the opportunity to help build an AI program from the ground up. As AI Program Manager, you’ll help shape how AI gets used inside a $500M general contractor that competes successfully against firms much larger than we are.

Construction management is a great industry for this kind of work—it’s complex, collaborative, and full of practical, day‑to‑day decisions where better tools can make a real difference. It’s also still early in its digital and AI journey. And even with broader economic uncertainty, the industry is still busy, with strong demand across multiple business sectors including Manufacturing, Technology, Healthcare, Corporate, Academic, and Hospitality.

This is a great time to apply AI in ways that can have a clear, practical impact on how projects are pursued, managed, and delivered. You’ll work directly with leaders who have spent decades building this company and who genuinely want to get this right. If you’re excited by the idea of building something meaningful in a new industry, this is a chance to leave a real mark.

Who We Are

At Columbia Construction, we don’t just build buildings—we build relationships, trust, and excellence into every square foot. For over 100 years, we’ve redefined what it means to be a construction partner by leading with integrity, collaboration, and a hands‑on approach.

Position Summary

As AI Program Manager, you’ll help shape and drive Columbia’s AI strategy at a defining moment for our company and our industry. This is a new role, created to bring deliberate focus to how we adopt, govern, and get value from AI across every part of the business—from the project site to the back office.

You’ll help set the vision, build the program, and make AI genuinely useful to the people doing the work: project managers, estimators, superintendents, and the teams supporting them. You’ll start as a department of one, with executive sponsorship, real budget, and the runway to grow the function as the work justifies it.

This role is ideal for a motivated, passionate leader with a track record of driving meaningful change and implementing solutions in new industry environments—someone who can quickly learn how a business operates, translate that understanding into practical solutions, and bring the entrepreneurial drive to put their fingerprints on something meaningful.

This is a player‑coach role. You will personally build prototype solutions while also establishing the strategy, governance, and roadmap that guide Columbia’s AI program.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and own Columbia’s AI strategy in close partnership with executive leadership, grounded in what the business actually needs rather than what is trending, and make confident recommendations about where to invest, what to pilot, what to scale, and what to set aside.
• Stand up and run a citizen development program that gives our people sanctioned tools, clear guardrails, and the support to build solutions that fit their workflows.
• Identify, evaluate, and pilot AI tools and platforms—both construction‑specific and broader enterprise—and build hands‑on prototypes (custom GPTs, automations, light integrations) when that is the fastest path to value.
• Bring understanding of data structure, quality, and governance to every AI initiative, with a willingness to partner with IT and Data Governance to understand Columbia’s current data foundation and how it can support AI development.
• Establish the policies, training, and governance that let people use AI confidently without putting client data, contractual obligations, or the company at risk.
• Build company‑wide AI fluency through communication, training, and direct support, so staff at every level—field, office, and leadership—feel comfortable, curious, and confident in how AI fits into their work.
• Partner with department leaders across operations, preconstruction, estimating, accounting, marketing, business development, and safety to identify where AI can move the needle, surface and scale the strongest ideas, and translate fluently between the technical and the operational.

What Success Looks Like

• Project teams spend less time on administrative work and more on decisions that move projects forward.
• Measurable improvement in turnaround times, accuracy, and quality in the workflows where AI has been applied—RFIs, submittals, estimating support, lessons‑learned capture, and others.
• Improved win rates on pursuits where AI‑enabled tools and processes have been deployed.
• Staff at every level—field, office, and leadership—describe themselves as comfortable, curious, and confident in how AI fits into their work, and active contributors to how it evolves.
• A culture of practical AI use where good ideas surface from project teams, get refined and supported, and scale across the company.
• Columbia is recognized by clients, partners, and prospective hires as a firm that uses AI thoughtfully and effectively—a differentiator in pursuits and recruiting.
• A clear, evidence‑based view of where to invest next, grounded in what has actually worked.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated success leading technology or AI initiatives in environments where you had to learn a new industry, operating model, or workflow quickly and turn that understanding into measurable business impact.
• Significant familiarity with modern AI tools, including LLMs, enterprise AI platforms, automation tools, and the integrations required to embed them into day‑to‑day business processes.
• Working understanding of data structure, quality, and governance, and what it takes to make data usable for AI.
• A track record of leading change across an organization—building alignment, influencing stakeholders, and helping teams adopt new tools and ways of working.
• An entrepreneurial mindset; you are energized by the chance to build something rather than maintain it, and you are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills—written, verbal, and visual—with the credibility to be the face of AI at Columbia.
• Sound judgment about risk, confidentiality, and the obligations we carry to our clients.
• A collaborative, proactive leadership style that embodies Columbia’s core values.
• Prior construction experience is not required. Success in this role requires curiosity, humility, and a willingness to learn how construction teams actually work.

Preferred Qualifications

• A strong foundation in AI and technology, built through formal education, professional experience, or both. You should be able to evaluate models and platforms, design solutions, build prototypes yourself, and credibly lead technical decisions.
• Experience standing up an AI program at a peer firm, or having been an early member of one, especially in industries undergoing operational or digital transformation.
• A track record of vendor evaluation and pilot management.
• Experience with enterprise systems such as ERP, CRM, project management, or collaboration platforms; familiarity with Procore, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, or comparable systems is a plus.

Work Environment & Culture

• Primarily office‑based at our North Reading HQ, with travel to project sites and other Columbia offices as needed.
• Use of PPE (hard hats, safety glasses, protective clothing) is required on site visits.
• Flexibility to adjust your schedule to support pilots, training, and key project phases.
• We offer a culture that values balance—personal and professional. Our teams support each other, share knowledge freely, and celebrate wins together. That’s The Columbia Way in action.

Columbia Construction is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Columbia does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, staffing agencies, or any other third parties. Any resumes submitted to Columbia or its employees without an agreement in place will be considered the property of Columbia, and the company will not be responsible for any associated fees or placement costs.

Third‑party vendors interested in working with Columbia must contact View email address on apply.j-vers.com to be considered for an approved vendor agreement.

All approved vendors must submit candidates directly to Talent Acquisition. Submissions sent to hiring managers or any employee outside of Columbia Talent Acquisition will not be recognized and may disqualify the agency from future partnership consideration.

Columbia Construction is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. A candidate’s salary is determined by various factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, and certifications. We evaluate compensation decisions on a case‑by‑case basis.

Salary Range

$110,000 - $200,000