This is being posted to fill a current vacancy.
Home to seven regional programs and comprehensive health-care services, Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN, pronounced wren) is committed to meeting the current and emerging needs in Waterloo-Wellington and beyond. WRHN is redefining the health-care experience through collaboration and innovation, addressing barriers to access, advancing care delivery, and setting new standards in compassionate, empowered community-driven health care. At WRHN, every patient is at the centre of everything we do as we strive to improve lives, inspire healing, and build healthier, stronger communities. By listening to patients and partners, we strive to connect communities to the right care, at the right place, and at the right time.
POSITION VACANCY: Innovation and AI Strategy
POSITION: Al Portfolio & Delivery Office Lead, Full Time
LOCATION: WRHN @ Midtown (formerly Grand River Hospital, KW Campus)
Position Summary: Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) is seeking a strategic and highly collaborative AI Portfolio & Delivery Office (AI-PDO) Lead to enable the safe, effective, and scalable adoption of artificial intelligence across the organization. This is a critical enterprise role focused on establishing and operationalizing the governance, coordination, and delivery structures required to support AI adoption at scale across clinical and operational environments.
The AI-PDO Lead serves as the central orchestrator for WRHN’s AI portfolio, coordinating initiatives through a structured lifecycle spanning intake, prioritization, governance, implementation readiness, and portfolio monitoring. Working across clinical, operational, digital, analytics, privacy, and research functions, the role aligns stakeholders, manages dependencies, identifies risks, and supports enterprise sequencing and decision-making. The position enables coordinated, well-governed, and sustainable AI adoption aligned with organizational priorities, operational capacity, and regulatory requirements, with scope expected to evolve alongside WRHN’s broader AI operating model.
Key Responsibilities:
Enterprise AI Portfolio & Operating Framework
- Design and operationalize WRHN’s enterprise AI governance and delivery framework
- Establish standardized processes for intake, evaluation, prioritization, and lifecycle management
- Develop and maintain portfolio tools (e.g., opportunity briefs, lifecycle gates, sequencing rules)
- Provide enterprise-wide visibility into AI initiatives, including risks, dependencies, and readiness
- Track performance, value realization, and adoption metrics across the AI portfolio
Governance Coordination & Decision Support
- Prepare executive-ready materials for AI governance and decision-making forums
- Coordinate governance workflows across clinical, digital, analytics, privacy, and operational leadership
- Ensure initiatives meet compliance, risk, and readiness requirements
- Support leadership with insights and recommendations to guide investment and prioritization decisions
Portfolio Coordination & Implementation Readiness
- Coordinate cross-functional dependencies such as infrastructure, data readiness, and operational sponsorship
- Identify and escalate risks, gaps, and sequencing conflicts
- Support enterprise prioritization based on capacity and strategic alignment
- Facilitate alignment across competing initiatives and departments
Opportunity Discovery & Adoption Support
- Maintain an inventory of AI initiatives and tools across WRHN
- Identify duplication, value opportunities, and alignment gaps
- Support the evaluation of new AI use cases and pilot initiatives
- Help translate operational challenges into structured AI opportunities
Enable early adoption and scaling of AI solutions across the organization
Leadership & Impact
- Acts as an enterprise-wide advisor and coordinator for AI initiatives
- Influences prioritization, investment, and sequencing decisions across WRHN
• Provides functional leadership without direct reports • Works across clinical, operational, digital, and governance domains
- Plays a key role in shaping WRHN’s evolving AI operating model
Position Requirements:
- Master’s degree in Health Informatics, Engineering, Computer Science, Digital Health, Business, Health Administration, Systems Design, or a related field
- Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in digital health, analytics, transformation, or portfolio/program management
- Strong understanding of AI lifecycle, governance, and enterprise delivery models
- Expertise in portfolio management, prioritization, and decision support frameworks
- Proven ability to navigate ambiguity and manage competing priorities
- Advanced analytical and systems-thinking skills
- Exceptional stakeholder engagement and influencing skills (without direct authority)
- Strong communication skills with experience presenting to executive audiences
Preferred Requirements:
- Experience working in complex, multi-stakeholder environments (healthcare strongly preferred)
Application Instructions:
EMPLOYEES OF LEGACY GRAND RIVER HOSPITAL ARE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT THEIR APPLICATION ELECTRONICALLY USING THE EMPATH SYSTEM.
WRHN is committed to fair and equitable employment and in our recruitment and selection practices. We strongly believe in inclusion and diversity within our organization, and welcome all applicants including, but not limited to racialized communities, all religions and ethnicities, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+ persons, Indigenous people, and all others who may contribute to the further diversification of our Hospital community.
We are committed to providing and fostering a respectful workplace for all employees, free from violence and harassment. Accommodations are available during all stages of the recruitment process in accordance with the Human Rights Code. WRHN is committed to complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) to provide an inclusive, barrier free workplace. We will accommodate the accessibility needs of individuals with disabilities to support participation in all aspects of the recruitment process. Should you require this accommodation, please contact Human Resources.
If you are seeking employment on a temporary work or study permit we recommend reviewing work permit restrictions as it applies to healthcare organizations in Canada. Individuals holding a work or study permit seeking employment in the healthcare sector may be required to complete additional steps in the process. This may also apply to current employees seeking renewal of their work permits. It is the accountability of the applicant and/or employee to ensure they are adhering to their specific work permit restrictions.
