AVP, AI COE Leader; Hybrid

About Us

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely, we employ uniqueness. Selective is a midsized U.S. domestic property and casualty insurance company with a history of strong, consistent financial performance for nearly 100 years. Selective's unique position as both a leading insurance group and an employer of choice has been recognized in numerous awards, including listing in Forbes Best Midsize Employers in 2025 and certification as a Great Place to Work for the sixth consecutive year.

Employees are empowered and encouraged to Be Uniquely You by being their true, unique selves and contributing their diverse talents, experiences, and perspectives to our shared success. Together, we are a high‑performing team working to serve our customers responsibly by helping to mitigate loss, keep them safe, and restore their lives and businesses after an insured loss occurs.

Selective Insurance is looking for an AVP who will lead our brand‑new AI Center of Excellence (COE), responsible for operationalizing Selective's enterprise AI strategy by proactively identifying enterprise AI needs, researching and monitoring AI innovation, accelerating adoption across business units, and directing the design, execution and delivery of reusable AI capabilities that advance Selective's strategic and business objectives.

This position will manage a cross‑functional team of AI architects and engineers, as well as a network of formal dotted‑line relationships with Forward Deployed AI Leads and legal and regulatory contacts. It also manages COE engagement with business units through Forward Deployed AI Leads embedded in each business unit and provides senior‑level engagement with business unit executive leadership on strategic alignment, portfolio priorities, and escalation resolution.

The role serves as the primary relationship owner between the COE and IT application delivery and enterprise governance bodies, ensuring AI investments are aligned to organizational priorities, measured for business impact, and governed according to risk and regulatory requirements.

• Lead operationalization of the enterprise AI program under the direction of the SVP, Enterprise Strategy & Execution, including setting priorities, coordinating cross‑functional AI activity, and reporting on portfolio status, value realization, and risk. Responsible for the daily leadership of the AI COE team across strategy, engineering, governance, and enablement functions.
• Direct research, design, engineering, and delivery of reusable enterprise AI capabilities, including retrieval‑augmented generation infrastructure, AI agent orchestration frameworks, core insurance system integration layers, enterprise knowledge pipelines, and evaluation frameworks, ensuring production readiness, security, and alignment to enterprise AI reference architecture. Monitor external market for AI innovation and available technology.
• Proactively identify enterprise‑level AI capability needs and patterns by analyzing business unit demand, emerging technology opportunities, and cross‑BU commonalities—not solely relying on intake submissions. Own the enterprise AI portfolio by operating standardized intake and evaluation processes, aggregating portfolio status and value realization data from Forward Deployed AI Leads and other sources, and maintaining a comprehensive portfolio dashboard. Establish performance indicators and measurement methodologies, design controlled rollout approaches, and produce evidence‑based recommendations to scale, refine, pause, sequence, or retire AI initiatives.
  
  Prepare decision‑support materials for the AI Steering Committee and executive leadership.
• Manage the COE's engagement with business units through a team of Forward‑Deployed AI Leads embedded within each business unit. Provide senior‑level engagement with business unit VPs and Product Owners on strategic alignment, portfolio priorities, and escalation resolution. Coach and support Forward Deployed AI Leads in shaping use cases, managing business unit relationships, and driving adoption.
• Manage the collaborative relationship with IT and Application Development to ensure…