Senior Director, AI Partnerships

What is the opportunity?

RBC's AI Group is building the future of AI‑powered banking, and strategic vendor partnerships are critical to accelerating our AI ambitions orting to the SVP & Head, RBC Borealis and Chief Science Officer, the Senior Director, AI Partnerships will own all vendor relationships and partnership strategy across the AI Group, ensuring RBC has access to the best‑in‑class AI technologies, platforms, and capabilities needed to deliver our $1 billion AI ambition.

This is a high‑impact leadership role where you’ll be responsible for managing complex technology vendor relationships, negotiating enterprise agreements, and driving strategic partnerships that enable RBC’s AI innovation agenda. You’ll serve as the primary partnership lead for the AI Group while supporting broader partnership initiatives across the Executive Vice President, AI Innovation & Technology’s organization.

You’ll work at the intersection of technology strategy, vendor management, and business enablement to ensure RBC maximizes value from its AI vendor ecosystem while managing risk, optimizing costs, and maintaining strong governance across all third‑party relationships.

AI Vendor Strategy & Relationship Ownership:

• Own the end‑to‑end vendor relationship strategy for all AI Group partnerships including foundation model providers, AI platform vendors, specialised AI tooling companies, and academic research institutions.
• Maintain deep technical relationships and partnerships with data, platform and AI vendors in support of RBC’s AI ambition. Serve as the single point of accountability for all vendor relationships across the AI Group, ensuring consistency, strategic alignment, and enterprise‑wide coordination.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive AI vendor portfolio strategy that balances innovation needs, cost optimisation, risk management, and scalability requirements.
• Build trusted relationships with key vendor executives and account teams to ensure RBC receives strategic prioritisation and access to emerging capabilities.

Complex Vendor Negotiation & Contract Management:

• Lead high‑stakes negotiations with strategic AI vendors on commercial agreements, licensing terms, service level agreements, and partnership structures.
• Partner with business operations, procurement, legal, third‑party risk, and finance teams to structure agreements that optimise value while ensuring compliance with RBC policies and regulatory requirements.
• Manage contract lifecycle from initial RFP through negotiation, execution, renewal, and ongoing optimisation.
• Drive vendor performance management including scorecards, quarterly business reviews, and escalation resolution.

AI Ecosystem Management & Innovation:

• Monitor the AI vendor landscape and emerging technology trends to identify new partnership opportunities that could accelerate RBC’s AI roadmap.
• Establish governance frameworks and metrics to track vendor performance, value delivery, and strategic alignment across the AI portfolio.
• Drive thought leadership and ecosystem engagement by representing RBC at industry conferences, vendor advisory boards, and AI community events.

Financial &

Risk Management:

• Manage AI Group vendor budgets and financial planning in collaboration with finance and business management teams.
• Ensure all vendor relationships comply with RBC’s third‑party risk management policies, security requirements, and regulatory standards.
• Drive cost optimisation initiatives across the vendor portfolio while maintaining service quality and innovation velocity.
• Develop business cases and ROI analyses for new vendor partnerships and contract renewals.

• 10–15 years of experience in technology vendor management, strategic partnerships, or procurement roles within complex enterprise environments.
• Proven track record managing high‑value, multi‑million dollar vendor relationships with major technology providers.
• Deep experience negotiating complex technology contracts including SaaS agreements, platform licences, and enterprise service agreements.
• Strong understanding of AI technologies, cloud platforms, and enterprise technology ecosystems.