Job Description:
The Academic Development Centre fosters teaching excellence and innovation by providing a range of services and expertise to faculty and staff at Mount Royal University.
Our services include support for the following:
- classroom and online teaching
- the use of learning technologies for faculty and students
- curriculum development and principles of assessment
- support for scholarly practice in teaching and learning
- web-based instructional design
- media production
- audio/video conferencing
The ADC provides leadership, instructional design and curriculum development support, project planning and development assistance, technological expertise and media production support to several projects funded by internal and external sources.
The Data & AI Strategist is a dedicated leadership position designed to strategically and ethically integrate Data & AI technologies across the institution. Its primary purpose is to enhance both academic and operational outcomes by leading the development of a comprehensive Data & AI strategy, ensuring compliance with ethical and legal frameworks, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and driving innovation, including providing faculty development for the ethical and pedagogically sound use of AI in the classroom. This role is intended to align closely with MRU’s Vision 2030, positioning the university as a competitive leader in Data & AI-enhanced learning and research while championing the responsible use of technology to improve student experience and administrative efficiency.
Strategic Leadership & Vision
- Lead the development and execution of a comprehensive Data & AI strategy that aligns with MRU’s broader digital and academic ambitions.
- Assess the current state of AI Maturity at MRU
- Create a forward-looking Data & AI roadmap that outlines objectives, milestones, and deliverables for AI integration within MRU’s academic and operational frameworks, with a particular focus on establishing foundational enterprise data models for effective data governance and management.
Ethical AI Use & Governance
- Champion the responsible and ethical use of Data & AI technologies, ensuring compliance with university policies, legal frameworks, and best practices.
- Develop and maintain MRU’s AI Assurance Framework, promoting transparency, fairness, and accountability in AI applications.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Facilitate collaboration across academic, administrative, and technical departments to identify and implement Data & AI technologies that enhance efficiency, improve the student experience, and contribute to research.
- Align AI initiatives with institutional transformation efforts and foster relationships with internal and external stakeholders to develop a unified data infrastructure that supports both academic and administrative needs. This includes driving strategy for data & AI literacy, privacy impacts and robotic process automation (RPA) to enhance efficiency within administrative departments.
Innovation & Competitive Edge
- Lead initiatives to identify and incubate Data & AI innovations that enhance MRU’s academic programs, research capabilities, and administrative & operational efficiencies.
- Explore Data & AI-driven opportunities that create new revenue streams, improve staff and student engagement, and offer MRU a competitive advantage in the education sector.
Staff & Student Engagement
- Promote Data & AI literacy across campus, providing expert guidance and resources to faculty, students, and administrative staff in leveraging Data & AI to enhance learning outcomes and operational processes, including faculty development initiatives and consultation.
- Collaborate with academic leadership to integrate AI into course design, offering innovative learning tools and supporting the growth of AI-related programs.
- Collaborate with administrative leadership to ensure that staff have the data literacy skills to utilize AI for data analysis, automation and strategic planning, and instructors understand ethical use of AI in the classroom.
Operational Oversight & Risk
- Partner with ITS & OIRP on overseeing the full lifecycle of Data & AI solutions, from development to implementation and ongoing support, ensuring robust system performance and risk mitigation.
- Develop risk management plans for Data & AI initiatives, addressing potential data security, privacy, and compliance issues, and ensuring data models used are accurate, fair, and reliable for administrative use.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, focusing on the professional development of MRU staff to build Data & AI expertise across all levels of the institution.
- Minimum Bachelor Degree in a relevant discipline with a Graduate Degree preferred.
- 3 - 5 years of proven experience in developing, executing, and leading a comprehensive, multi-year Data & AI strategy that aligns with broader organizational goals.
- This includes assessing technological maturity, setting a future-looking vision, and creating actionable roadmaps for enterprise-level AI integration.
- Experience in identifying, incubating, and overseeing Data & AI innovations that enhance both academic programs and administrative/operational efficiency
- Demonstrated success in leading cross-functional projects and stakeholder collaboration across academic, administrative, and technical departments.
- This includes expertise in the full lifecycle of enterprise AI/data solutions, as well as driving large-scale organizational change efforts, such as promoting data and AI literacy among staff and faculty.
- Significant experience in championing the responsible and ethical use of AI and data, ensuring compliance with university policies, data privacy laws, and ethical best practices in data management and security.
Salary: $83,738.20 - $105,978.60 per annum (effective as of July 1, 2026)
Closing Date: June 30, 2026
A cover letter and resume should be submitted in one .pdf document. Please title your .pdf document as follows: [Last Name], [Requisition Number], [Document Title].pdf (ex. Smith, 1234, CV.pdf).
