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About the Role

As Head of AI and Analytics Strategy and Exploration, you will operate at the leading edge of change, scanning the horizon, interpreting emerging trends, and translating external signals into clear strategic direction. You will challenge assumptions, surface non-obvious opportunities, and turn the potential of AI and Analytics into differentiated advantage for Swift and its customers. This role spans from insight to impact, identifying and developing high-value opportunities, driving experimentation, and building a balanced portfolio of bets. You will create a continuous pipeline of well-defined, decision-ready opportunities, connecting strategy to execution. Reporting to the Head of AI, Analytics and Automation, you will partner with senior leadership, scale adoption of proven capabilities, and ensure the organization understands AI's possibilities. You will own key external relationships and represent Swift in industry forums.

Responsibilities

Monitor the evolution of AI and Analytics technologies, market dynamics, and ecosystem players, translating external signals into clear and actionable business strategic implications.
Build forward-looking perspectives on how AI will reshape the industry, our customers, and our operating models.
Provide structured, fact-based guidance to senior leadership on what matters now and what will matter next.
Champion AI's potential across the organisation, translating cutting-edge capability into compelling narratives.
Build shared understanding of what AI can deliver today and shape a credible, forward-looking vision.
Identify and pursue high-value opportunities at the intersection of enterprise priorities and AI and Analytics capability.
Challenge existing assumptions about where value lives, surface non-obvious use cases, and build the case for bold bets.
Drive momentum from insight to action, ensuring promising opportunities are translated into tangible initiatives.
Drive AI and Analytics opportunities end to end, from early hypothesis through experimentation, proof-of-concept, and into validated outcomes.
Maintain momentum across the full arc, ensuring promising ideas don't stall at the exploratory stage.
Communicate progress, learnings, and results in ways that build organisational confidence and appetite for further investment.
Build and maintain a balanced AI and Analytics portfolio that combines near-term impact with longer-term strategic bets.
Recommend investment priorities and sequencing, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy and risk appetite.
Enable informed, fact-based decision-making at executive level through clear framing of trade-offs, value, and dependencies.
Lead, coach, and develop a team, setting clear objectives and high standards for delivery.
Ensure accountability for quality, performance, and outcomes, while fostering a culture of curiosity, rigor, and continuous learning.
Strengthen team capability to operate at the intersection of strategy, innovation, and execution.
Own and cultivate relationships with key external stakeholders including customers, technology vendors, research institutions, and ecosystem partners.
Identify and drive partnership opportunities that accelerate Swift's AI and Analytics agenda.
Represent Swift externally as a credible voice on AI and Analytics strategy, articulating a compelling and coherent narrative.
Contribute to industry forums, client conversations, and public discourse.

Requirements

Strong track record in strategy and exploration.
Solid commercial grounding in AI and Analytics within the financial services industry.
Ability to navigate ambiguity, shape direction, and translate innovation into meaningful outcomes.
10+ years in data, analytics, or AI roles, with at least 3 to 5 years at a senior or leadership level.
Demonstrated experience setting AI or analytics strategy in a complex, enterprise environment, shaping direction and building the case for investment.
Track record of translating technical capability into business outcomes including revenue growth, operational efficiency, and risk reduction.
Comfortable operating in a matrixed organisation, influencing without direct authority across product, engineering, commercial, and senior leadership teams.
Sufficient depth to interrogate technical proposals, assess feasibility, and hold vendors and partners accountable.
Working knowledge of modern AI and ML approaches including classical ML, large language models, and agentic systems, with sound judgement on when each is appropriate.
Understanding of data infrastructure fundamentals — pipelines, governance, and data quality — as a prerequisite to realising AI value at scale.
Deep familiarity with regulated AI deployment including governance frameworks, explainability requirements, and vendor risk management.
Commercial exposure: having owned or influenced a P&L, shaped a product, or worked directly with enterprise clients on AI adoption.
Hands-on background in data science, ML, or software engineering earlier in career.
Familiarity with agentic AI architectures, multi-model orchestration, and emerging AI infrastructure patterns.
Background in or alongside consulting, advisory, or product strategy functions.
Strong external network across AI research, fintech, or financial standards bodies.
Experience working in or closely with financial services, payments, or infrastructure-adjacent sectors, with a strong understanding of industry dynamics, regulatory environments, and client expectations.
Exposure to the SWIFT ecosystem or equivalent — correspondent banking, ISO 20022, sanctions screening — would meaningfully accelerate onboarding.

Skills

AI
Analytics
Strategy
Exploration
Data Science
Machine Learning
Large Language Models
Agentic Systems
Data Infrastructure
Data Governance
Data Quality
Regulated AI Deployment
Governance Frameworks
Explainability
Vendor Risk Management
P&L Management
Product Strategy
Consulting
Advisory
Financial Services
Payments
Infrastructure
SWIFT Ecosystem
Correspondent Banking
ISO 20022
Sanctions Screening

Location

Belgium

Work Type

Full-time

Experience Level

5-10 years
3-5 years at a senior or leadership level
10+ years in data, analytics, or AI roles

Benefits

Freedom to be yourself
Diverse and inclusive environment
Opportunity to reach full potential
Unparalleled exposure to knowledge, expertise and technologies
Opportunity to take on different career paths
Opportunity to work in teams, departments and disciplines in countries around the world
Collaborative, friendly, open and inclusive environment

About the Company

World’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, headquartered in Belgium.
We are the way the world moves value – across borders, through cities and overseas.
We support the global economy.
Established to find a better way for the global financial community to move value – a reliable, safe and secure approach that the community can trust, completely.
Constantly evolving in an ever-changing landscape, without undermining trust.
Five decades on, our vibrant community reflects the complexity and diversity of the financial ecosystem.
We innovate diligently, test exhaustively, then implement fast.
Our mission has never been more relevant.
Swift now has a presence in 200+ countries and legal territories to serve a community of more than 12,000 banks and financial institutions.
We are transforming cross-border payments, making them faster and more transparent than ever before.
We are the way the world moves value — every instant of every day, in almost every country.
What we do has a critical impact on the global financial community and touches almost every aspect of the financial world.
There is no other organisation like ours in the world driving the long-term future of the financial ecosystem.

Equal Opportunity

We are committed to an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation related to accessibility during your application or interview, please contact accessibility-Sysgroup@swift.com or indicate this in your application.
Don’t meet every single requirement? At Swift, we are dedicated to building a workplace where people can bring their full selves and ideas to the team, so if you are excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every single qualification.