Risk and Regulatory Practice Lead

About Opmodi

Artificial intelligence has moved from a software trend to an essential component of how businesses operate end to end — from strategy to talent to governance — and Opmodi (fka AI Studio) is the credit union movement’s answer to that shift. We are the AI Center of Excellence founded by and built specifically for credit unions: a trusted guide creating a future where credit unions don’t just survive the AI transformation but thrive through it.

Position Summary

The Risk & Regulatory Practice Lead is the strategic and technical authority credit unions turn to when they need to adopt artificial intelligence without compromising safety, soundness, or member trust. This is not a back-office compliance role; it is an external-facing, credibility-defining role. The ideal candidate is a seasoned risk and governance executive who blends deep AI fluency with regulatory command, consulting acumen, and a genuine passion for the credit union movement.

This individual will serve as Opmodi’s most visible authority on responsible and defensible AI, advising boards, risk committees, and credit union executives and teams on how to govern AI—including increasingly autonomous, agentic systems—within a regulated financial services environment. They will design the frameworks, controls, and self-guided tools — and manage the regulatory and strategic partnerships — that enable credit unions to evaluate and deploy AI with confidence, translating regulatory expectations and risk discipline into clear, actionable strategy and operations.

This role operates within an AI-native organization. Opmodi uses AI and supervised AI agents in its own daily work, and this leader is expected to both practice and govern that model—demonstrating, in Opmodi’s own operations, the same oversight discipline it recommends to clients.

This is a remote position with travel up to 10% for board presentations, client engagements, conferences, and partner and team events.

Key Responsibilities

Consulting Practice & Delivery

• Build out and scale Opmodi’s Risk & Regulatory Practice. This includes refinement of existing engagement packages—AI readiness and risk assessments, model inventories, and governance framework design—and introduction of new packages as regulatory expectations evolve. It also includes management of strategic partnerships helping deliver advanced AI governance platforms for Opmodi’s member credit unions.
• Lead the delivery of AI risk and regulatory advisory engagements to credit unions across the United States, guiding institutions from understanding AI risk, to evaluating it safely, to governing it with confidence.
• Serve as trusted advisor to credit union leadership, risk officers, and boards, tailoring governance to each institution’s size, AI maturity level, risk appetite, and member mission.
• Ensure every engagement reflects responsible, human-centered, and compliant AI practices appropriate to a regulated financial services environment.
• Manage and maintain a self-guided, AI-based risk and governance toolkit, aligned with NCUA, FFIEC, and NIST expectations, that member credit unions can leverage independently to establish sound foundational governance practices.

AI Governance, Model Risk & Regulatory Advisory

• Define and champion enterprise AI governance frameworks, model risk management practices, and ethical, responsible-use standards that credit unions can adopt with confidence—grounded in recognized guidance including the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and established model risk principles (e.g., SR 11-7 / OCC 2011-12) adapted to the credit union context.
• Advise on AI risk management, bias mitigation and fair-lending exposure, data privacy, model transparency and explainability, third-party and vendor model risk, and regulatory compliance—including NCUA supervisory expectations and applicable requirements such as GLBA, ECOA/Regulation B, FCRA, and UDAAP.
• Establish “credible challenge” and three-lines-of-defense practices integrated with ERM, TPRM, etc that give credit unions independent, evidence-based assurance over the AI and analytics they deploy.
• Stay at the leading edge of AI, generative AI, machine learning, and automation trends, translating emerging regulation and supervisory guidance into practical, plain-language requirements that boards and second-line functions can act on.
• Build the frameworks credit unions need to adequately govern agentic AI so that autonomy is always matched by proportionate human oversight.
• Define when human-in-the-loop approval is required versus human-on-the-loop monitoring, designing risk-based checkpoints, escalation paths, intervention authority, and audit trails for automated decisions.
• Advise on logging, traceability, and explainability standards that make actions reviewable and defensible to examiners, auditors, and boards.
• Help credit unions avoid both “review-everything” velocity collapse and “review-nothing” exposure—right-sizing oversight to each workflow’s risk profile and guarding against automation complacency.
• Actively engage with NIST, NCUA, FFIEC, and other organizations shaping risk and regulatory expectations as well as with Opmodi member credit unions and the broader industry.

Thought Leadership & External Presence

• Deliver compelling presentations to credit union boards, risk and audit committees, executive teams, and at national and regional industry events, serving as a visible authority on responsible and defensible AI.
• Communicate effectively and credibly across every audience: board members, C-suite executives, risk and compliance officers, technologists, and front-line staff.
• Develop and deliver best-practice and thought leadership content—frameworks, publications, briefings, and interactive Q&A—that establishes Opmodi’s voice as the definitive authority on AI governance for credit unions.
• Own and maintain strong, productive relationships with NCUA and other industry bodies.
• Cultivate Opmodi’s visibility in trade publications, industry associations, examiner and regulatory forums, and credit union media channels, in collaboration with Marketing.

Internal AI-Native Operating Model

• Serve as the governance conscience of Opmodi’s own AI-native operating model, ensuring the AI tools, workflows, and agents the team uses internally are inventoried, risk-assessed, and overseen to the same standard Opmodi recommends to clients.
• Ensure internal AI development functions as a live proof point: what Opmodi builds and uses internally should demonstrate, in practice, the governance and agent-oversight discipline advised to credit union clients.
• Partner with the Chief AI Officer and internal team members to embed risk and control checkpoints into internal agentic workflows without slowing the team to human speed.

Leadership & Organizational Contribution

• Participate in business development activities to support business and practice growth.
• Represent Opmodi with the highest degree of professionalism, integrity, and brand alignment in all settings, internal and external.
• Build and nurture relationships with credit union executives, risk officers, examiners, fintech partners, solution providers, and industry associations.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and execution excellence.
• Perform other duties as required in support of Opmodi’s mission and growth objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management, Computer Science, Data Science, Finance, Law, Business Administration, or a related field plus a minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in risk management, model risk, AI or data governance, regulatory compliance, or consulting, with at least 4 years in a leadership or client-facing advisory role. OR High School Diploma or equivalent plus 10 years of equivalent progressive experience.
• Master’s degree, MBA, or a relevant governance/risk certification (NIST AI RMF Architect, AIGP, etc.) strongly preferred.
• Experience within financial services, fintech, or the credit union industry is required.
• Demonstrated experience designing or owning enterprise AI governance, model risk, or advanced analytics risk programs. Understanding of AI, generative AI, machine learning, and agentic systems.
• Governance, Model Risk & Regulatory Fluency: Strong command of AI governance frameworks (e.g., NIST AI RMF), model risk management principles, and regulatory expectations relevant to financial services and credit unions (NCUA, GLBA, ECOA/Reg B, FCRA, UDAAP, and evolving AI regulation). Sound judgment to identify durable value and real risk.
• Consulting & Advisory: Proven track record advising executives and boards and delivering engagements that produced measurable, defensible outcomes. Ability to scope, structure, and deliver engagements and to build repeatable frameworks. Exceptional organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple engagements simultaneously in a dynamic, startup-paced environment.
• Executive Communication & Presence: Exceptional ability to distill complex technical and regulatory concepts into clear, compelling narratives for boards, executives, technologists, and front-line staff alike. Polished, credible, influential, and confident presenter in boardrooms, on stage, and in one-on-one settings.
• Market Presence & Relationship Building: Proven ability to cultivate trusted relationships with executives, regulators, partners, and industry stakeholders at all levels.

Opmodi (AI Studio CUSO, LLC) is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members.