Chief AI Officer

About this role

Fidus is a global high-tech design firm headquartered in Ottawa, with additional design centres in Kitchener-Waterloo and San Jose. We specialize in leading-edge electronic product development, with hardware, embedded software, FPGA/ASIC, and signal integrity teams working together to design and deliver next-generation products for clients in emerging technology markets.
Reporting to our CEO, the Chief AI Officer will lead our AI transformation – own and drive our AI strategy, roadmap, and adoption.
What You’ll Be Doing:

1.  AI Strategy & Roadmap
Own and drive the company-wide AI strategy, roadmap, and governance framework
Define the multi-year vision for AI adoption across service delivery, business development, and operations
Lead prioritization of AI initiatives against revenue, margin, and competitive differentiation outcomes
Report to the CEO on AI transformation progress; own the AI KPI scorecard

2.  AI-Enabled Products & Services
Collaborate with CTO and Delivery Leaders to identify and build net-new AI-enabled service offerings that expand Fidus's addressable market — e.g., AI-assisted SI/PI analysis, automated design review, embedded AI in customer product development
Lead productization of Fidus's engineering expertise into scalable, repeatable AI-augmented deliverables
Partner with discipline leads (FPGA, SI/PI, Layout, Software, Hardware, ASIC) to embed AI tooling into delivery workflows
Establish IP strategy around proprietary AI methods and tooling developed internally

3.  AI Adoption & Change Management
Drive measurable adoption of AI tools across all teams — engineering, operations, and business development
Design and execute a structured change management program: enablement, training, and accountability
Define and own adoption KPIs: cycle time reduction, AI-assisted delivery percentage, proposal and BD efficiency
Champion a culture of experimentation while maintaining rigorous quality standards in safety-critical engineering environments

4.  Data Strategy & Infrastructure (in partnership with IT)
Partner with IT to define and evolve Fidus's data architecture, governance, and quality standards as the foundation for AI capability
Collaborate with IT to build and maintain the data platform required to support AI model development, training, and deployment
Partner with IT and Legal to ensure data practices meet compliance requirements including ITAR, export control, and client NDA obligations
Work closely with IT and engineering leadership to instrument delivery processes for systematic data capture and to maintain data quality at the source

5.  Client-Facing AI Leadership
Serve as Fidus's external AI authority — engaging clients, strategic partners, and industry forums
Advise clients on AI integration into their hardware, firmware, and systems product development programs
Support channel and business development by articulating Fidus's AI differentiation to silicon vendors, EDA partners, and the broader partner ecosystem

6.  Build & Lead the AI Organization
Hire, develop, and manage the AI function — engineers, data scientists, and ML operations
Define the organizational model: centralized Center of Excellence or embedded discipline-level AI leads
Manage AI vendor and tool relationships — model providers, MLOps platforms, and data tooling — in coordination with IT procurement and security standards
Requirements
Who You Are
Services industry experience: Proven track record of driving AI adoption and transformation inside a services or professional services organization — not a product company. You understand the utilization model, the people dynamics of a billable delivery environment, and how to drive change without disrupting client commitments.
AI transformation leadership: 10+ years in technology leadership; 3+ years in a senior AI/ML leadership role with demonstrated organizational impact. You have taken AI from concept to deployed, production-grade capability in an organization that did not start AI-native.
Deep data background: Hands-on expertise in data architecture, data governance, and ML pipeline development. Skilled at working across functional boundaries — able to engage credibly with both engineers and IT leadership, not just manage upward.
Product development experience: Demonstrated experience building AI-enabled products or productized service offerings, from ideation through commercialization.
Execution track record: History of executing on strategic roadmaps under ambiguity with measurable business outcomes — revenue, margin, efficiency. You ship.
Executive communication: Able to translate AI strategy into board-level narrative and into day-to-day engineering direction. Equally fluent in both registers.
Strong Preference
Background in engineering services, EDA, semiconductor, or adjacent deep-tech industries
Familiarity with safety-critical or regulated engineering environments: A&D, medical, automotive
Experience in ITAR or export-controlled data environments
Prior experience in a company undergoing strategic transformation — high-growth, PE-backed, or M&A integration
Hands-on experience with LLMs, agentic AI frameworks, or AI applied to CAD/EDA and hardware design workflows
About Fidus & Why Work Here
Since 2001, Fidus has completed over 4,000 projects for more than 400 customers across industries including Telecom/Datacom, Aerospace & Defence, Consumer, Semiconductors, Industrial/Automotive Controls, and Medical. As a Premier Adaptive Computing Partner for AMD North America, we combine deep technical expertise with industry-leading tools to solve complex design challenges.
Fidus designs high-speed, high-complexity electronic systems using emerging technologies, often well before they reach the broader market. Our teams work across FPGA/DSP, hardware, embedded software, verification, SI/PI, PCB layout, and mechanical/thermal design to deliver real products for our customers.
Our work spans space and satellite systems, next-generation…