Careers
Chief data and artificial intelligence officer
Turning data into an asset: governing it, making it available, drawing decisions from it and framing artificial intelligence uses. The chief data officer carries this new function, now present in the region's large organisations.
Governing a data estate
Governance comes before the algorithm: who owns which data, who may access it, with what guaranteed quality and what retention period. On that base a portfolio of use cases is built, arbitrated like an investment portfolio — a few significant bets, several quick wins, a held capacity. Finally the chief data officer carries the framework for artificial intelligence use: what stays validated by a human, what must be explainable, what must be traced.
- Define data governance and the responsibilities that go with it
- Build a reliable, documented data estate
- Arbitrate a use case portfolio like an investment portfolio
- Set the framework for AI use and its human validation points
Where the function is taking hold
Financial groups
Considerable volumes, regulatory requirements on automated decisions, direct gains on risk and fraud.
Operators and platforms
Massive usage data, personalisation, forecasting: the function reports directly to the chief executive there.
Public institutions
Registries, statistics, interoperability: data of public interest whose governance becomes a policy.
What the institute puts in writing
A duration, taught hours, credits and a level of responsibility: these are the four commitments the institute makes on this programme, and they are public. You will find them identical on the qualification page, in the official catalogue and on the certificate issued at the end. One figure, three surfaces, no divergence.
- qualification level
- 7
- months of programme
- 9
- taught hours
- 700 h
- credits
- 70
- competency blocks
- 5
Expert and executive
Led by an instructor.
1 credit = 25 h of work, 10 of them taught.
Framework of the « Chief Data and AI Officer » qualification, code TP65.
The blocks that make up the framework
The framework is split into self-contained blocks, each with its own taught hours. That split serves three purposes: organising the training, organising the assessment, and letting an already experienced professional have what they already command recognised. The same structure is what makes prior-learning validation possible.
- Data and AI strategy
- 190 (27 %)
- Governance and oversight
- 190 (27 %)
- Sovereignty, compliance and dependency
- 170 (24 %)
- The economics of AI and job transformation
- 100 (14 %)
- Executive conduct
- 50 (7 %)
- Data and AI strategy · 190 h — Data assets, value creation, use-case portfolio, prioritisation, expected return
- Governance and oversight · 190 h — Usage policy, non-delegable acts, system register, audit, accountability
- Sovereignty, compliance and dependency · 170 h — Hosting, data protection, reversibility, dependency on model suppliers
- The economics of AI and job transformation · 100 h — Inference cost, investment trade-offs, effects on employment, support
- Executive conduct · 50 h — Publicly accounting for a failed deployment, resisting hype
Towards data leadership
This table sets side by side what genuinely prepares for this role. Credits and taught hours measure the gap between two options; fees relate that gap to a budget. Those are the three questions a candidate asks, and the three answers sit on a single row.
| Programme | Duration | Credits | Taught hours | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence programme — Bac+5 level · Master's degree | 2 years | 120 | 1200 h | 7 800 000 GNF per year |
| Certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Business Decisions · Professional certification | 5 months | 15 | 150 h | 3 600 000 GNF in total |
A few useful clarifications on this path
Does this function already exist in the region?
It is taking hold first in organisations holding massive history and reporting to a regulator or an international head office. The qualification is designed to accompany it, and the AI and business decision certificate prepares the strategic side.
What place does ethics hold in this role?
A structuring one. A model that decides on a loan, a hire or access to a service commits the whole organisation. The framework covers explaining decisions, tracing training data and human validation points.
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