Senior Manager - Financial Services - CTO, Semantic AI and Enterprise Knowledge Transformation

EY is the only professional services firm with a separate business unit (“FSO”) that is dedicated to the financial services marketplace. Our FSO teams have been at the forefront of every event that has reshaped and redefined the financial services industry.  If you have a passion for rallying together to solve the most complex challenges in the financial services industry, come join our dynamic FSO team!

The business problems our clients are facing today are not the same problems they have faced in the past. The rapid pace of development in Artificial Intelligence and the technology that enables it has created an urgent need to innovate and adapt to the new global business paradigm. Financial institutions are looking to build smarter and more efficient ways to operate their business, create new revenue streams, and better manage risk, through new opportunities uncovered by their data. We believe that to fully unlock the potential of Artificial Intelligence, we need to look not only at its application, but also at the strategy level for how best to transform the enterprise into one that is technology and data focused and ready for the new age. Our clients’ problems are becoming increasingly complex while at the same time the need to automate and streamline is rising.

The opportunity

This Senior Manager will serve as a strategic leader for EY FSO’s enterprise knowledge transformation agenda, shaping how the firm captures, structures, governs, and scales proprietary knowledge across service lines. This role will provide vision and execution leadership for the design, implementation, productization, and adoption of ontology and knowledge graph capabilities that enable EY to move from siloed and localized know-how to scalable, reusable, machine-readable knowledge systems. 

The role will align service lines, business units, technical teams, governance functions, and senior leadership around a common ontology strategy and operating model. The successful candidate will lead the development of enterprise knowledge graphs, semantic models, standards, governance practices, and adoption approaches that encode EY’s subject matter expertise, methodologies, source-of-truth structures, data relationships, and institutional knowledge in a scalable form. This individual will also act as a senior change leader, building teams, upskilling professionals, navigating organizational complexity, and demonstrating measurable business impact from ontology-enabled transformation across EY.

The Senior Manager, Ontology will serve as a strategic leader for EY FSO's enterprise knowledge transformation agenda, shaping how the firm captures, structures, governs, and scales proprietary knowledge across service lines. This role will provide vision and execution leadership for the design, implementation, productization, adoption, and scaling of ontology and knowledge graph capabilities that enable EY to transform siloed and localized know-how into scalable, reusable, and machine-readable knowledge systems.

Working across service lines, business units, technical teams, governance functions, and senior leadership, this individual will align stakeholders around a common ontology strategy and operating model. They will lead the development of enterprise knowledge graphs, semantic models, standards, governance practices, and adoption approaches that encode EY's subject matter expertise, methodologies, source-of-truth structures, data relationships, and institutional knowledge in a scalable form.

As a senior change leader, this individual will build teams, upskill professionals, navigate organizational complexity, and deliver measurable business impact through ontology-enabled transformation across EY.

Your key responsibilities

As a Senior Manager focused on Ontology, you will lead the end-to-end design, build-out, implementation, productization, and scaling of EY FSO’s ontology and knowledge graph capabilities. You will be responsible for transforming how EY FSO captures, structures, encodes, governs, maintains, and distributes proprietary knowledge across service lines, helping shift the organization from localized and fragmented knowledge practices to enterprise-ready knowledge systems. 

You will define and deliver an enterprise ontology strategy that connects information, expertise, methodologies, data, workflows, source-of-truth structures, and insights across the FSO organization. Working across service lines, business units, technical teams, governance functions, and senior leadership, you will design structured, interoperable, and machine-readable knowledge systems that support knowledge discovery, information extraction, semantic search, AI enablement, workflow standardization, and decision-making at scale. 

The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in ontology, graph theory, knowledge graphs, semantic modeling, information architecture, and structured knowledge representation with practical experience leading complex transformation initiatives in large, matrixed, and regulated organizations. This is not solely a technical role; it requires a strategic and entrepreneurial leader who can move from ambiguity to execution, influence diverse stakeholders, build new capabilities where limited structure exists, and embed sustainable ways of working across EY. 

As a Senior Manager focused on Ontology, you will define and deliver an enterprise ontology strategy that connects information, expertise, methodologies, data, workflows, source-of-truth structures, and insights across the FSO organization. You will lead the end-to-end design and implementation of structured, interoperable, and machine-readable knowledge systems that support knowledge discovery, information extraction, semantic search, AI enablement, workflow standardization, and decision-making at scale.

The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in ontology, graph theory, knowledge graphs, semantic modeling, information architecture, and structured knowledge representation with practical experience leading complex transformation initiatives in large, matrixed, and regulated organizations. This is not solely a technical role; it requires a strategic and entrepreneurial leader who can move from ambiguity to execution, influence diverse stakeholders, build new capabilities where limited structure exists, and embed sustainable ways of working across EY.

Skills and attributes for success

• Define and lead the vision, objectives, scope, roadmap, governance model, delivery approach, success measures, and adoption strategy for EY's ontology-enabled knowledge transformation agenda across service lines, business units, and enterprise initiatives.
• Lead teams in the design, implementation, productization, and scaling of enterprise knowledge graphs, ontologies, taxonomies, semantic models, source-of-truth structures, and structured knowledge systems.
• Translate complex, fragmented, and inconsistent business knowledge into scalable ontological models that support knowledge discovery, information extraction, semantic search, workflow standardization, AI-enabled solutions, and enterprise decision-making.  

• Establish standards, naming conventions, quality controls, workflows, governance forums, lifecycle management practices, stewardship models, and operating practices for how knowledge is captured, validated, encoded, maintained, distributed, and reused across EY.  

• Work across service lines and functions to connect siloed information, align competing priorities, identify dependencies, and create consistent ways of working in a highly matrixed and regulated environment.  

• Manage senior stakeholders across business, technology, legal, risk, compliance, operations, and client-facing teams while navigating organizational complexity, blockers, changing priorities, and competing initiatives.  

• Build, manage, develop, and mentor multidisciplinary teams responsible for ontology, knowledge modeling, information architecture, information extraction, workflow design, governance, product delivery, adoption, and implementation.  

• Support digital transformation by helping EY leaders and teams understand, adopt, and apply ontology, knowledge graphs, AI, and structured knowledge systems at scale.  

• Report progress, risks, blockers, adoption, product maturity, and measurable impact to senior leadership in a clear and actionable way.  

To qualify for the role, you must have

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Data Science, Knowledge Management, Engineering, Business, or a related field; advanced degree preferred. 

• 12+ years of related experience, or 9+ years with a graduate degree, including significant experience leading complex transformation initiatives in large, matrixed organizations. 
• Proven track record designing, implementing, and scaling ontology, knowledge graph, semantic modeling, or structured knowledge management solutions, with deep expertise in knowledge representation, metadata, and information architecture to transform fragmented organizational knowledge into governed, reusable, and scalable enterprise assets.
• Experience defining governance models, standards, workflows, quality controls, stewardship practices, operating models, and adoption approaches across multiple teams, functions, or business units. 

• Proven ability to manage senior stakeholders, influence across a matrixed organization, and align competing priorities across business, technology, legal, risk, compliance, operations, and client-facing teams. 

• Experience leading and developing multidisciplinary teams, including coaching, mentoring, upskilling, prioritizing work, managing delivery, and creating accountability for measurable outcomes. 

• Ability to translate complex ontology, data, AI, and knowledge management concepts into clear business language, executive narratives, implementation plans, and business impact. 

• Experience operating in regulated, controlled, and fast-changing environments with ambiguity, blockers, inconsistent information, red tape, and competing priorities. 

• Ability and willingness to travel and work outside standard hours when necessary. 

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Prior consulting experience

What we look for

We are seeking a strategic leader to build and scale EY's ontology and knowledge graph capabilities, transforming fragmented knowledge into connected, AI-ready enterprise assets. The successful candidate will influence senior stakeholders, lead large-scale transformation initiatives, and establish sustainable practices for knowledge governance and adoption across the organization.

This role is ideal for someone with expertise in ontology, knowledge graphs, semantic technologies, and AI-enabled knowledge systems, combined with a proven ability to build teams, drive change, and deliver measurable business impact.

What we offer you 

At EY, we’ll develop you with future-focused skills and equip you with world-class experiences. We’ll empower you in a flexible environment, and fuel you and your extraordinary talents in a diverse and inclusive culture of globally connected teams. Learn more.

Are you ready to shape your future with confidence? Apply today.

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EY is building a better working world by creating new value for clients, people, society and the planet, while building trust in capital markets.

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