Whether he's a straight up villain or greater good type varies between instances of the character.
One version of him is an immortal who has dedicated his life to ensuring the world is ready when a true threat arises, and has willfully cast himself as the villain to make sure the world doesn't get complacent.
While another version is basically just a greedy jerkass.

My preferred version of him is the greater-good/willful villain incarnation.

Just a heads up, I'm using him s a currently unnamed character in my RWBY RP, so his name will need to go unrevealed until I have a chance to make his identity known to the players in that RP, lest they come snooping over here.