Head of AI and Innovation

Head of AI and Innovation

Recruiting for an organisation investing significantly in AI and innovation as a key driver of their future. In order to achieve their goals, they re creating an innovation function with the autonomy and sponsorship to challenge the current products and services.

As Head of AI & Innovation, you ll be entrusted with building and leading this capability from the ground up. You ll operate with senior-level backing to experiment and explore ideas outside of the existing product or technology roadmaps.

This role is for someone who thrives in ambiguity, understands both technology and commercial impact and can turn bold thinking into tangible outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Define how AI should be applied across the existing products and services, balancing long-term ambition with short-term experimentation and delivery
• Explore concepts, test assumptions and convert ideas into working prototypes and MVPs that can be validated with real users and stakeholders
• Investigate emerging technologies and approaches, from LLM driven capabilities to advanced analytics, ultimately resulting in new ways of differentiating the existing offerings
• Improve how the business operates through identifying opportunities where AI can remove friction, automate workflows and improve decision-making across internal teams
• Embed AI practices around data usage, model behaviour, transparency and compliance. Ensuring innovation is matched with trust
• Work closely with executive leadership to shape priorities, communicate progress and ensure AI initiatives remain aligned with business strategy
• Recruit, mentor and lead a small group of highly capable Principal Software Engineers, creating an environment that rewards curiosity, pace, and quality

Key Skills

• Proven Innovator who has successfully introduced new technologies and approaches into an established technology organisation and understands how to navigate both opportunity and resistance
• Hands-on experience designing, building and deploying AI-powered solutions, including LLM based systems
• Have clear judgement and ability to communicate where AI adds value
• A solid background in cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure with experience delivering scalable, production grade solutions
• Commercially minded individual who is comfortable translating complex technical ideas into clear business outcomes for senior, non-technical stakeholders
• Experience leading technical teams and influencing across product, engineering and operations without relying on formal authority
• A track record of delivery, moving from ideation to real-world impact, including how new AI features will be utilised by customers
• Must possess experience working with innovative or disruptive technologies