Director of Innovation

Position:

Location:

Duration:

Notice Period:

Budget

Head of Innovation (Director level but wants recent hands on person)

Head of Innovation

thought leader and practitioner

Key Responsibilities

• Establish lightweight governance for evaluating, prioritizing, and scaling innovation ideas.
• Ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture, security, and compliance standards.
• Define clear success metrics for innovation initiatives (ROI, adoption, time-to-value).
• Stay current with

  emerging technologies, AI/ML trends, and industry best practices

  .
• Partner with GTM teams to shape

  customer-facing innovation narratives and differentiators

  .
• Mentor and upskill team members and delivery functions on

  new technologies and frameworks

  .
• Architect, design, and prototype innovation solutions in areas such as

  Agentic AI, Generative AI, automation frameworks, and knowledge-driven systems

  .
• Build

  core reusable platforms

  (APIs, microservices, accelerators, AI frameworks) to speed up solution delivery across business functions.
• Drive proof-of-concepts (POCs) and pilots, iterating quickly with stakeholders.
• Lead the innovation team, fostering a culture of creativity, experimentation, and rapid prototyping.
• Collaborate with GTM, delivery, and support functions to identify high-impact innovation opportunities.
• Translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions and reusable frameworks.

Required Skills & Experience

• Leadership & Collaboration

• Proven experience leading small, cross-functional teams in innovation, product development, or R&D.
• Strong stakeholder management and ability to align with GTM, delivery, and support teams.

• Technical Expertise

• Hands-on experience with

  Agentic AI, Generative AI (LLMs, prompt engineering, fine-tuning, multi-agent systems)

  .
• Proficiency in building frameworks and reusable assets (Python, Java, APIs, cloud-native platforms).
• Familiarity with modern architectures:

  microservices, event-driven systems, vector databases, and AI orchestration platforms

  .
• Exposure to cloud ecosystems (GCP, AWS, Azure) and MLOps practices.

• Innovation Mindset

• Deep curiosity about

  emerging technologies, AI trends, and enterprise adoption patterns

  .
• Ability to translate cutting-edge technology into

  practical business value and differentiated offerings

  .

Preferred Qualifications

• 14+ years of overall experience, with at least 3 years in

  innovation leadership or applied R&D

  roles.
• Demonstrated track record of

  building and scaling innovative solutions

  in enterprise environments.
• Experience in

  consulting, product engineering, or digital transformation initiatives

  .
• Strong communication and storytelling skills to influence senior leadership and clients.