Head of AI Strategy & Innovation

Role Overview

understands the technical foundations

own and drive our AI strategy

define what AI looks like at WhatJobs

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the global AI strategy

  across all departments, acting as the internal owner of all AI-related projects.
• Serve as

  Project Manager and Product Owner

  for AI-led workflows (job generation, job matching, lead enrichment, language translations, etc).

• Evaluate and integrate 3rd-party APIs

  (OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, Mistral) for maximum value and performance.
• Research and drive the adoption of

  open-source models

  (e.g., Gemma, LLaMA, DeepSeek) and plan for

  in-house inference infrastructure

  .
• Create and maintain a

  competitive AI landscape

  (monitoring new tools, features, and threats in the recruitment tech space).
• Present

  AI business cases

  to senior stakeholders and board members, including cost-benefit analysis and timelines.
• Recruit, coordinate, and lead a

  small AI support team

  if required (prompt engineers, devs, QA).
• Collaborate with CTO, COO, CEO and product teams to align all AI initiatives with WhatJobs’ commercial vision.
  

• Create internal documentation

  , roadmaps, and training for AI product usage and compliance.

Key Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in AI/ML development or technical product ownership.
  
• Proficient in

  Python

  and comfortable working with AI libraries and APIs (e.g., LangChain, Transformers, FastAPI).
• Strong knowledge of

  open-source AI ecosystems

  , including model training, fine-tuning, and local hosting/inference.
• Demonstrated experience using and evaluating

  LLMs in production

  (e.g., GPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek).
• Solid understanding and practical experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, including integration with vector databases such as FAISS, Qdrant, Weaviate, or Pinecone.
  
• Direct experience deploying and managing scalable model inference using tools like vLLM, Triton Inference Server (Triton), TGI (Text Generation Inference), or Ray.
  
• Exposure to or implementation of PromptOps practices, including prompt versioning, testing, and lifecycle management in production environments.
  
• Strong knowledge of the open-source AI ecosystem, including evaluation of models like LLaMA, Mistral, DeepSeek, Gemma, and considerations around licensing, hosting, and fine-tuning.
  
• Experience managing or coordinating

  cross-functional, international tech projects

  .
• Excellent

  English communication skills

  , with the ability to present complex topics clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Commercial mindset: ability to

  link innovation to ROI

  , budget savings, or user growth.
• Experience working in

  recruitment, job search, or HR tech

  is a bonus.

Personal Attributes

• Strategic and entrepreneurial mindset — a leader who thinks 3 steps ahead.
  
• Highly organised, deadline-driven, and self-sufficient.
  
• Curious and constantly experimenting with new tools and use cases.
  
• Strong communicator — able to manage both up and down across time zones and cultures.
  
• Comfortable being the go-to person for anything related to AI across the business.
  

Why Join WhatJobs?

• Be the

  first Head of AI

  at a profitable, global job search company.
• Gain full autonomy to shape your department and projects.
  
• Work on

  high-impact, visible projects

  used by millions of people.
• Join a

  lean, founder-led culture

  with speed, precision, and purpose.
• Build and test your own

  open-source infrastructure

  from the ground up.

Compensation

Role & responsibilities

Preferred candidate profile