Lead, Innovation CoE

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Overview

To define, lead, and oversee the Bank's overarching innovation and AI strategy, ensuring alignment with corporate goals, driving high-impact digital transformation, and fostering a culture of continuous innovation and future-readiness across the organization.

Responsibilities:

• Define and own the Bank's innovation and AI roadmap, aligning emerging technology trends with long-term business objectives.

• Oversee the entire innovation portfolio, ensuring initiatives deliver strategic value, operational efficiency, and measurable ROI.

• Establish and govern frameworks for identifying, prioritizing, and scaling innovation use cases from concept to enterprise-wide adoption.

• Lead collaboration with senior leadership across Cloud, Data, RPA, and Business units to integrate innovation into the core fabric of the Bank.

• Navigate complex organizational structures to remove roadblocks and ensure high-level cross-functional synergy.

• Direct the integration of disruptive technologies into the Bank's long-term infrastructure and product offerings, including:

  • Defining the Bank's cloud-native roadmap to support heavy AI/ML workloads.

  • Leading the transition toward Everything-as-Code (DevOps Excellence) and automated CI/CD pipelines.

  • Establishing frameworks for MLOps to move AI models from experimental stages to enterprise-wide production.

• Identify and cultivate high-value strategic relationships with FinTechs, technology giants, and academic research institutions.

• Lead the selection of key technology partners and oversee high-stakes negotiations and pilot evaluations.

• Position the Bank as a thought leader and preferred partner within the global and regional innovation ecosystem.

• Spearhead bank-wide AI literacy and innovation mindset programs to drive digital maturity.

• Establish Centers of Excellence (CoE) and best-practice frameworks for the ethical and business-friendly adoption of AI and automation.

• Mentor and develop the Innovation team (including the Manager, Innovation), fostering a high-performance culture focused on execution excellence.

• Serve as the primary advisor to the C-suite and Board on emerging technologies, their competitive implications, and compliance standards.

• Develop comprehensive strategic reporting on innovation impact, investment performance, and organizational readiness.

• Partner with IT Security to ensure all cloud and AI initiatives meet the Bank's compliance and data residency standards.

• Manage the financial and operational trade-offs of cloud consumption (FinOps) to ensure a measurable ROI.

• Act as the key spokesperson for the Bank's innovation agenda in both internal executive forums and external industry events.

Skills & Experience We Are Looking For:

• Advanced Degree (Master's or PhD preferred) in Technology, Engineering, Business, or a related field.

• Extensive leadership experience (10+ years) in digital transformation, AI, or corporate innovation, specifically within the Financial Services sector.

• Proven track record of scaling complex technology initiatives from pilot stage to large-scale, sustainable implementation.

• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing multi-million dollar budgets and vendor contracts.

• Proven experience leading enterprise-scale cloud migrations (AWS/Azure/GCP) and implementing DevOps transformations.

• Deep understanding of microservices and containerization (e.g., Kubernetes) as the backbone for modern banking applications.

• Visionary leadership with a focus on long-term impact and strategic business growth.

• Superior influence and communication skills, capable of commanding executive-level presence.

• Entrepreneurial mindset with a high tolerance for ambiguity and a drive for transformative change.

• Lifelong learner with a deep passion for disruptive technologies and their potential to redefine banking.

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