Tech Innovation & Growth Lead, APAC

The Opportunity:

We are seeking a dynamic and forward-thinking leader to drive innovation at the intersection of digital distribution, insurance, emerging technologies enabling growth. This role will be central to identifying, shaping, and executing innovative business-led use cases with a strong focus on AI, emerging tech & product lead growth. This opportunity is designed for a business-first tech lead who can envision and drive new digital capabilities to not only enhance our customer offerings across the value chain but also drive growth as part of the Zurich Edge strategy.

Key Responsibilities and Duties:

• Lead the discovery, development, and implementation of innovative AI and digital solutions across the lifecycle of the digital insurance journey.
• Identify, evaluate, and integrate emerging technologies, tools, and vendors to enhance our digital stack (e.g., microservices, AI APIs, customer engagement tools, etc.) to drive growth.
• Define a clear product vision for short and long-term objectives, by collaborating with product, engineering, distribution and operations teams to prototype and scale new propositions
• Own the innovation pipeline end to end - idea generation, validation, prioritisation, proof-of-concept and scaling - and be the person accountable for what moves and what doesn't.
• Communicate consumer needs and partner requirements by conducting user research and usability studies, collaborating with designers, developers, and research teams
• Enhance platform propositions to ensure Zurich's long-term market play, focusing on retail digital strategy & growth.
• Drive AI-powered customer engagement and marketing innovation initiatives, identifying opportunities to enhance acquisition, onboarding, engagement, and retention through generative AI, conversational AI, personalization engines, and emerging marketing technologies.
• Partner with regional and local business teams to pilot, scale, and operationalize AI-driven use cases across customer and partner journeys.

Qualification, Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business, or a related field.
• Clear demonstration on leveraging AI tools to build products live in production.
• Proven experience in leading tech innovation initiatives within the insurance, fintech, or e-commerce sectors.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business strategies into actionable tech solutions.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to leverage data and insights for continuous product improvement. Experience in conducting user research and usability studies.
• Proven ability to manage innovation pipelines, including idea generation, validation, prioritization, proof-of-concept, and scaling. Experience in managing product roadmaps and backlogs.
• Willingness to adapt and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. Ability to handle multiple priorities and navigate through ambiguity.
• Practical experience with generative AI tools and AI workflow design, including the development of reusable frameworks, prompts, templates, and governance standards.
• Experience with API-first, modular platform architectures - microservices, embedded APIs, white-label journeys - of the kind ZEP is built on.