Head of Innovation

Ocorian•New York, NY

About The Position

Ocorian is looking for a visionary Head of Innovation in a rare opportunity to accelerate the evolution of the business into a best-in-class financial services partner of the future to asset managers, family offices, private clients and issuers. With more than 2,000 colleagues across 20+ jurisdictions, thousands of blue‑chip clients and partners and decades of regulated service excellence, Ocorian is uniquely positioned to redefine how technology and expertise combine to deliver exceptional client service outcomes and transform the experience of clients and how services are delivered. The Head of Innovation will be at the centre of this transformation by identifying high‑value client facing and internal product development and automation opportunities, incubating new products and capabilities, and scaling what works across our global platform. This role is ideal for a leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy, technology and product and software development. You’ll bring discipline, pace and creativity to our innovation agenda, while fostering a culture of grassroots ideation, intrapreneurship, and rapid testing and scaling within secure environments. Success will be measured through tangible improvements in client experience, service quality, productivity and competitiveness. As a member of the executive leadership team, you will collaborate closely with technology, service line and operational leaders to build a high‑velocity incubation model that turns real business challenges and client opportunities into real solutions.

Requirements

Proven experience in product management, product development, CTO leadership or full‑stack engineering within fintech, technology, financial services or alternative investments.
Hands‑on experience designing, deploying or integrating agentic AI or LLM‑driven solutions in real operational environments.
Ability to diagnose root‑cause business problems and translate them into clear technical or product requirements.
Working knowledge of LLMs, agentic capabilities and process automation techniques, evidenced through delivered projects or prototypes.
Practical experience using agentic coding or rapid‑prototyping methods to validate concepts quickly.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to clients and senior executives.
Track record of influencing cross‑functional teams and frontline practitioners to adopt new technology or ways of working.
Experience navigating technology, security, risk and compliance functions to deliver solutions at pace in a regulated environment.
Evidence of delivering measurable outcomes (revenue, cost, productivity, risk reduction) through technology‑enabled initiatives.
Ability to operate effectively in both technical and executive contexts.

Responsibilities

Build a structured intake process to identify client, service, regulatory and operational challenges prioritised by measurable business impact.
Ensure innovation activity and prioritisation is demand-led from practitioners, client and internal stakeholder needs
Analyse productivity drivers, manual touchpoints and end-to-end processes to identify high-value automation and optimisation opportunities
Translate problem statements into prototypes, pilots and deployable solutions that validate value early and demonstrate what is possible.
Establish a clear, repeatable and lightweight incubation model, including:
Demand-led prioritisation
Rapid prototyping using flexible squads (engineering, data/ML, design) with protected capacity
Transparent stop / scale / handover decision points
Operate independently from BAU delivery to ensure innovation capacity remains focused on high-impact opportunities.
Build frameworks to set-up, scale and operate incubated solutions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.
Ensure every initiative has a clear value hypothesis and measurable success criteria (client impact, service quality, cost, risk reduction).
Scale validated solutions through build, buy or partner models
Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security standards and AI governance.
Partner with service line and functional leaders to embed solutions into operating models .
Create reward mechanisms that encourage intrapreneurship and recognise measurable revenue, cost or risk reduction outcomes.