Head of Innovation

Ocorian•New York, NY

About The Position

Ocorian is looking for a visionary Head of Innovation to accelerate the evolution of the business into a best-in-class financial services partner of the future. This role is central to transforming how technology and expertise combine to deliver exceptional client service outcomes. The Head of Innovation will identify high-value client-facing and internal product development and automation opportunities, incubate new products and capabilities, and scale them across the global platform. This role is ideal for a leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy, technology, and product and software development. You will bring discipline, pace, and creativity to the innovation agenda, 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 prioritized by measurable business impact.
Ensure innovation activity and prioritization is demand-led from practitioners, client, and internal stakeholder needs.
Analyze productivity drivers, manual touchpoints, and end-to-end processes to identify high-value automation and optimization 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 prioritization, rapid prototyping using flexible squads (engineering, data/ML, design) with protected capacity, and 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 recognize measurable revenue, cost, or risk reduction outcomes.