Head of Innovation

ABOUT US

Fund services | Corporate | Capital markets | Private client | Regulatory & Compliance

We help clients succeed by unlocking new value through expertise, trust and scale. We deliver solutions that solve complex challenges faced by asset managers, financial institutions, corporates, high net-worth individuals and family offices.

With a curious mindset, we ask the right questions to get to the right solution, faster. We collaborate to win together, sharing successes and shaping the future of our global business. Our culture of support and recognition provides the tools and opportunities for you to grow, while unlocking the most value for our clients and making your mark with Ocorian.

Expertise: We deliver specialist, tech-enabled solutions for our clients grounded on deep industry expertise.

Trust: We’re a trusted partner to over 8,000 clients globally. We are proud to have long-lasting partnerships with our clients.

Scale: With more than 1,500 colleagues, we operate across 20+ countries, our scale enables us to support our clients globally and locally, providing a seamless client experience across borders and service lines.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

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.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Demand-Led Innovation

• 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.

Incubation Operating Model

• 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.

Value Realisation and Scale

• 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.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

We’re looking for a leader who combines strategic vision with hands‑on capability:

• 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.

All staff are expected to embody our core values that underpin everything that we do and that reflect the skills and behaviours we all need to be successful.

These are:

• We are CLIENT CENTRIC – Clients are at the centre of our world, and we’re committed to providing expertise and specialist solutions to meet their most complex challenges. 
• We are AMBITIOUS – We aim high. We think and act globally, seizing every opportunity to delight our clients and support our colleagues - wherever in the world they may be.
• We are AGILE – We act on our initiative to get things done for our clients. Our independence gives us the flexibility and freedom to keep things simple, efficient and effective. 
• We are COLLABORATIVE – With a curious mindset, we ask the right questions to get to the right solution, for our clients faster. We collaborate to win together and share our successes.
• We are ETHICAL – We behave with integrity at all times and assume positive intent, building trust through responsible actions and honest relationships.

Equal Opportunities for Everyone

Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to make the process easier for you. You can reach us at [email protected].

We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, or veteran, neurodiversity or disability status.

information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.