Director of AI & Innovation

At Collinson, we don’t just build technology — we power the experiences behind some of the world’s most recognised travel, financial services, and retail brands.

Our solutions help global brands acquire, engage, and retain millions of customers worldwide. Our flagship product is Priority Pass, the world’s leading airport experiences programme, trusted by travellers across more than 170 countries.

Key clients include Mastercard, American Express, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, LATAM, Flying Blue, Accor, EasyJet, HSBC, Chase, HDFC.

Our mission is focused on doing good beyond profit, which for us means we seek out opportunities for our people to share in our success and that we give back to the communities and people within which we work.

Never short of ambition, the success of our business is delivered through the diverse and talented team of over 2,200 global colleagues.

We are now seeking an exceptional Director of AI & Innovation to lead and accelerate our enterprise-wide AI and innovation agenda.

Reporting directly to the Chief Technology & Data Officer (CTDO) and forming part of the Technology & Data Leadership Team, this is a high-impact leadership role responsible for identifying, incubating, and scaling emerging AI, digital, and innovation opportunities that create measurable business value across the Group.

This role sits at the intersection of strategy, technology, commercial innovation, and execution, bridging emerging technologies, external innovation ecosystems, and operational delivery to transform how we work, engage customers, and create competitive advantage.

If you are passionate about turning bold ideas into scalable outcomes, building innovation ecosystems, and leading enterprise AI transformation in a complex, fast-moving environment, we’d love to hear from you.

The Opportunity

As Director of AI & Innovation, you will define and lead the organisation’s AI and innovation strategy, identifying opportunities across AI, intelligent automation, customer engagement, digital experiences, and data-driven products and services.

You will establish and lead Innovation Labs, drive experimentation and rapid prototyping, and ensure successful ideas are scaled into governed, commercially viable, enterprise-ready capabilities.

Working closely with Product, Analytics, Engineering, Commercial, Operations, and Operating Company leadership teams, you will champion a culture of responsible innovation while helping the organisation confidently adopt emerging technologies and new ways of working.

You will also build strong partnerships across the travel, loyalty, fintech, and technology ecosystem, bringing external innovation, start-ups, vendors, and strategic partners into the organisation to accelerate growth and transformation.

What you will be responsible for:

AI Strategy & Innovation Leadership

• Define and lead the enterprise AI and innovation strategy aligned to long-term business priorities
• Identify and scale high-value AI and digital innovation opportunities across the Group
• Drive practical adoption of AI capabilities that improve productivity, operational efficiency, customer experience, and commercial performance
• Translate emerging technology trends into scalable business opportunities
• Develop innovation roadmaps, pilots, investment cases, and measurable value outcomes
• Build strategic partnerships with AI vendors, start-ups, fin-techs, loyalty innovators, and travel ecosystem providers

Innovation Labs & Experimentation

• Establish and lead a structured Innovation Labs capability
• Create environments for experimentation, prototyping, validation, and rapid learning
• Accelerate the transition from proof-of-concept to scalable operational solutions
• Ensure innovation activity remains commercially focused and strategically aligned

Enterprise AI Enablement

• Partner with business, product, analytics, and engineering teams to embed AI into products, workflows, and decision-making

Governance & Responsible Innovation

• Establish strong responsible AI principles and governance frameworks
• Ensure AI solutions are ethical, explainable, secure, and compliant
• Partner with Risk, Security, Legal, Governance, and Assurance teams to manage innovation-related risks
• Maintain oversight of third-party AI vendors and innovation partners

Leadership & Capability Building

• Build and lead a high-performing AI & Innovation team
• Foster a culture of experimentation, collaboration, learning, and customer-centric innovation
• Develop enterprise capability in AI, innovation, and emerging technologies
• Act as a visible innovation leader across the Group

What we are looking for:

We’re looking for a visionary yet pragmatic leader who can connect emerging technology with real commercial and operational outcomes.

You’ll bring:

• Significant leadership experience in AI, innovation, digital transformation, or emerging technologies
• Proven success identifying, incubating, and scaling AI and innovation initiatives within complex organisations
• Strong understanding of modern AI technologies, intelligent automation, digital ecosystems, and customer engagement trends
• Experience working across business, engineering, analytics, product, and commercial functions
• Strong strategic thinking combined with hands-on delivery capability
• Excellent executive stakeholder management and communication skills
• Deep understanding of responsible AI, governance, and risk management principles

Success in this role will look like…

• AI and innovation initiatives successfully scaled into operational and commercial capabilities
• Measurable business value generated through AI adoption and ecosystem partnerships
• Faster transition from experimentation to enterprise deployment
• Increased adoption of AI-enabled workflows and automation across teams
• Strong external innovation partnerships and ecosystem collaboration
• Effective governance, compliance, and responsible AI outcomes

What Collinson Offers:

• Flexible and hybrid working options
• Work from anywhere – 8 weeks a year
• Generous parental leave and family-friendly policies
• Career development, mentorship, and training
• A supportive, inclusive culture with employee resource groups and diversity initiatives.

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work. Our company values are: Take Action, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.

In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example - she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

If you need any extra support throughout the interview process, then please email us at ukrecruitment@collinsongroup.com