Global Director of Innovation & Artificial Intelligence
UK Visa Sponsorship Analytics
Analytics are greyed out due to low classification confidence (29.0%).
Occupation TypeIT business analysts, architects and systems designers
Occupation Code Skill LevelHigher Skilled
Sponsorship Salary Threshold
£54,900
(£28.15 per hour)
Occupation rate applies
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Description
Croda is a FTSE100 organisation where we truly believe our people are our difference and this, along with our values of Innovative, Responsible and Together, create ‘our Purpose, Smart science to improve lives™’. With over 5,000 employees globally, we specialise in the research and development of innovative ingredients for the Life Science and Consumer Care markets.
As the Global Director of Innovation & AI, you will build and run a cross functional organisation to transition AI from isolated experimentation into an industrialized service. Your primary mandate is to ignite, incubate, and industrialise AI-powered innovations that accelerate the business toward its 2030 North Star targets of 1.5x Revenue and 2x Operating Profit. You will operate an “AI Value Acceleration Engine”, acting as the bridge between technology and commercial viability by turning high-value problems into secure, trusted scalable products and services that move the P&L.
As a key member of the Global IT Leadership Team, you will oversee the development, deployment, and industrialisation of AI-driven products, solutions, and capabilities. Directly accountable to the CIO with strategic accountability to the General Counsel and Business Unit (BU) leadership via the AI Venture Steerco. The role serves as a global hub with regional delivery nodes to ensure speed and proximity to value whilst ensuring the highest standards of security, ethics, sustainability and regulatory compliance.
Who We’re Looking For
As the Global Director of Innovation & AI, you will build and run a cross functional organisation to transition AI from isolated experimentation into an industrialized service. Your primary mandate is to ignite, incubate, and industrialise AI-powered innovations that accelerate the business toward its 2030 North Star targets of 1.5x Revenue and 2x Operating Profit. You will operate an “AI Value Acceleration Engine”, acting as the bridge between technology and commercial viability by turning high-value problems into secure, trusted scalable products and services that move the P&L.
As a key member of the Global IT Leadership Team, you will oversee the development, deployment, and industrialisation of AI-driven products, solutions, and capabilities. Directly accountable to the CIO with strategic accountability to the General Counsel and Business Unit (BU) leadership via the AI Venture Steerco. The role serves as a global hub with regional delivery nodes to ensure speed and proximity to value whilst ensuring the highest standards of security, ethics, sustainability and regulatory compliance.
Who We’re Looking For
- An innovation-builder mindset with a proven track record of taking AI/digital products from zero-to-one and one-to-scale in global, science-or-manufacturing-led settings.
- Demonstrable leadership experience building, mentoring, and motivating high-performing technical teams.
- Operating experience running a venture/accelerator or product portfolio with stage gates and commercial accountability.
- A builder-leader who attracts talent and establishes robust product and engineering practices.
- Define Croda’s AI strategy and sequence the transformation roadmap across three distinct horizons: Operational Efficiency (Short term), Customer & Revenue Expansion (Mid-term), and Business Reinvention (Long-term).
- Co-Lead the “AI Venture Steerco” (our internal Shark Tank) to govern stage-gated funding tranches and portfolio scorecards that prioritize enterprise value and strategic fit.
- Act as an objective filter to enforce strict “kill rates,” terminating unviable ideas early in the Discovery/Alpha phases to protect enterprise resources.
- Establish core AI platform architectures and embed frameworks for responsible AI and governance aligned to Croda standards and regulations.
- Provide operational “Air Traffic Control” to manage cross-squad dependencies and proactively resolve architectural or resource bottlenecks.
- Drive continuous benefits visibility and realization by tracking metrics from all live AI agents.
- Spearhead enterprise change management through an immersive “Sheep-Dip” rotation program to develop AI innovation champions across the business and pull in
- Business Unit Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) through the AI Venture Steerco to embed high quality AI capabilities across Croda.
- Lead the lifecycle from Discovery (Problem Validation) to Alpha (Proof of Value) using agentic AI, and support Beta (Industrialisation), and Live (Value Realisation).
- Build and deploy cross-functional agile squads directly into the Business Units to run rapid ‘Lean Startup’ type validation sprints.
- Catalyse industrialization by supporting all winning Alpha prototypes' transition via ITIL into Beta, scaling natively and securely within the core IT environment.
At Croda, we believe our people are our difference. We are people-led, driven by the desire to do good and deliver value, a unifying principle shaped by all the great people that have travelled through Croda since our beginning in 1925. We pride ourselves on bringing together diverse teams and talents from across the globe and, guided by our values of Responsible, Innovative, and Together, we are passionate about building an inclusive, collaborative, and diverse organisation with innovation and customer focus underpinning all that we do.
Croda is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.