AI Innovation Manager - Contract
Location: London / Hybrid
Contract: 6 months
IR35: Outside IR35
Rate: Up to £700 per day
Start: October 2026
Ocho is working with a major global payments organisation that is building a new AI Innovation Lab to identify, prototype and validate high-value AI and automation opportunities across its Enterprise business.
This is not a traditional programme, transformation or engineering leadership role.
The focus is on hands-on innovation, rapid delivery and using the latest AI tools and working methods to shorten the product-development lifecycle.
The successful candidate will work directly with business teams to identify problems and opportunities, quickly determine the best technical approach, and help turn those ideas into working prototypes and proofs of value.
The Role
You will sit at the intersection of consulting, AI innovation and rapid product delivery.
The role is highly autonomous and suited to someone who is comfortable moving quickly from an ambiguous business problem to a practical prototype.
You will work closely with Commercial and Operations teams to understand where AI, automation or other emerging technologies can create value, then work alongside a hands-on AI Specialist to rapidly test those ideas.
The emphasis is on speed, experimentation and evidence, rather than large-scale programme management or lengthy transformation activity.
The goal is to prove whether an idea works before handing successful concepts into Product and Engineering teams for formal productionisation.
Key Responsibilities
Work directly with business stakeholders to identify high-value AI and automation opportunities
Translate business pain points into practical technology solutions
Rapidly assess whether the right answer is:
Generative AI
Agentic AI
Machine learning
Workflow automation
APIs
Existing enterprise tooling
Or a simpler non-AI solution
Help define and build rapid proofs of concept and proofs of value
Work closely with the AI Innovation Specialist to turn ideas into working prototypes
Use modern AI-assisted development approaches to accelerate delivery
Test prototypes quickly with real users and incorporate feedback
Define success criteria and measure whether pilots are delivering value
Recommend when an idea should progress, change direction or stop
Explore new AI tools, platforms and technologies and assess where they could add value
Hand successful pilots into Product and Engineering teams for formal delivery
What We're Looking For
The ideal candidate will come from a strong technology consulting background and still be close to hands-on delivery.
We are particularly interested in candidates from recognised consulting environments such as:
Deloitte
McKinsey
Bain
Oliver Wyman
Accenture
Capgemini
IBM Consulting
Similar Tier 1 / Tier 2 technology or strategy consulting firms
This person does not need extensive ExCo or board-level leadership experience.
The preference is for someone who is still close to the technology, current tools and modern delivery methods, rather than someone whose recent career has focused primarily on programme leadership, transformation governance or large-scale management.
Essential Experience
Experience in technology, digital or AI consulting
Strong understanding of how AI can be applied to business problems
Hands-on experience with modern AI tools, prototypes or AI-enabled workflows
Ability to move quickly from idea to proof of concept
Strong problem-solving and structured consulting skills
Comfortable working in ambiguous environments
Able to engage confidently with business stakeholders without being overly senior or removed from delivery
Good understanding of modern software / product delivery approaches
Strong commercial awareness and ability to identify where technology can create measurable value
Ability to assess different technical approaches rather than defaulting to LLMs for every use case
Technology Environment
Direct experience with every tool is not required, but exposure to similar technologies is highly relevant.
The current environment includes:
Salesforce Agentforce
AWS Bedrock
Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Suite
Databricks
Snowflake
Cursor
Modern LLM-based tooling and AI-assisted development environments
Experience with comparable platforms and the ability to quickly learn new tools will be valued.
Ideal Candidate Profile
A strong candidate is likely to be someone who has:
5-10+ years in technology, product, data or AI consulting
Worked directly with clients or business teams to solve ambiguous problems
Built or helped build AI-enabled products, workflows or prototypes
Current knowledge of LLMs, agentic AI and AI-assisted development
Experience working in short delivery cycles
Strong technical fluency without necessarily being a career software engineer
Enough technical depth to work closely with engineers and specialists
A pragmatic mindset around build vs buy vs automate vs simplify
What This Role Is Not
This is not primarily a:
Programme Manager role
Transformation Director role
PMO role
Enterprise architecture role
Traditional engineering manager role
Strategy-only AI role
The strongest candidates will still be close to delivery and experimentation.
What Success Looks Like
Over six months, success will be measured through:
A strong pipeline of viable AI and automation opportunities
Multiple prototypes and proofs of value delivered quickly
Successful pilots progressing into formal production delivery
Weak ideas being stopped early based on evidence
Practical recommendations on new AI tools and technologies
Faster movement from business problem to testable solution