Group Head of AI & Emerging Technologies

Group Head of AI & Emerging Technologies

London | Hybrid | Up to £130,000 + £8,000 car allowance + up to 30% bonus

Location: London, typically 2 days per week in the office, with some UK and international travel.

A well-known global retail organisation is looking for a Group Head of AI & Emerging Technologies to shape its AI strategy and emerging technology agenda across a highly federated international business.

Reporting to the Group CTO, this is a newly created role combining AI strategy, technical leadership, innovation and hands-on delivery. You'll help the organisation move beyond experimentation, identifying where AI and emerging technologies can deliver genuine commercial and operational value.

The Role

• Own and evolve the Group's AI and Innovation frameworks, including responsible AI, governance and technology standards.
• Work with CIOs, technology teams and senior business leaders to identify and prioritise high-value AI opportunities.
• Lead hands-on PoCs and incubation, taking ideas from concept through to proven value and scale.
• Horizon-scan AI and emerging technologies, assessing their relevance to the Group.
• Identify successful innovation across the organisation and help replicate it across other businesses.
• Build relationships with strategic technology partners including Microsoft, cloud providers, consultancies and emerging technology companies.
• Develop reusable AI blueprints, standards and reference implementations.
• Lead the Group AI Adoption Lead and build a wider AI and innovation community.

About You

We're looking for someone who can operate confidently across technology, AI and business.

You’ll ideally have:

• A strong technical background in architecture, engineering, cloud, data or technology strategy, with significant AI experience.
• Hands-on knowledge of AI/ML, GenAI, agentic AI, cloud and modern data platforms.
• Experience taking AI or emerging technology from PoC through to production and measurable business value.
• Experience operating within a large, complex or federated organisation.
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to engage credibly with both technical teams and C-suite stakeholders.
• Experience with AI governance, responsible AI and technology standards.
• A pragmatic approach to innovation, balancing future technology with immediate business value.

Why Join?

A unique opportunity to build and shape a Group-level AI and Emerging Technology capability within a major international organisation, with the potential to develop an AI Centre of Excellence over time.

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