Head of Innovation, Insurance & Investments

Job Summary

The Head of Innovation leads the organization's innovation strategy, emerging-technology agenda, experimentation, and development of new products, services, business models, and operating approaches.

Within Insurance & Investments, the role identifies opportunities to use AI, automation, InsurTech, FinTech, data, digital platforms, and emerging technologies to improve customer experience, underwriting, claims, investment management, distribution, operational efficiency, and revenue growth.

The role acts as a bridge between business strategy, technology, digital transformation, product development, and external innovation ecosystems.

Key Responsibilities

Innovation Strategy

Develop and execute the enterprise innovation strategy and roadmap.

Establish innovation priorities aligned with corporate and business-unit objectives.

Identify emerging market, technology, customer, and business-model trends.

Build an innovation pipeline covering short-, medium-, and long-term opportunities.

Establish innovation governance, frameworks, KPIs, and investment criteria.

Develop business cases and ROI models for innovation initiatives.

Product & Business Model Innovation

Identify opportunities for new insurance and investment products.

Develop and test new digital products, services, and customer propositions.

Explore alternative distribution and revenue models.

Lead proof-of-concepts, pilots, MVPs, and commercialization programs.

Conduct market and competitor analysis.

Use customer insights to identify unmet needs and new opportunities.

Insurance Innovation

Focus areas may include:

AI-enabled underwriting

Automated claims processing

Digital claims journeys

Predictive risk assessment

Telematics and usage-based insurance

Embedded insurance

Digital distribution

InsurTech partnerships

Fraud detection

Automated customer service

Personalized insurance products

IoT-enabled risk monitoring

Investment & Wealth Innovation

Explore AI/analytics-enabled investment solutions.

Identify opportunities in digital wealth management.

Develop new investor engagement and self-service models.

Explore robo-advisory and personalized investment experiences.

Improve portfolio analytics and investor reporting.

Evaluate emerging investment technologies and fintech platforms.

Identify opportunities for alternative investment products and distribution models.

Emerging Technology

Evaluate and develop use cases involving:

Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI

Machine Learning

Automation / RPA

Blockchain / Distributed Ledger Technology

Cloud Computing

APIs

IoT

Advanced Analytics

Low-code / No-code

Digital Identity

Open Banking / Open Finance

FinTech / InsurTech platforms

Innovation Labs & Experimentation

Establish innovation labs, accelerators, or internal innovation programs.

Lead ideation workshops and design-thinking initiatives.

Develop prototypes and MVPs.

Test new technologies in controlled environments.

Establish criteria for scaling successful pilots.

Stop or redesign initiatives that do not demonstrate sufficient business value.

External Ecosystem & Partnerships

Build relationships with FinTechs, InsurTechs, startups, universities, technology providers, venture ecosystems, and research organizations.

Identify strategic partnerships and investment opportunities.

Evaluate startup technologies and potential strategic fit.

Manage innovation challenges, hackathons, accelerators, and partnerships.

Represent the organization at innovation and industry forums.

Data, AI & Digital Transformation

Partner with Data & Analytics teams on AI and advanced analytics opportunities.

Work with Digital and Technology leadership to scale successful innovations.

Identify automation opportunities across operations.

Promote data-driven experimentation and decision-making.

Ensure innovation initiatives complement the broader digital and technology roadmap.

Governance, Risk & Regulation

Ensure innovation initiatives comply with financial-services regulations.

Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Information Security, and Data Privacy teams.

Establish responsible AI and technology governance.

Assess cybersecurity, privacy, operational, financial, and regulatory risks.

Establish appropriate controls for experimentation and production deployment.

Leadership & Commercialization

Build and lead innovation teams and cross-functional squads.

Manage innovation budgets and investment portfolios.

Establish innovation KPIs and executive reporting.

Track revenue, cost savings, customer impact, adoption, and ROI.

Develop commercialization plans for successful innovations.

Present innovation opportunities and results to executive leadership and the Board.

Ideal Candidate Profile

12-18+ years of experience across innovation, strategy, digital transformation, product, technology, consulting, or financial services.

5+ years in senior leadership roles.

Proven experience building and executing innovation strategies.

Strong understanding of emerging technologies and their commercial applications.

Experience with FinTech, InsurTech, AI, automation, digital products, analytics, or platform businesses.

Strong product-development and business-model innovation experience.

Experience taking concepts from ideation PoC MVP pilot commercialization.

Strong understanding of financial-services business models.

Experience working with startups, technology vendors, accelerators, or innovation ecosystems.

Excellent strategic thinking, commercial judgment, stakeholder management, and communication skills.

Bachelor's degree in Business, Technology, Engineering, Computer Science, Finance, or related field; MBA/master's preferred.

Originally posted on Himalayas