Global Director of Innovation & Artificial Intelligence
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:
- 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.
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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.
- A commercially savvy storyteller who can influence senior stakeholders and energise cross-functional teams.
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Technical Fluency: Full-stack AI fluency across modern AI (agentic systems, NLP/ML), data architecture, and cloud environments.
What You’ll Be Doing:
- 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).
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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.
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Act as an objective filter to enforce strict “kill rates,” terminating unviable ideas early in the Discovery/Alpha phases to protect enterprise resources.
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Establish core AI platform architectures and embed frameworks for responsible AI and governance aligned to Croda standards and regulations.
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Provide operational “Air Traffic Control” to manage cross-squad dependencies and proactively resolve architectural or resource bottlenecks.
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Drive continuous benefits visibility and realization by tracking metrics from all live AI agents.
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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.
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Lead the lifecycle from Discovery (Problem Validation) to Alpha (Proof of Value) using agentic AI, and support Beta (Industrialisation), and Live (Value Realisation).
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Build and deploy cross-functional agile squads directly into the Business Units to run rapid ‘Lean Startup’ type validation sprints.
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Catalyse industrialization by supporting all winning Alpha prototypes' transition via ITIL into Beta, scaling natively and securely within the core IT environment.
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Partner with BU Presidents and functional leaders (R&T, Marketing, Operations) to build business cases, provide SMEs, and lead P&L-improving AI initiatives.
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Lead a lean core team (data science, AI engineering, architecture, UX/UI, full-stack) and embed modern product practices with clear value measures.
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Build a partner ecosystem (academia, AI start-ups, hyperscalers, key customers) to co-develop high-impact AI solutions.
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Oversee the ring-fenced Discovery/Alpha budget and support the shift to standard IT CapEx/OpEx for Beta/Live.
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Ensure all AI solutions are developed and deployed securely, ethically, and in compliance with global regulatory requirements.
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Represent Croda at industry events and act as a senior thought leader for AI within the organisation and sector.
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Evaluate emerging technologies and trends to inform strategic decision-making and maintain Croda’s competitive edge.
Why Croda?
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.
