AI & Innovation Lead – Legal

London based – Hybrid

£100,000 – £120,000 base + bonus

We’re supporting a professional services/Legal organisation looking for an AI & Innovation Lead to turn emerging technology into practical improvements for its people and clients.

This is an opportunity to shape the innovation agenda, develop new products and services, and take promising ideas through to everyday use. You’ll combine product thinking, commercial judgement and hands-on experimentation, working with senior stakeholders to identify where AI can make a meaningful difference.

You’ll also lead a multidisciplinary team, bringing clarity to new opportunities and helping colleagues move from initial exploration to delivery and adoption.

The opportunity

Your remit will cover internal operations, specialist workflows and client services. You’ll build a balanced portfolio of initiatives, delivering immediate improvements while developing capabilities that support longer-term growth.

The role will suit someone who enjoys working through ambiguity, asking the right questions and bringing people together around a clear problem. Success will be measured by the value delivered and how effectively new solutions become part of the way people work.

What you’ll be doing

Setting priorities and shaping the portfolio

• Identify opportunities where AI, automation or new approaches could improve productivity, service quality or client outcomes.
• Assess proposals against user needs, commercial value, technical feasibility and readiness for adoption.
• Establish clear priorities, balancing near-term delivery with longer-term exploration.
• Build support for responsible experimentation across the organisation.

Taking ideas from discovery to delivery

• Work with specialist teams and business stakeholders to understand problems and challenge assumptions.
• Guide the development of concepts, prototypes and minimum viable products.
• Set clear objectives for trials, gather feedback and decide which ideas warrant further investment.
• Develop practical plans for moving successful experiments into supported services.

Embedding AI into everyday work

• Identify how AI capabilities can fit into existing processes, systems and information resources.
• Partner with technical colleagues to ensure solutions meet security, architecture and operational requirements.
• Include appropriate oversight and human review within AI-enabled processes.
• Support changes in user behaviour so that new tools deliver sustained benefits.

Developing services and client propositions

• Explore how technology can improve the way services are designed, delivered and scaled.
• Help teams develop new propositions and strengthen existing offerings.
• Connect innovation activity to improvements in client experience, delivery efficiency and organisational capability.

Assessing technology and partnerships

• Keep informed about relevant developments in AI, automation and enterprise technology.
• Evaluate suppliers, platforms and potential partners through focused trials.
• Recommend when to develop internally, purchase a solution or collaborate externally.
• Make clear recommendations when an initiative should change direction or stop.

Leading people and demonstrating value

• Lead and develop colleagues across product, innovation and implementation disciplines.
• Encourage curiosity, ownership and a practical approach to delivery.
• Build effective relationships between business and technical teams.
• Track adoption, productivity, quality, risk and client outcomes.
• Give senior stakeholders clear evidence to support investment decisions.

What you’ll bring

• Experience leading product or innovation initiatives from early discovery through to implementation and wider adoption.
• The ability to build credibility with senior leaders, technical specialists and business users.
• Strong commercial judgement, including experience assessing value, weighing trade-offs and prioritising investment.
• A track record of leading multidisciplinary teams and providing direction when requirements are still emerging.
• A practical understanding of AI applications, workflow automation and the challenges of introducing them into an enterprise environment.
• Clear communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas and build agreement around a proposed approach.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the confidence to make decisions with incomplete information.
• A focus on measurable improvements, user adoption and sustainable delivery.
• An understanding of the care required when introducing technology into regulated or knowledge-intensive environments.

Experience that would be useful

• A background in professional services, consulting, financial services or another regulated sector.
• Experience evaluating technology suppliers, working with start-ups or managing external partnerships.
• Involvement in change management, service design or the development of new client offerings.
• Familiarity with enterprise AI platforms, low-code tools or workflow automation, including Microsoft Power Platform.
• Experience integrating new capabilities into established systems and processes.
• An understanding of how to balance experimentation with security, reliability and professional obligations.

If you enjoy turning emerging technology into useful products, better services and lasting changes in how people work, we’d welcome a conversation.