Director, AI Innovation

What You'll Do:

We're looking for a Director of AI Innovation to lead how Principal identifies, experiments with, and scales AI to drive business value. This role sits at the center of our enterprise AI strategy, partnering across business, technology, and external ecosystems (including venture capital networks, frontier labs, and emerging startups) to bring emerging AI capabilities into real-world application.

You’ll shape our AI innovation agenda, lead experimentation through our AI Innovation Lab, and help translate high-potential ideas into scalable solutions that enhance customer experience, improve operations, and accelerate growth.You'll have the opportunity to ----------------------------------

* Lead enterprise AI innovation strategy & vision + Define and evolve the AI Innovation strategy aligned with business and customer outcomes and long-term transformation priorities + Work with business leaders to identify high-impact opportunities where AI can drive growth, efficiency, risk management, and differentiation by partnering with business stakeholders + Own and manage a multi-horizon AI innovation roadmap and portfolio * Oversee AI experimentation, prototyping & enablement + Drive outcomes through the AI Innovation Lab, aligning our globally distributed team to execute experiments and scale solutions across the enterprise + Establish frameworks for rapid prototyping, model evaluation, and vendor/tool assessments * Manage external AI innovation ecosystem relationships + Represent Principal as the AI Innovation ambassador, build and maintain partnerships with startups, VC firms, big tech, and research institutions + Create structured processes for sourcing, evaluating, and onboarding external AI solutions + Develop a pipeline of high-quality AI opportunities, ranging from emerging technologies to commercially ready AI platforms, aligned with Principal’s strategic needs * Monitor emerging AI technologies & market shifts + Tr