Delivery Lead - AI and Innovation
- London, United Kingdom
Posted 4 days ago
About the role
Who we're looking for
We're looking for an AI Delivery Lead to turn high-value Applied AI opportunities into real, measurable outcomes across Schroders. This is a chance to shape how AI agents take their place alongside our people: moving from promising experiments to capabilities that colleagues across the firm depend on every day.
You'll own delivery end to end: bringing structure to fast-moving, ambiguous work, aligning multidisciplinary teams, managing risk and dependencies, and holding a firm line on the value we set out to create. It calls for strong facilitation, stakeholder management and prioritisation skills, and the judgement to apply just enough process to keep pace without losing control.
AI is a firm-wide priority at Schroders, with senior sponsorship, serious investment and real appetite to move. If that's the kind of environment you want to deliver in, we'd love to hear from you.
About Us
Schroders is a global investment manager which provides active asset management, wealth management and investment solutions. We aim to provide excellent investment performance to clients through active management. We serve a diverse client base that includes pension schemes, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, high net worth individuals, family offices, as well as end clients through partnerships with distributors, financial advisers, and online platforms.
Established in 1804, we have around 5,500 people across 36 global locations. Schroders' success can be attributed to its diversified business model, spanning different asset classes, client types and geographies.
The team
The AI and Innovation team is Schroders' centre of excellence for AI. We build the enterprise AI services and agentic platform that let AI agents deliver value at scale, and we partner with teams right across the firm to take their highest-value use cases from first idea into production.
This is a high-priority, high-visibility area using genuinely new technology, and we move quickly against competing demands. You'd join a small team of people who care about software in a financial context and are set on keeping Schroders ahead of the curve.
What you'll do
Lead end-to-end delivery of Applied AI use cases across Schroders, from discovery and shaping through to production adoption and benefit realisation.
Turn agreed business intent into credible delivery plans, working with sponsors and teams to sequence the work, set milestones, expose dependencies and agree decision points. Get dependent work onto the backlogs and roadmaps of other teams early enough to matter.
Coordinate multidisciplinary teams across product, engineering, architecture, data, security, risk, operations and business areas, ensuring delivery remains aligned to agreed outcomes.
Remove blockers for the team, actively manage risks and issues, and escalate clearly where decisions, trade-offs or support are needed.
Steer use cases through relevant governance, keeping approvals moving and proving a solution is ready before it reaches production.
Use data, feedback and delivery metrics to communicate progress, evidence value, identify friction, and adapt plans where assumptions are not holding.
Facilitate challenging discussions, create shared understanding between technical and non-technical stakeholders, and make sure decisions are understood even where agreement is not possible.
Drive continuous improvement in execution, using metrics, retrospectives and feedback to improve delivery flow, team performance, knowledge sharing and self-organisation.
The knowledge, experience and qualifications you need
Proven experience leading end-to-end delivery of complex technology, digital, data or AI-enabled initiatives in a multidisciplinary environment.
Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to build trust, manage competing priorities, negotiate trade-offs, and challenge assumptions constructively.
Experience owning delivery plans and managing risks, issues, dependencies, governance and reporting in a way that supports pace without losing control.
Strong communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to align business, technical and control stakeholders around shared purpose, practical plans and clear decisions.
Practical knowledge of Agile, Lean or related delivery approaches, with the judgement to adapt practices to different types of work rather than applying process mechanically.
Experience using evidence, metrics, feedback and retrospectives to improve delivery flow, adoption, value realisation and team performance.
Hands-on use of AI tools in your own work, with genuine curiosity about what they can and can't do and the instinct to test the claims rather than take them at face value.
A track record of advocating for AI, bringing colleagues with you and helping teams get real value from the tools available to them.
The knowledge, experience and qualifications that will help
Experience delivering applied AI, automation, data, analytics or workflow transformation use cases in a regulated enterprise environment.
Familiarity with responsible AI delivery considerations, including evaluation, human oversight, model limitations, data access, security, privacy, auditability and operational readiness.
Experience working across several business domains at once, balancing competing demand while keeping teams focused on the highest-value outcomes.
Experience leading change and adoption activities, helping business teams prepare for new ways of working and measuring whether the intended impact has been achieved.
Experience working with enterprise controls such as identity, access management, data classification, retention, approvals, operational risk, service management or third-party governance.
Experience coaching teams or colleagues in delivery practices, stakeholder engagement, work management, facilitation, governance or continuous improvement.
An understanding of modern AI delivery patterns, including LLM-enabled workflows, agentic systems, tool integration, evaluation approaches, and the practical risks of moving from prototype to production.
Experience leading teams where engineers work with AI-assisted development tools, and an appreciation of how that changes planning, estimation, review and quality control.
Active contribution to delivery communities, shared standards, reusable patterns, mentoring, continuous learning and knowledge sharing.
What you'll be like
A delivery leader who creates clarity in ambiguity, keeps teams focused on outcomes, and brings enough structure to move at pace without creating unnecessary process.
Confident working across business, technology and control teams, with the judgement to listen well, challenge constructively, and make progress where priorities compete.
A skilled facilitator who can bring different viewpoints together, surface trade-offs, and catalyse groups towards clear decisions and ownership.
Resilient and calm under pressure, able to support teams through uncertainty, change and difficult decisions.
Open to feedback, generous with knowledge, and committed to improving how the team delivers, learns and shares practice.
Demonstrates integrity, fairness, and respect for all colleagues.
We Recognise Potential, Whoever You Are
Our purpose is to deliver excellent investment performance to clients through active management. We believe diverse perspectives and an inclusive culture help us make better decisions and achieve better outcomes for our clients. That's why inclusion is a strategic priority for us, and we are an equal opportunities employer. You are welcome here, regardless of your age, disability, gender identity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, or any other protected characteristic.
We will consider flexible working arrangements for all roles and provide reasonable accommodations to support applicants and employees, including those with neurodiversity, disability, or physical and mental health needs. For more information, please visit our FAQs.