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VP Applied AI, reporting to the CTO. Reports to the CTO with an applied-research bias: production recommendation, conversational interfaces, and internal copilots that have to clear the firm's compliance bar inside regulated workflows.
A US-listed fintech, around 3,500 staff, around $1.2bn revenue. Profitable. Large authenticated consumer user base. Investing in AI inside the product — recommendation, conversational interfaces, internal copilots for the firm's regulated workflows. Public commitment from the CEO to AI as a 2026 priority.
We name a client on the mandate page only where the firm has approved publication. Where not named, the description above is intended to be enough for a senior candidate to recognise whether their pattern fits the brief.
VP Applied AI, reporting to the CTO. The seat sits between research and engineering — owns the translation of research-grade techniques into shipped product surfaces.
Direct line management of around 35 applied AI engineers and ML scientists, organised in five squads against the firm's main product areas. Will hire two further squad leads in the first 12 months. Dotted line to the Chief Product Officer on roadmap.
The 18-month remit is to ship three flagship AI-native product surfaces against existing user journeys, lift the firm's evaluation discipline (offline and online), and build the infrastructure for fine-tuning and continuous training on the firm's proprietary data.
New York-based, with regular travel to the firm's research office in Toronto and to the West Coast for partner engagements.
Reports to the CTO with an applied-research bias: production recommendation, conversational interfaces, and internal copilots that have to clear the firm's compliance bar inside regulated workflows. The CEO has made AI a 2026 priority, so the work ships into the main authenticated product. The user base on the other side of those models is large, and the CEO's public commitment is the cover for shipping into it.
— Peter Wood, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer
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