Head of AI Labs

We use our expertise and products to craft customer experiences. Our range of services helps global brand acquire, engage and retain choice-rich customers.

© 2023 Collinson International Limited. Registered in England & Wales under registration No. 2577557
Registered address : 3 More London Riverside, London, SE1 2AQ, United Kingdom.

Collinson

Collinson is the global, privately-owned company dedicated to helping the world to travel with ease and confidence.

We use our expertise and products to craft customer experiences which enable some of the world’s best known brands to acquire, engage and retain the most demanding and choice-rich customers. In particular, our unique expertise and insight into high earning, frequent travellers allows us to create products and solutions for our clients that inspire greater customer engagement to drive more profitable relationships, enrich their travel experiences, protect what matters and assist in in times of need.

While specialising in Financial Services, Travel and Retail, we also support clients in multiple sectors.

We have worked with over 90 airlines, 20 hotel groups and more than 600 financial institutions and banks, with clients including Accor Hotels, Air France KLM, American Express, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Diners Club, Mandarin Oriental, Mastercard, Radisson Hotel Group, Sephora, Visa and Vhi.

We take our 30 years’ experience working with these kinds of household names in over 170 countries, and help our clients to deliver the smarter experiences it takes to differentiate their propositions, and help them win deeper devotion with their customers.

Collinson is a privately-owned entrepreneurial business with 2,000 passionate people working in 20 locations worldwide. Our solutions include Priority Pass, the world’s best known airport experiences programme, while we are also the trusted partner behind many of the leading financial services, airline and hotel brand’s reward programmes and loyalty initiatives.

Purpose of the job

The Head of AI Labs is a senior leadership position responsible for operationalizing and advancing the organization’s AI strategy by managing a cutting-edge AI lab. This role focuses on creating high-value AI solutions, driving innovation, and delivering measurable business outcomes. You will act as the bridge between strategy and execution, ensuring that the lab becomes the nucleus for enterprise-wide AI innovation while directly impacting revenue growth, customer engagement, and operational efficiency.

By managing a portfolio of AI initiatives, you will collaborate with senior stakeholders across business units, translating high-level strategies into deployable AI systems. This role demands deep technical expertise, strong leadership skills, and the ability to deliver solutions that enhance the organization’s competitive edge in the market.

The ideal candidate is a visionary leader who understands both the technical and business aspects of AI. You’ll partner with teams across the company to develop strategies, implement solutions, and deliver results that drive growth and set us apart in the travel industry.

Key Responsibilities

· Establish and lead a world-class AI lab, fostering an environment of innovation,

experimentation, and rapid prototyping.

· Drive the end-to-end lifecycle of AI projects, from problem definition and proof of concept to deployment and scaling of production-grade solutions.

· Partner with the senior leaders leading the strategy of platform, product and AI to refine and execute the organizational AI strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals.

· Collaborate with senior stakeholders to identify high-impact use cases for AI and prioritize initiatives that deliver significant business value.

· Deliver advanced AI solutions that address challenges such as customer personalization, operational automation, predictive insights, and fraud detection.

· Manage and mentor a team of AI engineers and researchers, developing their technical

expertise and aligning their efforts with business objectives.

· Oversee the integration of AI models into existing systems and workflows, ensuring

robustness, scalability, and performance optimization.

· Champion the ethical use of AI technologies and adherence to data privacy and governance best practices.

· Stay ahead of emerging AI trends and technologies, introducing innovations that strengthen the organization’s market position.

Impact Areas

· Drive revenue growth by implementing AI-driven products and solutions that enhance

customer acquisition and retention.

· Optimize operational efficiency through advanced AI models for process automation, cost reduction, and decision-making support.

· Enhance customer experiences by developing personalized, real-time services powered by predictive analytics.

Knowledge, skills, and experience required

• Demonstrated ability to drive AI innovation across an organisation, balancing technical depth with business strategy to create impact at scale.
• Expertise in weaving together business needs, product innovation, technical capabilities, and data-driven insights to deliver transformative solutions.
• Experience leading cross-functional AI initiatives that break silos and create efficiencies across business units, processes, and customer touchpoints.
• A strong focus on experimentation, deploying “good enough” models quickly to solve real-world problems, and iterating based on feedback and results.
• Ability to inspire and guide teams towards a unified vision of using AI to drive innovation and efficiency.
• Proven skill in influencing and aligning senior stakeholders across business, technology, and product domains.
• Experience in creating and nurturing multidisciplinary teams, fostering a culture of agility, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Strong understanding of AI/ML, automation, and emerging technologies, with an emphasis on their practical application rather than theoretical perfection.
• Familiarity with data engineering, analytics, and governance frameworks to ensure the effective use of organisational data assets.
• Expertise in leveraging modern technology stacks, cloud platforms, and scalable architectures to deploy enterprise-grade solutions.
• Ability to approach challenges with creativity and agility, focusing on delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Experience prioritising initiatives based on value creation, ensuring that AI solutions are aligned with organisational goals.
• A track record of delivering efficiencies, optimising workflows, and enhancing customer experiences through AI-driven approaches.
• Hands-on experience in leading AI initiatives that extend beyond data science, encompassing process improvement, product innovation, and strategic execution.
• Experience in managing large-scale AI projects, from ideation to deployment, with a focus on speed-to-market and iterative improvements.
• Strong business acumen, with the ability to connect AI applications to tangible financial and operational benefits.
• Experience in industries where agility, customer experience, and process efficiency are paramount, such as travel, retail, or technology (preferred).
• Familiarity with methodologies such as design thinking, agile development, and fail-fast approaches to innovation (preferred).

Person Specification

- Self-motivator with a desire to learn new skills and embrace new technologies in a constantly changing technology landscape

- Ability to thrive in a fast moving environment

- Ability to show initiative, innovation and work independently when required

- Ability to work at pace and tackle project challenges in a collegiate, collaborative way

- Goal and outcome orientated

- Thoroughness and attention to detail

- Good communication skills (ability to present, inform and guide others)

- Ability to bridge communications between technical and business focussed groups

- Comfortable working with people at all levels in an organisation

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work. Our company values are: Act smarter, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.

In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example - she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

If you need any extra support throughout the interview process, then please email us at