What You'll DoWe'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
- Track advancements in AI (e.g., foundation models, automation, multimodal systems) and competitive trends
- Synthesize insights into recommendations advising enterprise strategy, investment decisions, and AI portfolio priorities
Who You Are
- Bachelor’s degree
- 10+ years of relevant innovation experience, including AI and emerging technologies
- Strong understanding of generative AI and ML concepts, data-driven products, and technology trends
- Strong strategic thinking, analytical, problem solving skills; comfortable operating in ambiguity
- Experience building partnerships across internal teams and external ecosystems (VCs, startups, research groups)
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders and communicate complex AI concepts to non-technical audiences
- Demonstrable ability to build relationships and navigate complex organizations
- Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and change management skills
- Travel up to ~20%, including quarterly or more frequently
Skills That Will Help You Stand Out
- Experience leading AI or digital innovation initiatives at scale
- Background working with startups, venture ecosystems, or emerging tech partnerships
- Advanced degree (MBA or technical field)
- Financial services or regulated industry experience
Salary Range InformationSalary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.
Salary Range$160000 - $210000 / year
Time Off ProgramFlexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don’t accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.
Pension EligibleYes
Additional Information
Work Environments
This role offers in-office, hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek), and remote work arrangements (only if residing more than 30 miles from Des Moines, IA, or Charlotte, NC). You’ll work with your leader to figure out which option may align best based on several factors.
