Director of Product Innovation

About the role

The Director of Product Innovation will impact partners directly with the Managing Director of Product to accelerate the effectiveness, scalability, and measurable performance of CLA’s product and service portfolio across internal digital transformation initiatives and the external Digital Service Line.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate cross-portfolio product and service initiatives to identify opportunities for improved differentiation, scalability, and economic impact.
• Apply first-principles thinking to challenge legacy assumptions and redesign workflows where necessary.
• Identify modernization opportunities that strengthen platform coherence and long-term scalability.
• Support enhancement of both internal practitioner platforms and external Digital Service Line offerings.
• Personally lead high-impact experiments and modernization pilots.
• Define measurable outcome criteria and decision thresholds prior to scaling innovation efforts.
• Partner directly with Product Managers, Engineers, Architects, and Data teams to execute pilots.
• Produce executive-ready analyses outlining tradeoffs, risks, economic implications, and measurable results.
• Recommend scale, iterate, or sunset decisions based on validated outcomes.
• Ensure experimentation efforts result in observable improvements across product performance, client value, or operational effectiveness.
• Identify systemic improvement opportunities across the product development lifecycle.
• Evaluate automation, intelligent tooling, and AI capabilities that enhance workforce productivity and quality across analysts, designers, developers, and QA professionals.
• Monitor product and delivery metrics to detect portfolio-level improvement opportunities.
• Reinforce alignment between Product, Engineering, Architecture, and Support to reduce operational friction and rework.
• Leverage strategic platforms and modernization initiatives for alignment to measurable outcomes and platform-first principles.
• Ensure technology investments strengthen product capability and firm economics.
• Guide responsible integration of automation and AI across both internal and client-facing product offerings.
• Prioritize client value and product outcomes over technology novelty.

Requirements

• 10 years of relevant experience is required.
• 6–10 years of experience across Product Management, Engineering, Architecture, Product Operations, Digital Transformation, or related technology leadership roles preferred.
• Demonstrated experience improving product or platform effectiveness at scale.
• Experience influencing cross-functional stakeholders at senior levels without direct authority.
• Exposure to modernization initiatives, automation strategies, or AI-enabled workflows.
• Proven ability to combine structured thinking with hands-on execution.
• Demonstrated comfort operating in environments that require both strategic thinking and tactical participation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree is required. Combination of relevant experience, education, and training may be accepted in lieu of degree.
• Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field is preferred.