Director of Product Innovation

About the role

CLA is a top 10 national professional services firm dedicated to creating opportunities for clients, employees, and communities through various services including wealth advisory, digital, audit, tax, consulting, and outsourcing.

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.
• 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.