Head of AI Innovation and Planning

Role/Team overview

Customer Operations is entering a new era where AI will fundamentally reshape how we serve customers and support advisors. To maximise this opportunity, we need a repeatable approach to identifying, evaluating, maturing and proving new AI capabilities before they become strategic investments.

As Head of AI Innovation and Planning, you will lead AI innovation across Customer Operations, ensuring emerging technologies are translated into practical, evidence-led opportunities that improve customer, advisor and business outcomes. Working closely with Strategy, Product, Technology, Operations and enterprise AI teams, you will build a repeatable innovation capability that keeps Customer Operations at the forefront of AI while reducing delivery risk through structured experimentation.

The role is focused on opportunity shaping, experimentation and early incubation, with scaled delivery and in-life ownership transitioning to the appropriate Product, Technology, Operations or CX / Knowledge teams.

You will lead a small specialist team and play a key role in shaping the future direction of AI across Customer Operations, ensuring innovation activity is aligned to business priorities, matures successfully through experimentation and early operational adoption, and translates into measurable operational value.

What you’ll do 

Strategic AI Innovation

• Define the AI innovation strategy for Customer Operations, aligned to business priorities and long-term service vision.

• Partner with Customer Operations Strategy, Product, Technology, Operations and enterprise AI teams to identify and shape strategic AI opportunities.

• Maintain a forward view of the AI landscape, ensuring Customer Operations remains informed by emerging technologies, competitor activity and industry best practice.

• Build a repeatable innovation capability that enables Customer Operations to consistently identify, evaluate and mature new AI opportunities.

Innovation Pipeline & Prioritisation

• Own the Customer Operations AI innovation pipeline, identifying opportunities that improve customer, advisor and business outcomes.

• Connect AI innovation activity into the Customer Operations planning cycle, LRP and investment prioritisation, ensuring the pipeline is aligned to the future service model and priority business outcomes.

• Develop and maintain a prioritised roadmap of AI experiments, pilots and proof-of-concepts, shaping how successful initiatives mature towards scaled adoption.

• Define what constitutes a successful experiment, ensuring activity is proportionate, evidence-led and focused on reducing uncertainty.

• Balance strategic ambition with operational readiness, commercial viability and organisational capacity to maximise successful adoption.

Experimentation & Operational Readiness

• Oversee the design and execution of AI pilots, POCs and controlled experiments.

• Define hypotheses, success measures and evaluation approaches that generate meaningful business insight.

• Make clear recommendations on whether initiatives should scale, evolve, pause or stop.

• Guide successful initiatives through early operational adoption before transitioning into Product and Technology delivery at scale.

External Partnerships & Market Insight

• Build strategic relationships with AI vendors, technology partners and industry peers.

• Translate market developments, emerging technologies and external best practice into practical opportunities for Customer Operations.

• Influence vendor roadmaps and strategic partnerships to ensure emerging capabilities align with Customer Operations priorities.

• Collaborate with Product, Technology and enterprise AI teams to align innovation activity, share learning and accelerate adoption.

Leadership & Ways of Working

• Lead and develop a high-performing AI Innovation team, creating an environment where curiosity, experimentation and evidence-led decision making thrive.

• Establish common innovation methods, standards and governance across Customer Operations.

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on emerging AI opportunities and investment decisions.

• Foster strong collaboration across Strategy, Product, Technology, Operations and external partners.

What you’ll bring  

Essential criteria:  

• Significant experience leading innovation, strategy, transformation or capability development within a customer, technology or AI-enabled environment.

• Hands-on, proven experience applying AI in a business or operational setting, beyond strategy or research, with evidence of taking ideas through experimentation, adoption and measurable impact.

• Experience of working in the Customer Operations landscape, including service journeys, advisor ways of working, operating model considerations, performance drivers and the practical realities of landing change in a live operational environment.

• Experience translating new technologies into practical, measurable business opportunities.

• Proven experience designing and leading structured experimentation, pilots or innovation programmes.

• Experience guiding emerging capabilities from experimentation through operational adoption and into scaled delivery.

• Strong commercial judgement, with experience shaping investment decisions and business cases.

• Credibility and seniority to represent Customer Operations with senior internal stakeholders, technology partners and external vendors, building strategic relationships and influencing partnership direction.

• Experience leading and developing multidisciplinary teams.

• Comfortable operating in ambiguity, creating clarity through structured thinking, prioritisation and evidence-led decision making.

Benefits and perks 

There's one thing people can't stop talking about when it comes to life at Sky: the perks. Here’s a taster:  

• Free Sky TV or NOW package, including Sky Sports and Sky Cinema

• Pension package with up to 9% employer contribution 

• Private healthcare with mental health support  

• Aviva Digital GP and dental insurance  

• Discounts on Sky products, including Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband, Sky Glass and Sky Protect  

• Sharesave and Tech schemes  

• A range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences 

How you’ll work 

We've adopted a hybrid working approach to give more flexibility on where and how we work. The hybrid working expectations for this role are 3 days in the office per week. 

Your office base  

Osterley

Our Sky Group HQ. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology and workspaces, there’s plenty of space to see your big ideas come to life. Here you’ll find 13 subsidised restaurants and cafes. You can re-energise at our gym, catch the latest films at our cinema, get your car washed and even get pampered at our beauty salon.  

Our Osterley Campus is just a 10-minute walk from Syon Lane train station, or you can get one of our free shuttle buses from Osterley, Gunnersbury and Ealing Broadway stations. Plus, there’s free onsite parking available for cars, motorbikes and bicycles. 

OR

Leeds

Leeds Whitehall is home to our Digital Tech hub and Contact Centre teams. With vibrant office spaces, chill-out areas, a multi-faith room and restaurant, it’s a great place to work and connect. We’re located just a 10-minute walk from the train station and there’s a bus stop directly outside the office.  

OR

Livingston

Sky Watermark is our central site for Livingston, sitting between Glasgow and Edinburgh. With vibrant office spaces, chill-out areas, and an onsite canteen, it’s a great place to work and connect. 

The nearest train station is Livingston North. A Sky shuttle bus runs between the station and campus every 20 minutes throughout the day. Plus, there’s onsite parking available for cars, motorbikes and bicycles.

Who we are 

We’re Sky, a leading media and entertainment company who connect millions with entertainment, sports, news and arts through innovative products and services. Working with us means you’ll be bringing the joy of a better experience to more people, every day. All so we can do better and deliver better for our customers, colleagues and society.

We’re an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We're a Disability Confident Accredited Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates. We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need as early as you can. 

Just so you know: if your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.  

To be eligible for this role you are required to have the appropriate right to work in the UK. Please be aware Sky does not offer sponsorship for this position.

To find out more about working with us, search #LifeAtSky on social media.