AI Transformation Lead

Contract type: Permanent

Location: Hatfield (Hybrid working - 3 days in the office)

Working hours per week: 40 hours

Level: Lead

Application closing date: 25th June 2025

About us

Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service, and reassuringly good value. We are Ocado Retail, a market-leading joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S and the world's largest dedicated online supermarket ocado.com.

About the team and the role

We are seeking a visionary and results-driven AI Transformation Lead to accelerate our journey towards becoming an AI-first organisation. You will be pivotal in shaping our AI strategy, driving the adoption of cutting-edge AI solutions, and fundamentally reshaping our workflows and effectiveness as an organisation. This role requires a dynamic leader, reporting directly to the CFO and working with the wider leadership team, who can act as both a strategic architect and a hands-on change agent for AI integration and adoption across Ocado Retail.

What you’ll do

• Strategic Roadmap: Develop and execute a comprehensive AI transformation roadmap, aligning AI initiatives with key business priorities and strategic goals.
• Project Leadership: Lead the full lifecycle of AI projects, from concept development and business case creation to design, implementation, and value realization.
• Opportunity Identification: Proactively identify and prioritize high-impact AI integration opportunities across all functions.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner closely with marketing, commercial, operations, finance and other business functions with data and technology, as well as external AI vendors, to drive successful AI initiatives.
• Change Management & Adoption: Champion AI literacy and cultural change, fostering an 'AI-first' mindset and ensuring widespread adoption of new AI tools and processes.
• Governance & Ethics: Oversee AI initiatives to ensure compliance with legal, ethical, and operational requirements across relevant geographies (e.g., UK, EU, US).
• Broader Leadership & Mentorship: Domain and project leadership across the organisation, supported by colleagues in other functions.
• Reporting: Report on AI transformation progress, business impact, and strategic insights to senior leadership and the Board.

Who you are

You are a strategic thinker with a data-driven, proactive approach to problem-solving, passionate about leveraging AI for profitable growth and innovation. You have a proven track record leading large-scale AI/ML or technology adoption projects, ideally in transformation, agile leadership, and project management roles. Experience in a consultancy background is highly desirable. You possess exceptional communication and consensus-building abilities, capable of influencing across all levels of an organization. You have a bias for action, a nose for inefficiency, and thrive as a connector between teams, tools, and transformation. You will be a natural champion of our values: Always Be Curious, Bring your Best Selves and Challenge What’s Possible.

Strategic and Business-first mindset: Ability to identify business opportunities and ability to translate complex AI topics and technical concepts into tangible business impact and value.

AI Technical Acumen: Strong understanding of AI technologies, including LLMs, prompt engineering, and automation tools, with hands-on experience assessing and selecting third-party AI tools and platforms.

Strong Communicator: Ability to engage and excite colleagues at all levels in driving and owning change within their areas.

Change Management Expertise: Expert-level skills in change management, driving organizational buy-in, and successfully implementing new technologies.

Project & Program Management: Proven skills in managing complex projects and programs from initiation to completion.

Compliance Knowledge: Familiarity with AI governance, data privacy, and regulatory compliance in a multi-geography environment.

Education and experience: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, and professional services background preferred.

What’s in it for you

By joining Ocado Retail you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day, and grow your skills and career in online retail. If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal.

• Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with the option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market-leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance, and more.
• Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast every day in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.
• Never miss the moments that matter: Blended/Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy an extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere, and lifestyle break opportunities.

Our Hiring Process

Lucky for us, we get loads of great applications and we really appreciate that so many people put the time and effort in to apply. To recognise that, we treat all applications respectfully and fairly. So, if yours stands out, you’ll follow our standard hiring process - one of our Talent Partners will talk you through this in an initial call.

Everyone’s welcome

We’re an equal opportunities employer. That means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. If you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.