AI Transformation Director in London

About Riplo

Riplo is a VC-backed, AI-native advisory and technology firm serving private equity across the deal lifecycle. We combine deep diligence expertise, forward-deployed AI teams and our own AI platform to give PE funds and their portfolio companies sharper answers and working AI, faster. We are growing quickly, winning work with leading funds and expanding the team, and this hire is a key part of that next phase.

Advisory: thematic research, commercial due diligence (CDD), AI due diligence, AI value creation, AI build solutions and exit readiness.

Solutions: forward-deployed AI teams that turn AI value creation plans into working software and measured value inside portfolio companies.

Software: building the operating layer for consulting.

Clients: mid-market and large-cap PE funds and their portfolio companies across the UK, Europe and the US.

Operating model: flat and AI-leveraged. Senior people work directly on the programme, supported by AI rather than layers of juniors.

Team: a blend of DD consultants, PE portfolio operators, AI advisors and AI engineers, with advisory and engineering working side by side.

Our team and culture

AI is rewriting the rules of consulting and of how portfolio companies operate. Most advisory firms are waiting to see what happens. We decided to be the ones making it happen. We are a small, senior team that moves fast, sets a high bar and genuinely enjoys building Riplo together. Every person here shapes what Riplo becomes. We build side by side in the office 4–5 days a week, because the best ideas come from being in the room together. If you want to sit at the table with us, roll up your sleeves and build something that matters, we want to meet you.

This is not a typical transformation role. You will be a key hire working side by side with our Founding Head of Solutions, leading embedded AI transformation programmes inside PE-backed portfolio companies, standing up and running their AI Transformation Office, and helping build Riplo's Solutions practice from the ground up.

You will own the programme from week 1: governance, roadmap, use-case selection and the path from first build to measured value. Most programmes start with a list of 100+ ideas; your job is to turn that into 5 to 6 quantified use cases with named owners, get the first live within 6 weeks, evidence value against a baseline, and hand over a running office to a permanent owner.

You will have the autonomy of a founder, the exposure of a partner, and the tools of an AI-native firm. Your work will show up directly in portfolio company P&Ls, in fund value creation plans, in our product and in how Riplo grows.

What you'll do

• Lead AI transformation programmes
• Stand up the client's AI Transformation Office: decision rights, delivery process, monthly AI SteerCo and executive sponsorship.
• Build and own the AI roadmap for the next 6+ months, sequenced with the client's data and platform foundations.
• Run the use-case staircase end to end: select by week 3 on value, readiness and sponsorship; specify the redesigned workflow by week 4; get working tools in front of real users by week 6; measure results against baseline.
• Sequence builds so each one reuses the capability the last one created, making every later use case faster and cheaper.
• Gate every build on a named business owner, a baseline, a funded run cost and a route into daily use, with monthly cost and value reporting to the SteerCo.

Drive adoption and capability

• Own adoption, not just delivery: enablement strategy, training, stakeholder engagement and usage dashboards that move AI from experimentation to daily workflow.
• Compress how client teams build software, embedding agentic practices from spec to release and coaching engineers through the change.
• Build the client's own capability, with a plan to move at least half of AI engineering capacity in-house within 6 months.
• Write the operating model, governance and roadmap for the permanent owner, overlap their first month and hand over a running office.

Lead forward-deployed teams

• Lead embedded teams of AI architects, forward-deployed engineers and PE operators, keeping strategy and production code in one team.
• Translate business problems into tractable AI solutions, bridging executives, domain experts and engineers.
• Present progress and evidenced value to portfolio company leadership, operating partners and deal teams.

Build the practice

• Scope and write proposals and RFP responses, and support pitches to new and existing funds.
• Turn each programme into reusable playbooks, assets and platform features that make the next transformation faster than the last.
• Produce thought leadership on AI value creation (sector notes, case studies, LinkedIn content).
• Build relationships with operating partners, portfolio company executives and technology partners.

What you'll bring

• 3+ years across strategy consulting, PE value creation and enterprise AI or software delivery, including time at a top-tier consultancy, an enterprise AI vendor or in a PE-backed operating role.
• A track record of leading AI or digital transformation at enterprise or portfolio company scale, from strategy through to adopted, production systems.
• Measurable outcomes you can point to: adoption moved from near zero to the majority of a workforce, products shipped, or value evidenced against a baseline.
• C-suite and investor credibility: you have aligned CEOs, CFOs, operating partners and technology leaders around priorities, funding and trade-offs.
• Hands-on technical depth: you understand LLMs, agentic tooling, data platforms and the software development lifecycle well enough to lead architects and engineers, and you have built with them yourself.
• Commercial judgment: you tie every AI initiative to productivity, revenue or enterprise value, and you have owned presales, proposals or a P&L.
• Proven leadership of cross-functional teams of data scientists, engineers and solution architects under tight timelines.
• AI fluency: you already use AI tools daily and can show how they make your work faster and better.

Who you are

• Founder mindset: this is your business to own and grow. You treat Riplo's success as your own.
• Outcome-obsessed: you measure success in adoption and evidenced value, not decks delivered or tools launched.
• Proactive: you see what needs doing and do it before being asked.
• Builder: you would rather ship a working tool in week 6 than perfect a strategy in week 12.
• Ownership mindset: you take initiatives from idea to delivery and own outcomes, not just tasks.
• AI-first: you look for the AI-enabled way to do every step, and keep refining it.
• Calm under pressure: you lead with clarity when timelines are tight, stakeholders disagree and the path is ambiguous.
• Comfortable with ambiguity: you thrive in a small, fast-moving team without rigid structure.

Why Riplo

• Build something from the ground up: join early and help define what AI-native transformation looks like for private equity.
• Real impact, fast: your programmes move portfolio company P&Ls and feed directly into fund value creation plans.
• Senior from day one: lead client SteerCos, shape proposals and own executive and fund relationships.
• Work at the frontier: lead our own AI engineers and platform inside client businesses, not just talk about AI.
• Grow with the firm: a clear path to take on more as Riplo's Solutions practice scales.
• Competitive package: salary, bonus and equity (details discussed at interview).