Emerging Solutions Manager

Job Description:

Lead a global team to explore, develop, and scale cutting-edge AI innovations. Drive strategic research, foster collaboration, and turn emerging technologies into impactful, scalable solutions that shape the future of AI-driven business transformation. Inspire growth, innovation, and operational excellence! About the job Job purpose Lead, coach, and develop an international team of five senior data scientists and software engineers while driving the discovery, evaluation and development of emerging high-impact advanced AI capabilities. You will combine strong people leadership, strategic thinking, product innovation mindset and technical depth, with a solid understanding of advanced AI including computer vision, machine learning, data science and agentic technologies and emerging AI architectures. Working closely with internal teams, vendors and business stakeholders, you will guide the team in exploring new technical frontiers, identifying promising methods before they become mainstream, testing their relevance under real business conditions, and translating the most credible opportunities into prototypes that can later be deployed, handed over and scaled as reusable capabilities or operational solutions. The role will require allocating priorities, fostering collaboration, and creating an environment where team members can grow and perform at their best. We expect you to navigate a fast-moving environment with autonomy and adaptability, creating an environment where team members can experiment, challenge assumptions and learn continuously while identifying new methodologies, technologies and opportunities relevant to the business. Main missions Your responsibilities include: Lead, coach, and develop a pluridisciplinary team of 5 senior professionals, setting priorities, supporting growth, and ensuring high performance. Drive the innovation of advanced AI, machine learning, computer vision, agentic, GeoAI, GenAI and related capabilities within the organization through team leadership and strategic direction to impact AXA's long-term corporate strategy. Lead cross-functional collaboration to share expertise and support the implementation of advanced AI solutions across the organization. Guide the team in applying the latest advanced AI and emerging techniques to address complex/unprecedented business problems and ensure high-quality, business-relevant delivery to improve top and bottom-line. Oversee the design and delivery of data science solutions that address business challenges such as geospatial intelligence, Earth Observation, geopolitical risk, IoT, simulation environments, world models, synthetic data and AI-enabled insurance use cases. Coordinate with business stakeholders to drive operational adoption of solutions, measure impact on key business indicators provide strategic and technical leadership to shape priorities and outcomes. Build trusted relationships with technological strategic partners among industry and academy. Promote knowledge sharing, documentation, and team development through appropriate forums such as talks, seminars, and internal learning events. Interact with management committee stakeholders to drive business-oriented innovative solutions. Recruit, onboard, train and develop team members, ensuring that the team has the right mix of technical expertise, business understanding and delivery capability to meet its strategic objectives. Lead performance management for the team, including objective-setting, regular feedback, development planning and performance evaluation. Propose, manage and monitor the team's budget, ensuring that resources, tools, external partnerships and project investments are aligned with priorities, expected value and delivery needs. Expected skills & experience The role requires a leader able to combine technical depth, strategic judgement, business orientation and team leadership. The person should be credible with experts, trusted by business stakeholders, and able to turn emerging technologies into practical, scalable value for AXA. We are looking for someone with the following experience and skills: Experience Master's degree, equivalent diploma or PhD in software engineering, computer science, geography, business administration, finance, actuarial, or relevant work experience. 10 or plus experience in usage/design/strategy for products based on deep advanced technologies. Knowledge of insurance is a strong advantage. Experience in one or more relevant emerging domains, such as geospatial intelligence, Earth Observation, geopolitical risk, simulations, digital twins, IoT, synthetic data, AI governance or AI-enabled insurance products, is a plus. Sufficient programming and software engineering literacy to challenge technical choices, understand delivery constraints, and support high-quality engineering practices, including source control, code reviews, documentation and maintainability. Experience with cloud environments such as Google Cloud, AWS or Azure, and an understanding of scalable, secure and compliant deployment patterns. Technical skills Good understanding of advanced AI, machine learning concepts, model evaluation and applied data science. Good understanding of current landscape of modern Large Language Models, foundation models, agentic AI system; experience in using them (inference, APIs, fine-tuning) Strong knowledge of machine learning tools and libraries, data-processing pipelines, databases, cloud environments and data-visualisation approaches. Good software engineering culture (e.g. source control systems experience, code reviews, etc.) Ability to assess the relevance, feasibility, risks and limitations of emerging technologies, not only their technical performance. Ability to assess vendor, partner and technology solutions through a build, buy, partner, scale, transfer or stop lens. Soft skills / transversal skills Ability to lead and motivate multi-disciplinary teams in a collaborative, high-performance environment Capacity to set a clear vision, translate it into priorities, and maintain focus across a diverse portfolio of exploratory research, prototypes, pilots and scalable initiatives. Ability to lead complex initiatives with multiple stakeholders and balance strategic goals with execution. Strong business acumen and sound judgment in prioritizing team efforts and business opportunities. Strong communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leaders, business stakeholders and expert teams. Strong problem-solving orientation, with the ability to structure ambiguous challenges, identify root causes, assess options and drive pragmatic solutions. High level of autonomy, curiosity and innovation capability, with the confidence to explore new ideas, challenge assumptions and turn experimentation into actionable outcomes. Continuous learning mindset, with the discipline to stay current on emerging technologies, methodologies and business needs, and to translate learning into practical improvements. Analytical skills and mindset to produce useful business insights from data Discipline in writing technical and non-technical documentation What we offer We bring together the expertise, cultural diversity and creativity of over 8,000 employees worldwide and we're committed to equal opportunities in all aspects of employment (gender, LGBT+, disabled persons, or people of different origins) and to promoting Diversity & Inclusion by creating a work environment where all employees are treated with dignity and respect, and where individual differences are valued. About the team Within AXA Group Operations, Group Data, AI & Innovation (GDAI) explores and scales the value of data, AI, digital transformation, emerging technologies (IoT, Geospatial, Blockchain, Quantum Computing, etc.) as well as innovative business ideas with the potential to disrupt the current insurance business model and to shape future opportunities to better partner in our customers' lives. GDAI and its spin-offs consist of 200+ inspiring minds located in Paris, Barcelona, London, Lausanne (on the EPFL campus) in Lausanne, and on San Francisco (on the Stanford campus) incubating and deploying solutions in co-creation and collaboration with AXA operating entities and strategic partners around the world. About the entity AXA is becoming a sustainable tech-led company and at AXA Group Operations we are one of the major catalysts for this transformation. We set the tone by triggering and empowering the evolution of our insurance business model through technology and innovation, driving its concrete implementation globally at speed, with a high quality of advisory and execution. We are present across 17 countries with committed, highly qualified teams. We leverage technology, data, sourcing, security and investment allocation in a global way, but also achieve economies of scale and synergies when necessary. At AXA Group Operations, we want to be recognized in three fields of action: State-of-the-art Data Technology to drive customer experience State-of-the-art Procurement & Sourcing to drive efficiency and better manage risks High-Performing Global Team for stronger partnerships with AXA entities About AXA As a world-leading insurance company, we act for human progress by protecting what matters. With 153,000 employees in 54 countries working for 105 million customers, we've created a truly dynamic and vibrant community. Inclusion and diversity link closely with our values, and together we're nurturing a culture of respect, for each other, for our customers and the communities around us. Join AXA and you'll feel like you belong, are included and can thrive. You'll be able to shape the way you work and truly grow your potential as you seek out new opportunities, push boundaries and benefit people in critical moments of their lives. This is your chance to build the tomorrow you want. Know you can. #LI-OA1 #LI-Hybrid