Innovation Lead – Business, Product & Commercial Strategy

Accenture; Dublin; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture seeks an Innovation Lead – Business, Product & Commercial Strategy (Manager Level) to drive AI-enabled innovation and strategic engagements for enterprise clients. You will shape AI-driven business strategies, develop cases and go-to-market approaches, and partner with frontier AI ecosystem players to translate technology into client value.

You will lead complex projects, mentor teams, and build senior-level relationships to steer transformations that accelerate enterprise

Qualifications

• Structure ambiguous problems and identify what matters
• Translate ideas into propositions with real market value
• Demonstrate credibility with senior stakeholders
• Experience shaping stakeholder-led discovery
• Leadership instincts and accountability
• Comfort with ambiguity and framing
• Perspective on AI-driven disruption
• Ability to frame and answer complex strategic questions

Responsibilities

• Lead and own innovation and strategy projects and programs from scoping to launch
• Engage senior client stakeholders and ecosystem partners to scope and ideate
• Shape and communicate commercially viable AI strategies and roadmaps
• Develop business cases, commercial models, and go-to-market plans
• Collaborate with frontier AI partners to feed insights into client strategy
• Guide and coach teams to self-organise and deliver outcomes
• Build and manage relationships for sales conversations and RFPs

Skills

Strategic thinking

Commercial mindset

AI curiosity

Senior stakeholder credibility

Discovery facilitation

Leadership instincts

Ambiguity tolerance

AI disruption perspective

Framing strategic questions

Education

MBA or equivalent

Job description

Innovation Lead – Business, Product & Commercial Strategy (Manager Level) to join the Business, Product & Commercial Strategy team.

Why This Role

Enterprise AI is moving from experimentation to execution — and the organisations that succeed will not be the ones with the best models. They will be the ones with the strongest leadership, governance, and organisational adaptation. That gap between AI capability and enterprise reality is where this role operates.

This is a rare opportunity to build expertise at the intersection of enterprise transformation, emerging AI technologies, and commercial strategy — during one of the largest platform shifts in decades. You will work on frontier AI challenges before they become mainstream, alongside the ecosystem partners shaping those capabilities, and with the enterprise clients who must operationalise them at scale.

We are not looking for someone who has already done all of this. We are looking for someone who is ready to. The right candidate will have strong foundations — in strategy, commercial thinking, or complex delivery — and the instinct, curiosity, and drive to apply them in genuinely new territory. In return, this role builds a profile that is difficult to develop anywhere else: AI commercialisation, enterprise transformation leadership, and ecosystem influence, gained in an environment where the work is real and the stakes are high.

The Role:

The Innovation Lead – Business, Product & Commercial Strategy (Manager Level) provides strategic delivery leadership across AI-enabled innovation and strategy engagements.

You will develop relationships, scope, own and steer complex projects while developing the capability of your team and acting as a credible, trusted voice with senior client stakeholders, account teams, and ecosystem partners.

Your work will span shaping AI-enabled business strategy across large-scale enterprise programmes and clients, collaborating with frontier AI ecosystem partners, and identifying how advanced AI technologies — including agentic AI systems — can reshape and redefine the future of our clients’ businesses. You will work closely with senior client stakeholders, account leadership and industry partners to understand the disruption to their businesses, and help them to define the strategic pivots that follow.

What You Will Do:

• Lead and own innovation and strategy projects and programs — from initial scoping through incubation, transition, and launch — with accountability for quality and outcomes.
• Work closely with senior client stakeholders, account leadership and industry partners to understand, scope and ideate on profitable, industry-aligned business changes that help clients grow and thrive in the changing technical and economic environment.
• Shape and communicate commercially viable AI strategies — accelerating enterprise modernisation, identifying new growth opportunities, and translating emerging technology into actionable client propositions.
• Develop business cases, commercial models, and go-to-market strategies grounded in evidence, delivery reality, and a clear-eyed view of market economics.
• Collaborate with frontier AI ecosystem partners to understand where capability is heading and bring those insights into client strategy and project direction.
• Guide and coach your team to self-organise, make informed decisions, and deliver strong outcomes; create the conditions for high performance and remove the barriers in the way.
• Build and manage relationships with senior client stakeholders, CAL teams, and ecosystem partners; contribute actively to sales conversations, RFPs, and commercial discussions.

Experience You Will Build:

This role provides direct exposure to frontier AI developments, complex enterprise transformation programmes, and the evolving economics of AI-driven business.

For the right person, it is a path to a profile that is genuinely difficult to build elsewhere. Over time, you will develop expertise across:

• AI commercialisation and go-to-market strategy
• Enterprise transformation leadership at scale
• Ecosystem and strategic partnership management
• AI operating model design and organisational adaptation
• Business model transformation in response to AI-driven market disruption
• Strategic identification of new revenue opportunities in fast-changing environments

What We Are Looking For:

Background is less important than mindset. We are open to candidates from consulting, industry, or commercial strategy roles. What matters is how you think and how you work.

You are likely to demonstrate most of the following:

• Strong strategic and commercial thinking — you can structure ambiguous problems, identify what matters, and build a credible case for a course of action.
• Commercial instinct and an ability to translate ideas into propositions with real market logic — who pays, why, and at what value.
• Genuine curiosity about AI and its enterprise implications — not just awareness, but active engagement with what is changing and what it means for how organisations operate and compete.
• Credibility and presence with senior stakeholders — you can hold a room, ask the hard question, and be trusted with complex, high-visibility work.
• Experience shaping and facilitating stakeholder-led discovery — you know how to engage senior leaders, frame the right questions, challenge assumptions and surface insights that inform strategic direction.
• Leadership instinct — you develop others naturally, create clarity in ambiguous situations, and take accountability for outcomes rather than just activities.
• Comfort with ambiguity — you do not need a fully formed brief to get started, and you bring structure rather than waiting for it.
• A well-developed perspective on AI-driven industry disruption — grounded in commercial realities, business strategy and a practical understanding of the technologies shaping the market.
• Ability to frame and answer complex strategic questions — you can identify emerging signals, develop hypotheses, and help senior leaders understand how technological disruption may reshape their industry, business model, and competitive position.

We are looking for someone with the curiosity of a researcher, the commercial instincts of a strategist, and the confidence to engage senior leaders on some of the most important questions facing their industry. You do not need all the answers, but you should be excited by the challenge of helping organisations find them.

Extras We’d Love to See:

• Exposure to AI-enabled transformation — whether shaping strategy, defining operating models, or contributing to delivery.
• Delivery experience in complex, matrixed environments — you have managed workstreams, navigated competing priorities, and brought people with you.
• Familiarity with ecosystem-based business models, platform strategy, or partnership-driven value creation.
• An MBA or equivalent advanced degree in a related field.
• Contribution to thought leadership, community engagement, or industry-facing initiatives.