Director, Applied AI Product Manager

We're seeking a future team member for the role of Director, Applied AI Product Manager to join our EMEA Innovation team. This role is located in Dublin, Ireland.

Role overview

We are seeking a Director, Applied AI Product Manager to help lead the product capability for the Dublin Innovation Studio.

This role is for a product leader who can move between strategy, experimentation, client discovery, R&D, and product execution. You will help identify and shape high-value opportunities across AI, intelligent automation, frontier technology, client innovation, and internal business transformation. You will work closely with the Dublin Applied AI team, International Innovation colleagues in EMEA and APAC, AI Hub, engineering partners, business sponsors, client-facing teams, risk and compliance partners, and external ecosystem participants.

You will help turn emerging ideas into structured opportunities, prototypes, proof-of-concepts, MVP scopes, product narratives, and handoff-ready recommendations. Some work will be Ireland-led and locally originated. Other work will support broader International Innovation priorities, including EMEA and APAC collaboration.

This role combines applied AI product management, R&D orientation, client and commercial discovery, and ecosystem connectivity. The right candidate will be excited by ambiguity, comfortable learning new domains quickly, and motivated by the opportunity to build genuine enterprise AI capability in a highly regulated environment.

What makes this role different

This is not a conventional product management role, and it is not a pure research role.

You will help define how emerging technology can create practical value for BNY, our clients, and our businesses. You will work on early-stage ideas where the problem, sponsor, data, technology path, risk posture, or product owner may not yet be fully clear. Your role will be to create structure, test assumptions, shape options, and help the team make informed decisions.

You will work across three connected modes:

1. AI product development - shaping AI-enabled products, agents, workflows, decision-support tools, and prototypes.
2. R&D and frontier technology exploration - assessing where emerging technologies such as AI, Quantum Computing, Digital Assets, and advanced data capabilities could create future value.
3. Client and commercial innovation - supporting client-facing discovery, product venture opportunities, co-creation, and Ireland-led innovation activity.

You will ensure Dublin Studio activity is tied to real client, business, product, ecosystem, or learning outcomes.

In this role, you will make an impact by:

Dublin Studio product and applied AI leadership

• Help establish the product and AI capability within the Dublin Innovation Studio.
• Identify, shape, and prioritise opportunities for AI-enabled products, agents, workflow tools, decision-support capabilities, and proof-of-concepts.
• Translate ambiguous business, client, or technology opportunities into clear problem statements, product hypotheses, MVP scopes, PRDs, prototypes, and execution plans.
• Work with the Dublin Applied AI team and wider AI partners to define data needs, orchestration requirements, workflow logic, evaluation criteria, and responsible AI considerations.

• Help determine when an idea should remain exploratory, progress to POC, move toward MVP, or be handed off to a platform, business, engineering, or product owner.

R&D, frontier technology, and experimentation

• Lead product discovery and opportunity framing for R&D themes relevant to BNY, including AI, Quantum Computing, intelligent automation, data products, and emerging enterprise technologies.
• Assess frontier technology opportunities through a practical product lens: value, feasibility, risk, adoption path, client relevance, business sponsor, and scalability.
• Manage and support proof-of-concept development that helps BNY test emerging capabilities in a structured, responsible, and measurable way.
• Partner with internal experts, universities, fintechs, start-ups, and ecosystem participants to identify relevant trends, research opportunities, and potential collaboration models.

• Help connect R&D activity to BNY's strategic priorities, client needs, product opportunities, and innovation pipeline.

Client and commercial innovation

• Support Ireland-based client engagement, client discovery, innovation sessions, and product opportunity development.
• Partner with client coverage, commercial teams, designers, and International Innovation colleagues to identify where client conversations could lead to workshops, value-chain mapping, co-creation, value engineering, or product venture opportunities.
• Translate client needs, market themes, regulatory triggers, and ecosystem insights into actionable product opportunities.
• Develop product narratives, opportunity briefs, prototype scopes, and decision materials that help clients and senior stakeholders understand potential value.

• Help BNY show up differently with clients by combining AI, product thinking, innovation methods, and practical commercial relevance.

Product delivery, POCs, and handoff

• Lead cross-functional delivery from opportunity framing through prototype, POC, MVP, pilot, or handoff.
• Create product artefacts that are clear, decision-ready, and useful for business sponsors, engineers, designers, AI teams, risk partners, and senior leaders.
• Define measurable success criteria linked to client engagement, innovation pipeline, adoption, operational efficiency, risk reduction, revenue support, ecosystem connectivity, or learning outcomes.
• Coordinate across International Innovation in London, Dublin, Singapore, while also partnering with our AI Hub, engineering, platform teams, and business stakeholders to maintain momentum and remove blockers.

• Ensure responsible AI, data handling, privacy, compliance, security, operational resilience, and risk considerations are built into discovery and solution design early.

Ecosystem and partnership connectivity

• Help build Dublin Studio as a meaningful node in BNY's global innovation ecosystem.
• Work with internal and external partners to identify relevant fintech, start-up, university, accelerator, and research opportunities.
• Support collaboration with our Strategic Partnerships & Investments team where emerging companies or ecosystem relationships may be relevant.

• Help connect Ireland's financial services, funds, fintech, digital assets, AI, and research ecosystem into BNY's broader International Innovation agenda.

Stakeholder and team leadership

• Partner with senior stakeholders across business lines, operations, technology, design, risk, compliance, AI, commercial teams, and local Ireland leadership.
• Communicate complex AI, frontier technology, and product concepts in clear, practical, outcome-focused language.
• Work fluidly in small multidisciplinary teams, contributing beyond narrow role boundaries while maintaining clear accountability.
• Help create a high-trust, high-accountability culture built on constructive challenge, continuous learning, evidence-led decisions, and shared ownership of outcomes.

• Mentor and support colleagues as the team develops stronger AI, product, R&D, and innovation capability.

What we are looking for

Required experience and skills

• Significant experience in applied AI product management, digital product management, enterprise product development, innovation, R&D, AI-enabled transformation, or technology-led business change.
• Strong understanding of generative AI, LLM-enabled systems, intelligent automation, agentic workflows, decision-support tools, and AI-enabled product capabilities.
• Experience translating ambiguous business, client, or technology opportunities into product strategies, requirements, roadmaps, prototypes, POCs, or delivery plans.
• Ability to work with AI teams, engineering, data science, design, business, risk, compliance, platform, and client-facing teams to shape practical solutions.
• Strong understanding of enterprise technology concepts such as APIs, workflows, data flows, permissions, integration layers, observability, evaluation, and production-readiness.
• Experience operating in complex, regulated, or highly governed environments.
• Strong stakeholder management, executive communication, prioritization, and delivery leadership skills.

• Ability to define and measure successful outcomes, not just deliver outputs.

Behavioral attributes

We are looking for people who can thrive in a rapidly evolving, AI-enabled, high-trust team environment. The strongest candidates will be:

• Comfortable with ambiguity and able to create structure without waiting for perfect framing.
• Curious, self-directed, and able to learn new domains quickly.
• Excited by frontier technology but grounded in practical product value and responsible delivery.
• Low ego and team-first, with a willingness to build on others' ideas and let go of their own when evidence changes.
• Confident giving and receiving constructive feedback across levels.
• Resilient under pace, feedback, uncertainty, and changing priorities.
• Strong communicators who can explain decisions, trade-offs, risks, and emerging technologies clearly.
• Evidence-led rather than opinion-led.
• Risk-aware without being risk-averse.
• Excited by continuous learning and willing to help others develop.
• Comfortable operating across product, design, AI, data, engineering, risk, client engagement, commercial strategy, and business transformation.
• Able to work independently in Dublin while staying closely connected to International Innovation teams across EMEA and APAC.

Preferred experience

• Experience building or scaling AI-enabled products, internal platforms, workflow tools, agents, R&D prototypes, or automation capabilities.
• Experience with AI product evaluation, model performance, responsible AI, prompt design, RAG, knowledge graphs, agent orchestration, or experimentation methods.
• Exposure to frontier or emerging technology areas such as Quantum Computing, advanced analytics, AI agents, data products, or enterprise automation.
• Experience in financial services, asset servicing, funds, capital markets, banking, payments, operations, risk, compliance, or data-heavy enterprise environments.
• Experience working with FinTech's, start-ups, universities, accelerators, innovation labs, venture teams, or ecosystem partnerships.
• Experience in client-facing innovation, product ventures, co-creation, value engineering, or commercial product discovery.
• Product certifications, agile certifications, AI specializations, or advanced degrees are helpful but not required where equivalent experience is demonstrated.

Success in this role

Success will be measured by your ability to build Dublin Studio into a meaningful applied AI, product, R&D, client, and ecosystem capability for BNY.

You will help turn complex and emerging opportunities into clear, high-quality, AI-enabled product outcomes. You will create clarity, build trust, accelerate learning, and help BNY explore and deploy emerging technology responsibly. You will connect local Ireland opportunities to BNY's global innovation agenda, while ensuring activity leads to measurable client, business, product, ecosystem, or learning value.

You will help the team move faster without losing judgment, control, or coherence and help BNY transform how innovation and AI create value across the enterprise.

At BNY, our culture allows us to run our company better and enables employees' growth and success. As a leading global financial services company at the heart of the global financial system, we influence nearly 20% of the world's investible assets. Every day, our teams harness cutting-edge AI and breakthrough technologies to collaborate with clients, driving transformative solutions that redefine industries and uplift communities worldwide.

Recognized as a top destination for innovators, BNY is where bold ideas meet advanced technology and exceptional talent. Together, we power the future of finance - and this is what #LifeAtBNY is all about. Join us and be part of something extraordinary.

At BNY, our culture speaks for itself, check out the latest BNY news at: BNY Newsroom & BNY LinkedIn

Here's a few of our recent awards:

• America's Most Innovative Companies, Fortune, 2025
• World's Most Admired Companies, Fortune 2025
• "Most Just Companies", Just Capital and CNBC, 2025

Our Benefits and Rewards:

BNY offers highly competitive compensation, benefits, and wellbeing programs rooted in a strong culture of excellence and our pay-for-performance philosophy. We provide access to flexible global resources and tools for your life's journey. Focus on your health, foster your personal resilience, and reach your financial goals as a valued member of our team, along with generous paid leaves, including paid volunteer time, that can support you and your family through moments that matter.

BNY is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer - Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups/Females/Individuals with Disabilities/Protected Veterans.