Associate Director, Innovation Excellence

Innovate and shape what comes next.

At AIA, your expertise, perspective and ideas can help us become a faster, simpler and more connected organisation while contributing to our Purpose of helping millions of people live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives. Across our diverse markets, you will take on real-world challenges, collaborate with talented colleagues and turn technology, data and bold ideas into simpler experiences, smarter solutions and positive outcomes for our customers and communities.

Join us to create what comes next, grow through new experiences and extend your impact across Asia.

About the Role

• Drive Engineering Excellence & Innovation across the Group Innovation Office.
• Set standards and strengthen review and governance practices to improve delivery quality and consistency.
• Partner with project teams to improve solution design, product quality, and delivery effectiveness.
• Work closely with Group Technology, Group Risk and Compliance to shape practical governance and SDLC improvements for the AI era.

Roles and Responsibilities: Innovation Excellence Leadership

• Establish and lead the innovation excellence agenda across Group Innovation Office by defining standards of practice, engineering guidelines, review processes, and benchmark measures that improve delivery quality and consistency.
• Develop and maintain innovation excellence frameworks that provide clear expectations for solution quality, architecture discipline, governance readiness, and measurable delivery outcomes.
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making across innovation programs and product teams.

Technical Advisory and Review Governance

• Advise Group Innovation Office project teams on solution and architecture design from project kick-off, providing practical guidance on technical options, quality expectations, and delivery considerations.
• Convene and lead the mobile technical review committee to assess proposals against agreed architecture, security, scalability, maintainability, and reuse principles, and support quality delivery.
• Review completed solutions, assess delivery quality and business outcomes, and provide formal sign-off or remediation direction to ensure expected standards are met.
• Ensure review outcomes, decisions, and follow-up actions are documented, transparent, and embedded into Group Innovation Office delivery governance.

Quality Evaluation, Benchmarking, and Reporting

• Develop the evaluation framework used by project teams to assess and track product quality, including criteria, scorecards, evidence requirements, and review checkpoints.
• Benchmark Group Innovation Office products and delivery practices against relevant market standards, emerging technology trends, and peer capabilities to identify improvement opportunities.
• Track quality, maturity, and improvement progress across initiatives, and synthesize findings into concise executive reporting for leadership decision-making.
• Use review findings, quality metrics, and benchmark insights to recommend targeted actions that improve product outcomes and delivery effectiveness.

AI-Era SDLC Governance and Emerging Technology Research

• Partner with Group Technology and Group Risk and Compliance to optimize SDLC, control points, and governance processes for the AI era, balancing speed, quality, compliance, and delivery effort.
• Define success measures for governance simplification and process effectiveness, including reduction in delivery time and effort as a percentage of project cost.
• Research emerging technologies, tools, and engineering practices to identify opportunities that are relevant, practical, and scalable for Group Innovation Office products and innovation initiatives.
• Translate relevant technology insights into standards updates, pilot recommendations, and practical adoption roadmaps that support continuous improvement across Group Innovation Office.

Minimum Job Requirements:

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related discipline
• Strong hands-on experience across modern engineering stacks (APIs, cloud, integration, data, or AI-enabled applications)
• Proven ability to establish standards of practice, engineering guidelines, review forums, and quality governance mechanisms across multiple teams or products
• Experience advising delivery teams on solution and architecture design, leading technical review committees, and assessing delivery readiness in enterprise environments
• Strong understanding of product quality frameworks, benchmarking approaches, metrics design, and executive-level reporting for technology or digital product delivery
• Practical experience partnering with engineering, risk, and governance stakeholders to optimize SDLC and control processes while balancing quality, compliance, and speed
• Strong awareness of emerging technologies, including AI-related delivery patterns, and the ability to assess their relevance, risks, and practical application in a regulated enterprise setting
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy and architecture into executable engineering outcomes
• Strong problem-solving capability, balancing delivery speed with quality, governance, and long-term sustainability
• Effective stakeholder management across engineering, product, architecture, and governance functions
• Experience working in regulated or large-scale enterprise environments is preferred
• Strong communication skills in English; ability to work in multilingual environments is beneficial

Build a career with us as we help our customers and the community live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.

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