Job Title

Innovation Manager

Job Purpose

You will be part of GDS Assurance Digital, helping identify, shape, and scale innovation opportunities that advance AI and emerging technology adoption across Assurance. You will work with multi-disciplinary teams across Assurance, technology, business, start-up ecosystems, universities, and external industry forums to convert ideas into high-impact use cases, research-led thought leadership, and market-recognized innovation outcomes.

You will own the innovation lifecycle end-to-end from conducting workshops to discover priority business problems, curating and qualifying new use cases, building external collaboration models with start-ups and universities, and driving research, white papers, external publications, and award submissions that strengthen GDS Assurance Digitals innovation brand.

Responsibilities

- Designing and facilitating innovation workshops to identify high-value Assurance use cases across AI, data, automation, and emerging technologies
- Running structured ideation, prioritization, feasibility assessment, and business case development to move concepts from problem statements to actionable innovation opportunities
- Building and managing GDS start-up programs and external connects to scout relevant technologies, evaluate solution fit, and create collaboration pathways
- Developing university collaboration models for applied research, prototypes, hackathons, and joint thought leadership
- Driving R&D;, white papers, external publications, and industry award submissions that showcase GDS Assurance innovation, AI adoption, and emerging technology leadership
- You will build trusted relationships with internal stakeholders, start-up partners, university teams, industry bodies, and cross-functional EY teams. You will also lead communication, enablement, and governance around innovation programs to ensure ideas are visible, evaluated consistently, and converted into measurable outcomes.





Technical skills requirements
- Excellent academic background, including at a minimum a bachelors or masters degree in Business/Management, Engineering, Innovation Management, Design Thinking, or a related field with strong grounding in digital transformation, emerging technologies, research methods, and stakeholder-led innovation.
- 10+ years of work experience in innovation management, digital transformation, AI-enabled business change, ecosystem partnerships, consulting, or product/program leadership, with focus on the following:
- Innovation workshop design and facilitation, including problem discovery, stakeholder interviews, ideation, prioritization, and use case shaping
- AI and emerging technology opportunity assessment, including market scanning, technology radar development, feasibility evaluation, and value hypothesis creation
- GDS start-up programs and external connects, including start-up scouting, partner evaluation, demo days, pilots, and collaboration governance
- University collaborations, including applied research partnerships, student/faculty engagement, hackathons, prototype challenges, and joint innovation initiatives
- R&D; and thought leadership, including white papers, external publications, industry trend reports, and executive-ready insight papers on AI and emerging technology
- Industry awards and recognitions, including identifying award opportunities, building nomination narratives, collecting evidence, and managing submission timelines
- Innovation governance and portfolio tracking,



including funnel management, prioritization criteria, impact metrics, stakeholder reporting, and advantages realization

- Strong innovation and technology fluency to connect business problems with practical AI and emerging technology opportunities across:

- AI, GenAI, agentic AI, automation, analytics, cloud, data platforms, and emerging technology trends relevant to Assurance
- Design thinking, lean experimentation, rapid prototyping, proof-of-concept design, and impact measurement
- Research synthesis, market intelligence, technology scouting, and translating trends into practical innovation themes
- Executive storytelling, visual communication, and publication-ready writing for white papers, external submissions, and leadership updates

- Additionally, the following will be considered a strong asset:

- Experience with innovation ecosystems, start-up accelerators, venture scouting, alliances, or external partnership programs
- Experience working with universities, research institutions, incubators, or industry forums on applied research and thought leadership initiatives
- Familiarity with Assurance, audit, financial services, risk, compliance, or regulated environments
- Hands-on use of collaboration and design tools such as Miro, Figma, Lucid, Visio, PowerPoint, and research or knowledge management platforms
- Track record of producing externally publishable content, award submissions, industry recognition narratives, or innovation showcases

- Proven ownership from idea discovery incubation stakeholder alignment measurable impact, with ability to manage an innovation funnel across multiple teams, regions, and external collaborators.
- Strong written and verbal communication, facilitation, presentation, and executive-ready storytelling skills able to engage business leaders, technologists, start-ups, universities, and industry stakeholders.

📌 Innovation Manager (Kolkata)
🏢 EY
📍 Kolkata