Chief AI Officer (CAIO)

About the Company & Role

Our client is a well-established, PE-backed software vendor with around 1,000 employees and mission-critical products used by enterprise and mid-market customers across Europe. With long-term investor backing and a clear transformation agenda, the company is making AI a core pillar of its product strategy and its operating model. To lead this journey, our client is creating a new Chief AI Officer (CAIO) role: a unique chance to define the AI agenda of a respected business from day one, with real mandate, budget and a direct line to the CEO and the investor.

Responsibilities:

• Set the AI vision and roadmap and own its delivery from strategy to production
• Embed generative and agentic AI into the product portfolio to create customer value and new revenue.
• Build and lead a central AI team and define how it works with product and engineering.
• Drive AI adoption across the business to improve productivity and margins.
• Establish AI governance and compliance in line with the EU AI Act and GDPR.
• Choose the right technology partners and make smart build, buy and partner decisions.
• Report on ROI and progress to the Board and sponsor, and represent the company externally.
• Support add-on acquisitions with AI and technical due diligence.

Required Skills:

• Senior leadership experience in AI, ML or data science, ideally within a software or technology company.
• A proven record of taking AI solutions into production with measurable commercial impact.
• Strong technical grounding in LLMs, generative and agentic AI, and MLOps.
• Experience building and scaling teams in a growing or transforming organisation.
• Knowledge of European AI regulation and responsible AI practice.
• A commercial mindset and the ability to communicate with boards, investors, customers and engineers alike.
• Fluent English & German.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in a PE-backed/VC-backed environment.

Interested? For a confidential conversation, please contact seyon@aifutures.group with a resume or apply via this posting. All enquiries are treated in strict confidence, and the client's identity is disclosed only at an appropriate stage of the process.