Job Description

About The Role

Were looking for a Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) who doesnt just follow trendsthey define them. This is not a role for incremental thinkers. Its for a visionary technologist and systems thinker who sees five years ahead, lives at the edge of possibility, and knows how to turn deep tech into real-world impact.

As the CINO at the client, you will shape the future of biometric identity, secure access control, and AIdriven security systems. This executive role sits at the intersection of emerging technology, strategic foresight, and deep customer understanding. You will be responsible for defining and driving the longterm innovation roadmapfrom frontier R&D to commercializationensuring that our products remain decades ahead in a market where privacy, performance, and trust are critical.

This is a rare opportunity to pioneer the next wave of privacyfirst, hardwareintegrated, AIpowered security systems used by the worlds most critical infrastructures, Fortune 50 enterprises, and government agencies.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead the companys innovation strategy with a 310 year time horizon, focused on AI, edge computing, facial biometrics, privacy tech, and secure identity.
• Create and manage internal innovation initiatives, including nextgen software and hardware initiatives, and crossfunctional prototyping.
• Anticipate and evaluate emerging trends in biometrics, computer vision, secure hardware, and regulatory landscapes including FedGov (e.g. GDPR, FedRamp, etc).
• Source and test novel technologies (e.g. AI in security, privacypreserving ML, multimodal authentication, decentralized ID, digital authentication, etc).
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Sales to validate and operationalize innovative features and platforms.
• Identify and incubate new product lines or market expansions, including government, healthcare, fintech, and critical infrastructure.
• Cultivate external innovation pipelines via industry events, speaking and attendance, participation in industryleading organizations, participation in academic research partnerships, earlystage startup scouting, and joint ventures.
• Build a culture of bold innovation, encouraging fast experimentation and highfidelity iteration across teams.

Qualifications

• 10 years of experience in product innovation, advanced R&D, or technology strategy roles within security, biometrics, or AI.
• Executive leadership experience in a scaling tech company (startup or growthstage preferred).
• Deep knowledge of hardware/software convergence, edge AI, and secure embedded systems.
• Proven track record of commercializing novel products or patents in the security or biometric space, experience at startups.
• Strong crossfunctional leadership across engineering, product, design, and GTM.
• Familiarity with privacy, encryption, authentication protocols, and regulatory trends.
• Technical degree (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related); MS or PhD preferred.
• Bonus Skills
• Experience with AI/ML model development, especially for facial recognition or behavior analytics.
• Patent portfolio in biometrics or computer vision.
• Background in working with or selling to hyperscale data centers, federal agencies, or enterprise security teams.
• Exposure to standards bodies (e.g. ISO, FIDO, NIST) or public policy.

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