Chief Innovation Officer

Job Description

Job Description

Our client a venture-backed leader in biometric security with headquarters in Cupertino, California, building cutting-edge products used by Fortune 50 enterprises.

We're looking for a Chief Innovation Officer

(CINO) who doesn't just follow trends—they define them. This is not a role for incremental thinkers. It's 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, you will shape the future of biometric identity, secure access control, and AI-driven 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 long-term innovation roadmap—from frontier R&D to commercialization—ensuring 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 privacy-first, hardware-integrated, AI-powered security systems used by the world's most critical infrastructures, Fortune 50 enterprises, and government agencies.

Key Responsibilities

Own and lead the company's innovation strategy with a 3–10 year time horizon, focused on AI, edge computing, facial biometrics, privacy tech, and secure identity.

Create and manage internal innovation initiatives, including next-gen software and hardware initiatives, and cross-functional 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, privacy-preserving 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 industry-leading organizations, participation in academic research partnerships, early-stage startup scouting, and joint ventures.

Build a culture of bold innovation, encouraging fast experimentation and high-fidelity 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 growth-stage 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 cross-functional 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