AI Strategy and Portfolio Lead NEW

Reading, Berkshire
Ericsson GmbH
Grow with us

About this opportunity

We are seeking a strategic, high-impact techno-commercial leader to join our global AI program as AI Strategy & Portfolio Lead. This role is ideal for individuals with a consulting, product, technology, or transformation background who can connect business priorities with data and AI solutions, commercial value, and executable delivery.

As a trusted advisor to senior business and technology leaders, you will shape the AI agenda across multiple domains – Support (HR, Finance, Sourcing, Customer Support), Marketing, Product Development, and IT (Dev/DevOps/Ops). You will define and own the strategic portfolio, identify high-value opportunities, shape the right product and technology approach, and drive tangible impact from opportunity framing and investment case through solution delivery and value realization.

This is a client-partner style role inside the enterprise – combining strategy, product and technology judgment, commercial acumen, and delivery leadership to influence investment decisions, architecture choices, operating models, and business outcomes.

Key Responsibilities Business Engagement & Strategy

• Act as the go-to strategic and techno-commercial partner for business unit leaders, understanding their priorities, challenges, transformation goals, and investment choices.
• Bring an external market, technology, and commercial perspective to identify where AI can create differentiated business value.
• Translate business needs into targeted AI use cases, product opportunities, transformation roadmaps, and investment strategies aligned with business goals.

Portfolio Ownership and Delivery

• Own and prioritize the portfolio of AI initiatives within your domains, from opportunity identification and product shaping through delivery, adoption, and impact realization.
• Lead business case development, ROI and TCO modelling, investment prioritization, and quantification of AI driven outcomes.
• Ensure delivery success by aligning business, product, data, architecture, and engineering stakeholders; removing roadblocks; and maintaining accountability for outcomes.

Technology, Product and Commercial Shaping

• Shape data and AI products and solutions, including problem definition, product scope, MVP, roadmap, delivery model, and value case.
• Advise on architecture, data, integration, scalability, security, and solution design choices, balancing technical feasibility, time-to-value, cost, and business benefit.
• Evaluate build, buy, reuse, and partner options; contribute to vendor and platform selection, commercial assessment, and technology investment decisions.
• Work with engineering teams, technology vendors, and strategic partners to shape pragmatic delivery models, commercials, and implementation plans.

Governance, Budgeting and Change

• Support portfolio investment planning, budgeting, change management, and capability enablement across your business domains.
• Influence leadership forums and investment decisions with clear, outcome-driven recommendations that connect business value, technology choices, cost, and risk.
• Track portfolio progress, benefits, spend, risks, and dependencies; intervene early where delivery or value realization is off track.

Required Skills and Experience

• Deep understanding of core enterprise domains (HR, Finance, Sourcing, Marketing, Product, or IT) and how technology can create measurable business value.
• Experience leading AI, data, automation, or digital transformation programs at scale, preferably across multiple functions.
• Strong commercial acumen, including business case development, ROI/TCO modelling, investment prioritization, benefit realization, and vendor or partner evaluation.
• Ability to frame ambiguous business problems, structure opportunities, shape solutions, and drive decisions across business and technology stakeholders.
• Experience developing data and AI products – from opportunity definition and product shaping through architecture, delivery, adoption, and value realization.
• Proven track record of delivering transformation outcomes and translating strategic intent and technology investment into measurable business impact.
• Good working understanding of enterprise, data, cloud, and AI architecture, with enough technical depth to challenge solution choices and make informed trade-offs on integration, scalability, security, feasibility, and cost.
• 12+ years of experience in consulting, technology, product, commercial, or enterprise transformation roles, with regular exposure to senior business and technology leaders.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

Why join Ericsson?

At Ericsson, you’ll have an outstanding opportunity. The chance to use your skills and imagination to push the boundaries of what’s possible. To build solutions never seen before to some of the world’s toughest problems. You’ll be challenged, but you won’t be alone. You’ll be joining a team of diverse innovators, all driven to go beyond the status quo to craft what comes next.

Encouraging a diverse and inclusive organization is core to our values at Ericsson, that’s why we champion it in everything we do. We truly believe that by collaborating with people with different experiences we drive innovation, which is essential for our future growth. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply and realize their full potential as part of our Ericsson team. Ericsson is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. learn more.

Primary country and city: United Kingdom (GB) Reading