Chief Innovation Officer

Job DescriptionJob 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 , 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 .

• 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 )

• 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

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