Role: Innovation Acceleration Lead

Start Date: ASAP

Type of contract: Fixed Term - 6-12 months, flexible working arrangement possible, with potential to extend

Location: Remote (with occasional travel to Fii headquarters, and international travel 1–2 times per quarter)

Reports to: AI Lead, Financial Innovation for Impact

Join Us

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of financial services; transforming how institutions operate, how regulators safeguard markets, and how innovation reaches communities worldwide. At Financial Innovation for Impact (Fii), we bring research, policy, and practice together to create a more equitable, prosperous and sustainable financial future for all.

ABOUT FINANCIAL INNOVATION FOR IMPACT

Financial Innovation for Impact (Fii) is an international, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of scalable, sustainable, and evidence-based financial and regulatory innovation. We work with academic institutions, digital finance ecosystem partners, and other stakeholders to create knowledge and apply data-driven insights to inform the development of fintech and the decision-making of central banks, securities regulators, and other financial authorities. Fii generates research, develops digital tools, and delivers capacity building at scale through technical assistance programmes to benefit financially excluded, marginalised, and disadvantaged populations.

About C:\>DIR

The Cambridge Digital Innovation and Regulation Initiative (C:\>DIR) is a global policy convening platform that fosters high-level dialogue on issues at the intersection of digital innovation and regulation between policymakers, regulators, and market innovators. C:\>DIR aims to cultivate collaborative communities and public-private partnerships to develop common solutions and shape the future of digital markets and economies, for the benefit of the many. For more information, visit www.cdir.global/whoweare and www.cdir.global/cdir-hackathon.

THE ROLE

We are seeking an Innovation Acceleration Lead to drive pioneering work executing global virtual hackathons and accelerators. This role primarily focuses on the operations and management of collaborative engineering sprints tailored for public authorities. You will bring a strong operational background in running accelerators, coupled with domain expertise in AI, financial services, or regulatory and legal fields. You will engage credibly with policymakers and regulators to translate their challenges into actionable, open-world hackathon problem spaces.

Success in Year 1

• Successfully operationalise and deliver the flagship 'Agentic Regulator' Global Virtual Hackathon, driving the collaborative creation of AI prototypes for cross-regulatory authorities.
• Manage the overarching execution plan across intelligence gathering (deep-dive interviews and process mapping), technical blueprinting (secure sandbox and synthetic data provisioning), and the asynchronous global build sprint.
• Facilitate the strategic matching of domain experts from public authorities with top AI researchers, platform architects, and ML engineers to build safe, compliant agentic solutions tackling challenges like autonomous payments monitoring and high-stakes financial advice.
• Support the transition of successful prototypes into modular, shared tools and present winning solutions at the C:\>DIR Annual Conference to strengthen trust in an increasingly agentic financial system.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Hackathon & Accelerator Operations

• Lead the end-to-end operational execution of virtual hackathons and accelerators.
• Manage logistics, from platform development and team matching to coordinating mentor clinics and automated code freezes.
• Ensure the seamless deployment of standardised submission frameworks and secure compute environments for participants.

Problem Space Definition & Regulatory Advisory

• Engage with regulators, central banks, and policymakers to conduct deep-dive interviews and process mapping workshops.
• Act as a bridge between technical insights and regulatory needs, extracting real-world constraints and legal boundaries to define hackathon tracks.

Partnerships & Ecosystem Management

• Onboard and collaborate with tier-one AI Technology Sponsors and Financial Services Thematic Sponsors.
• Contribute to partnership building with multilaterals, regulators, and industry to support programme development.

Capacity Building Integration

• Integrate hackathon initiatives with educational tracks and capacity-building programmes for public authorities.

REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• 7+ years' experience, with a primary focus on the operations of running hackathons, accelerators, or technical innovation programmes.
• Demonstrable domain expertise in AI, financial services, or regulatory/legal fields.
• Experience engaging directly with regulators, central banks, or policymakers.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team environment, including uniting domain problem owners with engineering talent.
• Excellent organisational, writing, and communication skills.

Desirable

• Experience coordinating technical environments, such as GitHub pipelines or cloud infrastructure for developers.
• Familiarity with the AI vendor ecosystem and proven ability to secure technical sponsorships.
• Applied knowledge of AI/ML concepts and their regulatory implications.
• Exposure to global financial networks and regulatory communities.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates should apply here by the 29th of April  or submit their CV and a cover letter to [email protected]