About Northern Trust
As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.
Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.
With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.
The ECM Head of Innovation role focuses on driving innovative outcomes working with NT’s AI tooling and capabilities to drive influence, compliance, transparency and productivity returns alongside the Enterprise Change Management Office. The ECM Head of Innovation will interact and engage with all levels of Northern Trust to inspire and drive consistency and scalability in order to achieve sustainable success in change delivery across the enterprise.
We are seeking an individual to operate at the intersection of AI, data and business transformation. This individual will be required to work directly with end users and leadership teams to understand workflows, identify transformation opportunities, rapidly prototype solutions and drive production adoption. The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise with exceptional business acumen and excels in ambiguous, high-impact environments where technology and organizational change must advance together.
The Head of Innovation will be responsible for setting up and overseeing the internal structure for innovation across ECM, defining and implementing an executable framework and supporting the adoption of innovation programs and structures across the bank. This will include creating and/or updating policies, procedures, and controls that align with organizational goals, innovation structures and regulatory requirements.
Business Process Transformation:
Design future-state operating models that leverage technology and AI to improve efficiency, risk-management, and decision-making
Embed alongside core ECM delivery pillars (EPMO, G&O and OCM) and Business teams to understand current state processes and identify opportunities to augment or automate workflows using AI, data products and automation technologies
Deploy and integrate AI, analytics and workflow solutions into enterprise platforms and business processes
Build prototypes and production ready solutions that demonstrate measurable business value
Partner with enterprise initiatives (e.g. AI Horizon) to leverage capability and inform strategic journey aligned to Change adoption, improvement and driven productivity solutions
Design multi-year implementation roadmaps to power accelerated and transparent execution, automated workflow management and uplifted controls, reporting, oversight and monitoring; influence product, platform, and data roadmaps based on real-world business needs and adoption patterns
Develop integrations, APIs, automation workflows, and custom applications that connect enterprise systems and data assets
Work closely with architecture, engineering, and platform teams to ensure innovative solutions are scalable and supportable
Responsible for continuous improvement and automation of business processes, leveraging tools and technology to automate intake, assessments and/or reporting
Organizational Change Acceleration:
Partner with Hub & Spoke enterprise Change teams to drive adoption, training and stakeholder engagement and business readiness
Be a Change Champion across ECM and the wider enterprise, support implementation of solutions and drive uplift of innovation skills across ECM’s partners through AI enablement and other tooling
Define and implement strategic feedback loops; capturing insights from deployment activities and user interactions
Work closely with Organizational Change Management (OCM), to support the stand up of ECM’s center of excellence and advisory capability across NT, with an enhanced readiness and adoption toolkit
Professional and Technical Competencies:
Strong ability to understand complex business problems and rapidly translate them into pragmatic technical solutions
Experience implementing AI copilots, agentic workflows, RAG architectures, or intelligent automation solutions
Familiarity with orchestration frameworks, vector databases, and prompt engineering concepts
Hands-on experience with Azure, AWS, or GCP preferred
Experience working with enterprise data platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, Azure Data Platform, or similar
Ability to influence stakeholders and build alignment across business, technology, risk, and operations teams
Comfortable engaging with both senior executives and technical practitioners
Able to explain complex technical concepts in simple business language
Thrives in fast-moving environments with evolving requirements and unclear problem definitions
Focuses on measurable business impact rather than technical implementation alone
Takes responsibility from problem identification through deployment, adoption, and value realization
Knowledge, Skills & Experience Required:
Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Management, or a related field. An advanced degree or certification in Program Management (PMP, CAPM) and/or Organizational Change Management (CCMP, CMS) is preferred.
Proven experience in executing and implementing AI models and/or tooling, preferably within a change management context.
Strong understanding of change management principles and practices, and the ability to apply this understanding for automation, RPA and AI enablement.
Excellent organizational and leadership skills, with the ability to manage complex processes and workflows.
Strong analytical skills, with the ability to create reports and provide insights into the change management process.
Ability to identify, scope, plan and assess change initiatives
Experience with portfolio, program and change management applications/tools, and the ability to oversee their use within a business context.
#LI-Hybrid
Salary Range:
$164,600 - 288,000 USDSalary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Work Authorization
Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa).
Working with Us
As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve.
Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities.
Reasonable Accommodation
Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected], or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.
Northern Trust Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
50 S. La Salle, Chicago, IL, United States, 60603
Northern Trust Naperville, Illinois, USA Office
Naperville, United States
Northern Trust North Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
North Chicago, United States
Similar Jobs
.png)
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
