AI Transformation Leader

INTRODUCTION Are you interested in building the AI operating model for a global industrial company, not simply inheriting one? Metso is moving from separate AI experiments toward coordinated enterprise delivery. As VP, AI Transformation, you will lead that shift. You will define the company’s AI direction, help determine where investment and engineering attention should be focused, and turn priority opportunities into tools that improve how Metso operates and serves its customers. Your primary mandate is transformation. You will lead Metso’s company-wide AI programme and bring business areas, corporate functions, IT, data and digital teams together around shared priorities and ways of working. You will also act as the company’s senior technical authority for AI and lead the central engineering team responsible for solutions serving group functions. This is not a role focused only on strategy, governance or experimentation. You will join at the point where AI is moving into practical enterprise use, with the mandate to shape both the direction and the operating model behind it. The role can be based in Espoo or Tampere, Finland. Because the position involves close cooperation with Metso’s senior leadership, regular presence at the Espoo headquarters is required. Travel may account for up to 20% of working time. TEAM YOU BELONG TO You will report to the Chief Growth Officer and join the Business Growth Leadership Team. Metso uses a distributed AI model, with developers and engineers working across business areas and corporate functions. You will initially lead a few AI professionals, with some additional hires already under way. As the delivery portfolio grows, you will shape the further development of the central team. Across Metso, hundreds of colleagues already contribute to AI-related development, experimentation and adoption. Your role is to connect this distributed community around shared priorities, platforms and engineering standards. WHAT YOU’LL DO In your first 12 months, you’ll: Establish a clear AI strategy for Metso, covering business priorities, technology choices, global deployment and the company’s approach to vendor dependence and AI sovereignty Turn the company-wide AI transformation programme from launch into coordinated delivery, with agreed priorities, ownership, governance and measures of business value. Move selected group-function initiatives toward practical adoption. These include Ask Metso, an AI-supported employee knowledge and self-service solution, AI-powered marketing, and tools supporting strategy execution. Set the engineering and architecture direction that distributed AI teams can follow across Metso. Build the operating model for a growing central AI engineering team and a wider company network of developers, data professionals and business owners. Your core responsibilities include: Lead Metso’s company-wide AI transformation programme and maintain a clear portfolio of priorities across the Aggregates and Minerals business areas and corporate functions. Own the enterprise AI strategy and help senior leaders make informed investment, prioritization and build-versus-buy decisions. Act as Metso’s technical authority for AI, setting engineering standards, architecture principles and secure development practices. Lead and grow the central AI engineering team, which develops solutions for group functions and provides specialist support to distributed teams. Create a shared operating model based on common platforms, reusable components, clear governance and accountable business ownership. Work with IT, Data & Analytics, digital teams and business leaders to move valuable AI solutions into production and everyday use. WHAT YOU’LL BRING You could be a strong match if you bring: Experience leading a significant AI, software, digital or technology transformation from direction-setting into enterprise delivery. Strong technical knowledge of AI, supported by a software engineering background and practical understanding of how AI-enabled solutions are architected, developed, deployed, secured and maintained. Evidence of connecting technology investment with measurable business results, rather than focusing only on experimentation or technical output. Experience setting direction across distributed teams and influencing senior stakeholders without relying on direct reporting authority. The judgement and credibility to challenge technical and business decisions, make priorities clear and explain complex issues in plain language. Experience leading change in an established organization where technology, operating models and everyday ways of working need to develop together. Ability to maintain regular working presence at Metso’s Espoo headquarters and travel up to 20% when needed. Experience in industrial, engineering or B2B technology environments would be useful, as would exposure to customer-facing digital products, external AI partners and practical build-versus-buy decisions. These are advantages rather than strict requirements. WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU Few AI leadership roles offer this combination of technical influence, enterprise transformation and practical delivery. You will join at a stage when Metso’s company-wide AI strategy, operating model and delivery portfolio are still being built. You will have a genuine mandate to shape them, working directly with senior leadership and teams across a global industrial business of nearly 18,000 people. The opportunity is larger than the direct reporting line. While leading a growing central engineering team, you will set direction for a much wider network of AI, software, data and business professionals across Metso. This will suit someone who builds influence through technical credibility, clear decisions and visible delivery. Metso’s industrial setting also creates a different type of AI opportunity. Your work can affect not only internal efficiency, but also how an established global company develops products, serves customers and supports more sustainable use of natural resources. If you want to move beyond pilots and help define how AI is put to work across a real global business, this role offers the mandate and visibility to do it.