Principal Customer Innovation Lead
Pubblicato il 08-10-2026 - Octave in Roma
About The Role
Octave partners with the world's leading industrial and engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) organizations to turn ambiguous, high-value problems into productizable AI solutions. We do this through CoLabs — structured, time‑boxed co‑innovation engagements run in an 11‑week cycle across three stage gates, spanning our four portfolio pillars across the asset lifecycle: Design, Build, Operate, and Protect.
The Engagement Leader (EL) is the core resource of this model. As an EL, you own a strategic customer relationship in its entirety and are accountable for the outcomes of their CoLab engagement. You sit across the table from senior industrial executives, shape their fuzziest problems into scoped use cases with a clear value hypothesis, and orchestrate a cross‑functional squad to prove real value in weeks — not quarters. You are the single point of accountability the customer and Octave leadership both look to for whether an engagement is on track and creating value.
Each EL is dedicated to one customer and may run up to two use cases in parallel.
Each use case is delivered by a squad — a Technical Lead, an engineering team, and a pillar rep who carries the authority of the relevant portfolio pillar. You don't manage the squad as direct reports; you set direction and own the 'what and why,' partnering closely with the Technical Lead on the 'how.' You also serve as the conduit that channels what each engagement learns back into Octave's product pillars.
- Own the customer relationship. Hold trusted‑advisor status with senior stakeholders (engineering, digital/IT, innovation sponsors) and navigate their organization and priorities.
- Frame ambiguous problems. Turn ill‑defined customer pain into scoped use cases with a clear value hypothesis; own the Gate 1 intake and use case canvas.
- Lead the engagement. Run the structured 11‑week, three‑gate cycle and keep up to two parallel use cases progressing on time and on value.
- Orchestrate the squa