AI & Automation Deployment Lead

Department: Core Operations

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Zinc - London

Compensation: £70,000 - £80,000 / year

Description

As our first AI & Automation Deployment Lead, you’ll be key to driving how we use AI and automations internally at Zinc. You’ll lead the charge in embedding automation, copilots, and AI-enabled processes across Ops, Legal, People, GTM, and Finance — making us faster, more consistent, and less error-prone.

You’ll partner with leaders across the business, and with our Tech and InfoSec teams, to deliver AI tools that are compliant, usable, and deliver real measurable value. You’ll be hands-on, both as a builder and as an enabler, helping teams adopt new ways of working and improving what we already have.

What success looks like:

• We’ve embedded AI‑enabled tools into multiple core functions and have seen meaningful reductions in manual work, errors, and time-to-task.
• Our teams feel confident using AI-enabled tools, and adoption is high.
• InfoSec & compliance are fully satisfied for all deployed tools.
• The solutions you deliver are scalable and maintainable, balancing speed with quality and governance.
• Clear metrics are tracked & reported: e.g. hours saved/week, cost avoided, adoption rates, error reduction.

Key Responsibilities

• Diagnosing workflows across Ops, Legal, People, GTM, Finance to identify high-impact opportunities for AI/automation.
• Designing, testing, and deploying AI-powered tools (agents, copilots, workflow automations) that improve efficiency and quality.
• Taking ownership of InfoSec and compliance requirements for any AI tools or agents adopted.
• Collaborating with the Tech team to integrate, extend, or build bespoke AI/automation where off-the-shelf solutions don’t cut it.
• Leading the uptake across teams: training, documentation, evangelism, and helping people become fluent with AI tooling.
• Defining, tracking, and reporting on KPIs related to adoption, time saved, error reduction, and business impact.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Essential Skills and Experience

• ~4+ years in roles centred on AI, automation, operations, or strategy — especially where you identified problems, built solutions, and delivered measurable outcomes.
• Direct experience implementing LLM-based solutions or AI/automation tools across multiple business functions.
• Strong familiarity with tools like Notion AI, Zapier, Copilot, HR/Legal AI platforms, automations (or equivalents).
• Strong analytical and metrics mindset: able to define what success looks like and measure it.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management: you’ll often be working with non-technical stakeholders in Legal, Finance, People, etc.
• Proven ownership, self-drive, ability to work independently and get things done.

Desirable Skills

• Programming or prototyping ability (Python, R, scripting) to help with proof-of-concepts.
• Experience in prompt engineering or fine-tuning LLMs.
• Experience with BI or analytics tools (SQL, dashboards) to build visibility into workflows.
• Prior experience at a high-growth startup or scaleup with rapid adoption of new tools/processes.

What we offer

Zinc offers a chance to work on a product that brings a fresh perspective on data ownership in hiring

• 24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off
• £1200 annual benefits allowance (ThanksBen), from month 2
• Early finish Fridays (16:00)
• Yearly company retreat abroad
• 30 days to Work from anywhere
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave (2 months full pay, then statutory)
• Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
• Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
• Unlimited access to MoreHappi coaching
• Company socials, quarterly team socials Free Monday lunches
• Nursery workplace benefit scheme (Yellownest)
• Option to lease an electric car through Electric Car Scheme
• Celebrated Zinc anniversaries