This role exists to determine the best way to solve validated business problems through Innovation & AI. The Innovation & AI Product Incubation Lead transforms strategic opportunities into validated Innovation & AI solutions through discovery, experimentation, prototyping, and pilot execution. This leader owns the end-to-end incubation process — from discovery and user research through POC / prototype, solution definition, proven hypothesis and transition into Product Engineering for productizing the solution and working closely with Product Engineering (Covista Product Management & engineering team) to execute and deliver on the business outcome. The role partners closely with Innovation & AI Product Strategy, Innovation Engineering, Product Families, UX, Architecture, and Engineering to reduce delivery risk before future investment into productizing the solution. It is a highly collaborative, inward-facing product leadership role focused on building the right solution, validating assumptions quickly, and ensuring Product Engineering receives well-defined, execution-ready initiatives.Core Mission Answer one question: What is the best solution to this business problem, and is it worth scaling? This role leads discovery, validates customer and business assumptions, prototypes solutions, and prepares initiatives for successful transition into Product Engineering. What Success Looks Like in Year One A repeatable discovery-to-prototype process that consistently surfaces whether an idea is worth building, fast A track record of clean handoffs — Product Engineering accepts what it receives without reworking the problem POC & Prototypes that produce a clear, data-backed answer on whether to scale, pause, or sunset Product Discovery Conduct user research Define product vision Validate user problems Validate opportunities identified through Innovation & AI Product Strategy Product Incubation Lead design thinking workshops Build product hypotheses Validate desirability, feasibility, and viability Define an experimentation strategy to determine the Minimum Marketable Product (MMP) needed to validate business value Innovation & AI Solution Definition Partner with Innovation & AI engineers Define Innovation & AI use cases Evaluate Innovation & AI capabilities Define data requirements Assess technical feasibility Manage Innovation & AI risks Product Leadership Create PRDs Prioritize discovery activities, prototypes, and poc learning Define user stories Establish success metrics Partner with UX Drive iterative learning Pilot Leadership Define pilot strategy Lead pilot execution Measure adoption Validate business outcomes Refine based on learning Transition to Product Engineering Recommend readiness for transition into Product Engineering based on validated customer, technical, and business outcomes Partner with Product Families Support engineering execution Ensure knowledge transfer Remain engaged through delivery Support enterprise rollout  Continue partnering through delivery to protect validated assumptions and intended business outcomes 
