Head of Artificial Intelligence

Head of AI

London / Hybrid 3 days

The Company

We’re working with a global, technology-led financial services business that’s in the middle of a major data and AI transformation in the UK.

They already have a mature AI function in the US, strong engineering teams and a clear ambition to bring that capability to the UK at pace. They want leaders who can do more than talk about AI. They want people who can set the direction, take ownership of the outcome and bring a large engineering organisation with them.

The UK business is investing in modernising its data estate, moving towards real-time, decentralised architecture and embedding AI across engineering and the wider organisation.

The Problem

The UK technology organisation has historically been centralised and heavily batch-based, built largely on AWS. The ambition now is to modernise that estate, move towards decentralised data ownership, increase real-time processing, and replace one-off pipelines with reusable patterns so teams can deliver far faster.

At the same time, AI is moving from experimentation to production. Teams are already using tools like Claude Code to accelerate their own engineering, and there’s a growing pipeline of AI-enabled products, much of it building on the foundations already established in the US.

But the technology is only part of the problem. Different teams have different priorities. Governance and risk need to be built in from the start. And a regulated financial services business can’t simply copy what a technology company does.

Your job is to set the direction for how the UK builds, governs and scales AI, and to make it work in practice.

You’ll need to understand where AI can genuinely add value, break down ambiguous problems, challenge assumptions and make informed decisions about what to build, what to buy and what to leave alone.

Sometimes that means building something. Sometimes it means explaining why something shouldn’t be built.

You’ll be responsible for taking the organisation on that journey, from agreeing the right approach through to AI that is safely in production and delivering measurable value.

The Person

We’re looking for a senior AI leader who combines real technical credibility with the judgement, influence and communication skills of a trusted executive.

Someone who can move comfortably between a technical discussion with engineers and a conversation with senior business leaders.

You’ll be someone who:

• THINKS CRITICALLY: You don’t take requirements at face value. You ask good questions, challenge assumptions and look beyond the immediate request to understand the underlying problem.
• SETS DIRECTION: You can define an AI strategy and roadmap that engineering teams and business leaders both believe in.
• USES GOOD JUDGEMENT: You understand technical trade-offs, including governance, risk and control, and can make sound decisions when there’s no obvious answer.
• BUILDS TRUST: You’re comfortable working with executives, managing expectations, explaining difficult concepts and bringing people with you.
• TAKES OWNERSHIP: You don’t wait for a perfectly defined brief. You lead the work and are accountable for the outcome.
• BUILDS TEAMS AND CAPABILITY: You can hire, coach and grow engineers and applied specialists, and raise the capability of teams you don’t manage directly.
• STAYS CLOSE TO THE WORK: You’ve been a strong hands-on engineer, and you stay close enough to the technology to judge quality and to step in when it matters.

From a technical perspective, we’d expect:

• Strong software engineering foundations, particularly Python.
• A track record of taking AI into production at scale, including LLM and agentic applications, with evaluation, monitoring and production controls.
• Experience on AWS and modern cloud-native engineering practices.
• Experience integrating AI with enterprise applications and data.
• Experience establishing AI governance, risk and engineering standards across multiple teams.
• Experience in a regulated industry, ideally financial services.
• A practical understanding of how AI-assisted development changes how engineering teams work.

You don’t necessarily need a banking background.

You might be a Head of AI, Head of Machine Learning or Director of Engineering who has led teams through the move from experimentation to production, and is ready for a bigger organisation and a bigger mandate.

What matters is that you can think independently, communicate clearly, lead others and still understand how the solution gets built.

How You’ll Be Measured

Success in this role isn’t about the number of AI demonstrations you deliver or the size of the team you build.

It’s about the quality of the problems you solve and the confidence the organisation has in your direction.

• DIRECTION: Can you set an AI strategy that engineering and business leaders buy into and follow?
• PRODUCTION DELIVERY: Can the organisation take AI from idea to secure, reliable production under your leadership?
• BUSINESS IMPACT: Does what’s been built solve the original problem and deliver measurable value?
• GOVERNANCE: Can you balance pace and innovation with the risk, control and compliance expected in financial services?
• CAPABILITY: Are engineering teams more skilled and more self-sufficient because of you?
• TRUST: Do senior leaders rely on you for sound technical advice?

Why Join?

This is an opportunity to shape how a major financial services business builds with AI in the UK, with the backing of a mature US AI organisation and a business that’s genuinely investing in the change.

You’ll work on genuinely complex problems, across several teams, with real influence over both the technology and how it’s delivered.

You won’t be hidden behind layers of process or handed a list of tickets.

You’ll be expected to ask questions, challenge thinking, make decisions and take responsibility for the outcome.

If you’re the leader who enjoys understanding the problem as much as shaping the solution, I’d like to hear from you.

Message me directly or apply, and I’ll share more about the opportunity in confidence.