Head of Data & AI

This is a senior leadership contract role responsible for defining and delivering a comprehensive Data & AI strategy, embedding advanced analytics capabilities, and ensuring AI is deployed responsibly, securely, and at scale across the organisation.

The Opportunity

The successful candidate will own the end-to-end Data & AI agenda, ensuring data becomes a strategic asset that drives insight, innovation, and competitive advantage.

You will hold accountability for:

• AI and advanced analytics
• Reporting and business intelligence
• Data engineering
• Data governance
• Data platforms and infrastructure

This role requires both strategic vision and hands-on leadership capability to drive execution across a team of 10-15 data professionals.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Define and execute a comprehensive Data & AI strategy aligned to business objectives.
• Identify high-impact opportunities where data and AI can drive growth and efficiency.
• Plan, manage, and optimise the Data & AI function budget.
• Lead and develop a high-performing Data & AI team (10-15 professionals).
• Foster a culture of experimentation, continuous improvement, and responsible AI adoption.

Artificial Intelligence

• Lead AI innovation across the organisation.
• Oversee design, development, and deployment of AI/ML models and advanced analytics solutions.
• Drive operationalisation of AI from proof-of-concept through to production-scale systems and AI agents.
• Establish and chair AI governance forums, embedding ethics, compliance, and risk management.

Reporting & Analytics

• Drive data-led decision-making at executive and operational levels.
• Deliver scalable, accessible analytics capabilities.
• Enable insight-driven performance management frameworks.

Data Architecture, Platforms & Engineering

• Lead transition to modern, scalable, and resilient data platforms.
• Oversee secure, reliable, and scalable data pipeline architecture.
• Ensure robust implementation and operation of secure data infrastructure.

Data Governance

• Implement strong governance frameworks covering stewardship, metadata, and privacy controls.
• Champion best practice in data quality, lineage, and lifecycle management.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build strong relationships with senior business leaders and key partners.
• Translate complex business challenges into actionable AI and analytics solutions.
• Promote self-service data and AI communities across business and technical teams.
• Bring external insights and innovation into the organisation.

If you're an experienced Data leaderwhere you can build something from the ground up, we'd love to hear from you.