AI Data & Automation Lead, Data Lakes, AWS, Outside IR35, AI, London

AI Data & Automation Lead required to work for a fast growing and already established company based in Central London. This is initially a 3 month rolling contract, outside of IR35 and there is likely to be circa 12 months’ worth of work here.

Initially you will be walking into a bit of a mess! Lots of ‘behind the times’ technology, lots of spreadsheets, manual data and manual processes…and it will be your job to fix it all, taking this organisation into the New World! If it was all fixed, it would be boring…right?!

Our client is undertaking a significant transformation of its Investment Data & Operations capability, modernising the way investment data is captured, governed, consumed and leveraged across the organisation. As part of this journey, we are seeking a highly capable AI Data & Automation Lead to help shape and deliver the next generation of data-driven investment operations.

This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in the evolution of this company’s data platform, automation strategy and AI-enabled operating model. The successful candidate will combine strong technical expertise with excellent stakeholder engagement skills, operating as both a hands-on delivery lead and strategic advisor to the business. The role centres on investment data modernisation, data lakes, automation and AI-assisted workflows. Read on for more details…, * Lead the design and evolution of a modern data architecture, leveraging cloud-based data lake technologies and scalable data engineering practices.

• Define and deliver a roadmap for transforming investment operations through automation, workflow modernisation and AI enabled solutions.
• Build and oversee data pipelines integrating portfolio management, market data, reporting, operational and financial systems.
• Partner with technology, data and operational stakeholders to establish robust governance, monitoring, controls and data quality standards.
• Identify manual processes across investment operations and redesign them into efficient, automated workflows.
• Develop reporting, analytics and operational intelligence capabilities using modern data platforms and automation tooling.
• Drive adoption of AI and Large Language Model (LLM) solutions to improve productivity, insight generation and process efficiency.
• Work closely with business stakeholders to understand operational challenges and prioritise opportunities that deliver measurable value.
• Establish sustainable governance frameworks ensuring long-term scalability, reliability and maintainability of data assets and automated processes.
• Act as a trusted advisor across both technical and non-technical audiences, translating complex concepts into practical business outcomes.

• Heavy and hardened tech background in Development and Data - ideally you will be a Computer Science graduate (or something like for like) and your tech journey would have started out around there.
• Strong experience designing and delivering enterprise data lake environments, ideally using AWS, Databricks or similar modern cloud platforms. Azure and GCP backgrounds are acceptable too.
• Proven background in data engineering, data architecture, integration or large-scale data transformation programmes.
• Experience building automated workflows, operational tooling and data driven business processes.
• Strong Python and SQL skills with the ability to work hands-on where required.
• Experience designing integrations across multiple enterprise platforms, APIs and external data sources.
• Knowledge of AI, machine learning or Large Language Model use cases within operational environments.
• Ability to operate across strategy, architecture and delivery while remaining pragmatic and outcome-focused.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation.
• Experience within investment management, asset management, financial services or similarly data-intensive environments would be highly beneficial, but not essential.

• Initial three-month rolling engagement.
• Expected contract duration of approximately 12 months.
• Opportunity to shape a significant data and AI transformation programme.
• High-profile stakeholder exposure across investment, operations, data and technology functions.
• Daily rate expected to be highly competitive and dependent upon experience.

This is an excellent contract opportunity and rate is dependent upon experience. Apply now for more details…

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