Lead Data Scientist

If you’re currently leading Data Science projects in a consulting or client-facing environment and want the opportunity to build a function rather than simply contribute to one, this role offers a rare chance to shape the direction of Data Science within an AI-driven business. You’ll combine team leadership, client engagement, and hands-on machine learning while influencing both product strategy and commercial outcomes., As Lead Data Scientist, you will be responsible for building and developing the Data Science function while remaining closely involved in the most commercially important analytical work.

You will:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Data Scientists.
• Establish modelling standards, validation frameworks, and best practices.
• Deliver forecasting, customer segmentation, propensity modelling, and machine learning solutions.
• Take ownership of complex analytical challenges from design through to deployment.
• Work closely with Product, Engineering, and commercial teams to deliver business impact.
• Partner directly with clients and senior stakeholders, translating analytical outputs into strategic recommendations.
• Help drive the adoption of AI tools and LLMs across the Data Science workflow.
• Support model deployment, monitoring, governance, and ML Ops practices.
• Influence the future growth and structure of the Data Science team.

We’re particularly interested in candidates who can combine technical excellence with strong consulting and stakeholder management skills., * Strong commercial experience within Data Science, Machine Learning, or Applied AI.

• Experience leading and developing Data Scientists within a team environment.
• A consulting, professional services, or highly client-facing background. This is essential.
• Strong Python and SQL expertise.
• Experience delivering forecasting, segmentation, propensity modelling, and predictive analytics projects.
• Exposure to production machine learning environments and ML Ops practices.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience presenting insights and recommendations to senior business audiences.
• A track record of translating analytics into measurable commercial outcomes.

• Salary up to £95,000
• The opportunity to shape and lead a growing Data Science function.
• A genuine player-manager position with both strategic and hands-on responsibility.
• Direct exposure to senior stakeholders and client engagements.
• Clear progression opportunities as the organisation continues to scale.
• A collaborative environment where Data Science is central to business and product decision-making.

They are a specialist AI and analytics business focused on helping enterprise organisations unlock greater value from their customer data. Combining consulting expertise with proprietary technology, they partner closely with clients to solve complex commercial challenges through machine learning, forecasting, customer analytics, and decision intelligence.

Unlike many organisations where Data Science operates separately from business outcomes, their teams work directly with stakeholders to ensure insights lead to measurable action. As the business continues to scale, they are looking for a Lead Data Scientist to take ownership of the function, develop the team, and help define best practice across both client delivery and product development.