Associate Director - AI & Data Science

Associate Director – AI & Data Science

About the Role:

We are looking for an experienced Associate Director to join a growing AI and Data Science practice focused on helping organisations adopt AI safely, responsibly and at scale.

This is an opportunity to play a leading role in shaping and growing a high-performing AI capability, working with senior stakeholders across industry to deliver innovative AI, machine learning and advanced analytics solutions.

You will combine strategic leadership, technical expertise and commercial acumen to help organisations realise value from AI technologies while ensuring robust governance, scalability and operational excellence.

The role offers significant scope to influence the direction of the practice, contribute to thought leadership, build high-performing teams and drive business growth.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Leading and growing a multidisciplinary AI and Data Science team.
• Building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across industry and the wider AI ecosystem.
• Driving business development activity, market engagement and the growth of the project pipeline.
• Leading the design, development and deployment of AI and machine learning solutions.
• Advising clients on AI governance, model risk, validation and responsible AI practices.
• Collaborating with technical and non-technical stakeholders to translate business challenges into scalable AI solutions.
• Coaching and mentoring junior data scientists, analysts and machine learning engineers.

What We’re Looking For:

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven experience developing and executing business or practice strategy.
• Strong experience influencing senior stakeholders, including C-suite leadership.
• Experience building, leading and scaling technical AI or data science teams.
• Strong commercial awareness with experience in business development and winning work.
• End-to-end delivery experience across data science, analytics and machine learning projects.
• Strong understanding of AI and machine learning modelling techniques.
• Experience with AI governance, model validation and responsible AI frameworks.
• Experience coaching and mentoring technical teams.
• Strong coding standards and software engineering best practices, including testing and code reviews.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with Generative AI and Agentic AI.
• Experience designing or validating continuous monitoring frameworks for AI models.
• Experience with Azure Databricks, MLflow, Azure ML Services or similar platforms.
• Experience working within DevOps or MLOps environments.
• Experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Existing network within the UK AI, analytics or technology ecosystem.