Lead / Principal Consultant (AI & Data Science)

I'm hiring multiple senior hires to join a growing AI and Digital Transformation consulting practice within a premium consultancy. This team has recently secured significant investment and is scaling quickly, with multiple hires across Lead and Principal level.

This is a role for people who want to own and deliver real AI transformation, not just advise on it.

A high-end consultancy working across defence, consumer, and public sector clients, known for delivering complex, high-impact programmes.

They've built a strong reputation on delivering measurable commercial outcomes, not just strategy - and are now investing heavily in expanding their AI capability to stay ahead of competitors.

You'll sit within the Digital / AI Consulting practice, working directly with clients to:

• Identify opportunities for AI and advanced analytics
• Design and deliver solutions end-to-end
• Embed those solutions into real business operations

This is a hands-on leadership role - combining delivery, client engagement, and mentorship of other consultants.

• Lead the design and delivery of AI and data science solutions (LLMs, NLP, ML, etc.)
• Work directly with senior client stakeholders to shape and deliver solutions
• Build and deploy end-to-end AI products, not just prototypes
• Apply technologies such as LLMs, RAG systems, and agentic workflows to real business problems
• Translate technical outputs into clear commercial value and measurable impact
• Mentor and develop consultants, helping build capability across the team
• Help shape the consultancy's AI offering and go-to-market approach

• Using LLMs to improve decision-making and workflow automation in complex environments
• Delivering predictive analytics in healthcare to improve outcomes and efficiency
• Building AI-driven optimisation tools in retail to improve pricing and margins
• Supporting large-scale programmes across defence and public infrastructure

• Strong data science / machine learning background
• Experience delivering AI / GenAI solutions (LLMs, NLP, etc.)
• Proven ability to take solutions from concept through to real-world deployment
• Experience leading projects, workstreams, or teams
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills - client-facing and commercially focused
• Evidence of measurable impact (revenue uplift, cost savings, efficiency gains, etc.)

• Consulting experience (highly preferred)
• Experience across regulated or complex sectors (defence, public sector, retail, etc.)
• Familiarity with modern stacks (Python, cloud, Databricks, APIs, etc.)
• Experience mentoring or leading junior team members

• Shape and scale a growing AI consulting capability
• Work on complex, high-impact projects across multiple industries
• Strong blend of technical delivery, commercial impact, and leadership
• High visibility internally and with clients
• Opportunity to progress to partner level over time

• London base (or nearest office)
• Hybrid working, with regular client travel
• 3 days total per week
• Flexible, project-led environment

• Online assessment (incl. logical / aptitude test)
• Informal first conversation (director-level, including short presentation)
• Final stage onsite in London (presentation + discussion)