Founding Practice Lead — AI Governance
A new credentialed institution is being built to deliver
independent AI governance verification — at the level a
regulator-facing examination requires — for UK regulated firms,
EU institutions navigating the AI Act, and GCC sovereign
clients.
The category is genuinely empty. No credentialed institutional
player owns it today. Big Four advisory firms are structurally
conflicted. Software platforms produce dashboards, not signed
Verdicts. Law firms deliver opinions, not operational
assessments. Notified Bodies for AI are not yet designated. The
institutional seat is being built now — and we are recruiting
the founding practitioner to help build it.
The institution operates on the Lloyd's-of-London architecture.
Senior figures of standing — former financial regulators, King's
Counsel, Tier-1 academics, sovereign programme directors — sit
as Founding Fellows and sign the assessments under named
authority. The paired infrastructure produces the sealed,
recomputable artefact the regulator-facing examination receives.
We are building what does not yet exist and will be the
institutional standard.
We are recruiting one founding practitioner to design the
methodology, the platform-integration architecture, and the
Fellow-readiness operations the institution will run on — and
to lead the assessments themselves once engagement letters
begin landing.
This is not a delivery role inside an established firm. This is
a co-founding role inside an institution being built in real
time. Engagement structure (full-time, part-time, or other) is
discussed in conversation and tailored to the right candidate.
WHY NOW
UK SM&CR Section 36, FCA Consumer Duty, the EU AI Act
(Articles 17 and 43 conformity assessment, Annex III high-risk
obligations), the EU Machinery Regulation, UAE Federal PDPL,
DIFC Regulation 10, and SDAIA frameworks are simultaneously
mandating independent AI governance attestation. UK firms are
running readiness programmes already. Provider-led conformity
assessment in the EU strengthens demand for credentialed
third-party validation — because legal accountability for the
conformity claim sits squarely on the provider organisation.
The window in which institutional verification becomes
mandatory is 2026 to 2029. The first-mover advantage is real
and time-limited.
THE FIRST NINETY DAYS — THREE STREAMS OF WORK
Methodology architecture. Translate a five-dimension
governance framework into documented assessment rubrics,
scoring criteria, evidence protocols, and the assessment
template that Fellows will sign. Author the methodology
playbook v1 — which becomes the institutional standard.
Platform integration. Work alongside the engineering lead to
define what the operator portal must capture, structure
canonical JSON, design evidence-intake architecture, and
ensure the seal pipeline matches methodology output.
Fellow-readiness operations. Build per-Fellow conflict-check
workflows, hardware-key onboarding process, signing protocol,
scheduling system. Ensure the operational stack is ready
before the first engagement letter signs.
Once the first engagements begin landing, you lead delivery
alongside the founder commercially and the named Fellow on
substantive sign-off. The work you build in Phase 1 becomes
the institutional standard.
CAREER PATH — TWELVE TO THIRTY-SIX MONTHS
The role is designed to evolve as the institution scales.
Title and scope progress against business milestones, not
against time:
— Founding Practice Lead (Day 1)
Methodology, platform integration, Fellow-readiness, first
Verdicts.
— Practice Lead (post first paid Verdict)
Runs the Verdict pipeline, co-leads standards-body
engagement, recruits and oversees Reserve Fellows.
— Director (post Series A close OR third paying client)
Owns the Practice end-to-end, leads regulator engagement,
manages Practitioner team.
— VP / Chief of Practice (post fifth client OR institutional
accreditation milestone)
Institutional voice, partner-track economics, co-founder
participation in strategic decisions.
The path is not theoretical. It is structurally aligned to the
milestones the institution must clear to scale, and the equity
vesting milestones reflect the same trajectory. The candidate
who ships methodology v1, signs the first Verdicts, and
represents the institution at standards-body level is on the
Co-founder ladder.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
You have personally built and delivered an AI governance, AI
risk, or AI assurance framework or assessment — either to an
external regulated client as the lead practitioner, or as the
senior architect of an enterprise-internal Responsible AI
programme that could withstand external scrutiny.
You have working knowledge of at least two of:
— EU AI Act (Article 14 human oversight, Annex III high-risk
obligations, Articles 17 and 43 conformity regime)
— UK FCA SM&CR Section 36 and Consumer Duty
— ISO 42001 and NIST AI Risk Management Framework
— Model risk management (SR 11-7, PRA SS1/23)
— UK GDPR Article 22 and the ICO AI Auditing Framework
You have authored a governance framework or methodology from
scratch — not adapted, not extended.
You can draft an assessment that a Chief Risk Officer will
sign their name to defending in front of a regulator. That is
the standard.
You are ready to step out of an established firm's pyramid and
into a founding role where the work you build becomes the
institutional standard you will run for the next decade.
WHAT THIS ROLE OFFERS
— A founding role in a credentialed institution being built to
last — your name on the institutional standard from Day 1.
— Founding equity in the operating company, milestone-vested
against foundation, delivery, and scale milestones.
— Career progression from Founding Practice Lead to Director
to VP / Chief of Practice — gated to business milestones,
not annual reviews.
— Co-founder participation in strategic decisions as the
institution scales.
— Direct line to the founder. No middle layer. No internal
political cycle.
— Engagement structure (full-time, part-time, or otherwise)
discussed in conversation and tailored to the right
candidate.
— First-mover advantage in a category with no incumbent. The
institution you help build will be the one others copy.
Specific compensation is discussed in direct conversation, not
advertised.
THE FOUNDER
Led by a founder with eighteen years in specialist executive
search across financial services, luxury, and regulated
sectors. The founder is the sole enterprise sales lead in
Year 1 — you will not be expected to originate. You will be
expected to deliver and to help shape what the institution
becomes.
BEFORE YOU APPLY
One question to ask yourself.
Have you personally built an AI governance framework,
methodology, or assessment that could survive external
regulator scrutiny — and are you ready to build the
institution that runs it for the next decade?
If yes — apply via LinkedIn. In your application, include one
paragraph describing that specific framework or engagement:
the institution context, the framework or risk you were
addressing, your role as architect or lead practitioner, and
the deliverable.
That paragraph is the application. CVs without it will not be
reviewed.