Director of Enterprise AI and Data Strategy

<div class="description content"> <p>We are looking for a Director-level Market Lead to head our Data & AI practice in the UK & Ireland. This is a hybrid leadership role. You combine deep technical solutioning with real commercial skill, and you are credible both in an architecture debate and across the table from a CDO, CIO or CFO.</p> <p>Our delivery model is shifting from large time-and-materials teams to small, AI-first pods working against a business outcome. As Market Lead, you will shape how we take that model to UKI clients: what we sell, how we price it, and how we staff and deliver it. You will lead a core team of 5–6 direct reports and a wider matrix of around 50-75 people across UKI, and you will help them build the skills this shift requires. We are developing these ways of working together.</p> <p> </p> <h2 id="job-responsibilities">Job responsibilities</h2> <ul> <li>The successful candidate is a true dual-threat practitioner, equally at home in a complex architecture discussion and in closing a large commercial deal.</li> <li>Drive commercial success on complex Data & AI deals across UKI, from shaping the opportunity through to a signed deal. This includes structuring fixed-price and outcome-linked commercial models, and understanding delivery cost, margin and risk.</li> <li>Partner with tech advisory and industry domain leads from pre-sale through delivery, so the commercial story, the architecture and the sector insight reinforce one another.</li> <li>Frame and test business-outcome hypotheses with executives, and define thin slices of delivery that prove value quickly.</li> <li>You stay close enough to delivery to know what is realistic, and you share accountability for outcomes on the deals you sell.</li> <li>Spearhead growth of the UKI Data & AI practice: build, lead, scale and mentor a high-performing team.</li> <li>Work with delivery and talent leads to match demand with capacity, so the right people and pods are available when deals land. Keep specialist skills sourced and bench waste low.</li> <li>Shift the practice's capability mix towards production AI engineering and agentic delivery, through hiring, reskilling and role-based onboarding.</li> <li>Manage executive-level relationships with CDOs, CIOs, CISOs and other CXOs. Act as a sparring partner on AI strategy: challenge assumptions, size the opportunity, and help clients decide where agentic automation and AI can move the P&L.</li> <li>Build and manage robust sales pipelines and lead strategic client workshops.</li> <li>Advise clients on responsible AI, covering risk, governance and regulatory expectations in the UK and wider markets.</li> <li>Expected to lead and drive P&L with TCV of 50 -75 M GBP and ACV of 45-50 M GBP/</li> <li>Expected experience and capabilities in driving all P&L criterias including sales, margin, utilization, bench management, training, learning, partnership based sales etc.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <h2 id="job-qualifications">Job qualifications</h2> <h3 id="technical-skills">Technical Skills</h3> <ul> <li data-path-to-node="3,0,0"><strong data-path-to-node="3,0,0" data-index-in-node="0">Enterprise Tech & AI Architecture:</strong> Deep proficiency in at least one major cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure), modern data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks), and AI/NVIDIA ecosystems.</li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="3,1,0"><strong data-path-to-node="3,1,0" data-index-in-node="0">Data/AI Production Experience (70/30 Split):</strong> 15+ years in data consulting with concentrated recent depth (last 2–4 years) in productionizing AI, LLMs, and agentic systems.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="3,2,0"><strong data-path-to-node="3,2,0" data-index-in-node="0">Delivery & Risk Management:</strong> Deep understanding of the realities of deploying AI into production—specifically evaluating failure modes, delivery costs, governance, and technical risks (not just drawing architecture diagrams).</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="3,3,0"><strong data-path-to-node="3,3,0" data-index-in-node="0">Complex Deal Structuring:</strong> Proven history of shaping and selling large-scale Data & AI deals, specifically transitioning clients to outcome-linked or fixed-price commercial models.</p> </li> <li> <p data-path-to-node="3,4,0"><strong data-path-to-node="3,4,0" data