Head of Data£90,000 - £100,000 + Bonus + Benefits Package | UK | Remote / Hybrid
Overview We are hiring a Head of Data to own the data architecture, engineering and governance that underpins our client's production-grade AI capability. This is a pivotal role responsible for ensuring the data powering regulated AI workflows is accurate and fit for purpose.
Working as part of the AI Pod, you will define and deliver the enterprise data strategy that enables Azure AI Foundry agents to operate safely within a highly regulated Wealth Management environment. You'll combine strategic data leadership with hands-on engineering, building modern data platforms, improving data quality and establishing the governance frameworks required to support AI at scale.
This is an opportunity to shape the data foundations on a significant transformation programme, working at the intersection of AI, cloud data engineering and financial regulation.
Key Responsibilities - Own and deliver the AI data strategy and enterprise data architecture
- Design end-to-end data solutions across Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Azure AI Foundry, Dataverse and third-party platforms
- Build and optimise cloud-native data pipelines to deliver trusted, production-ready data for AI consumption
- Develop data transformation, cleansing and enrichment processes across structured and unstructured data sources
- Implement robust data quality frameworks, validation rules and correction-in-flight mechanisms to ensure AI outputs are based on reliable information
- Design and maintain transcript and AI data pipelines supporting adviser workflows and automation
- Lead data migration quality assurance across CRM transformation programmes
- Establish governance frameworks covering data lineage, ownership, classification, access controls and auditability
- Ensure data platforms comply with FCA expectations, UK GDPR and internal security standards
- Produce architecture documentation, data models and governance artefacts to executive and regulatory standards
- Partner with engineering, AI, IT, Transformation and business stakeholders to define long-term data strategy and platform evolution
- Act as the senior data authority, advising leadership on data risks, architecture and delivery priorities
Skills & Experience - Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise data platforms and cloud-native data engineering solutions
- Strong experience with Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Lake or comparable modern data platforms
- Expertise building production data pipelines, transformation frameworks and scalable data models
- Strong SQL and Python (Pandas, PySpark or equivalent) development experience
- Experience designing data architectures that support AI, machine learning or intelligent automation workloads
- Deep understanding of data quality engineering, validation, monitoring and automated remediation
- Experience with Azure data services, REST APIs and enterprise system integration
- Ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on with architecture and engineering delivery
- Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with experience producing executive-level technical documentation
- Experience working within regulated industries where data quality and governance are business critical
Desirable - Experience with Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365
- Knowledge of UK Financial Services, Wealth Management or FCA-regulated environments
- Understanding of Consumer Duty and data governance best practices
- Experience supporting AI/LLM workloads including RAG, embeddings and AI data preparation
- Experience with enterprise CRM migrations and large-scale data transformation programmes
- Knowledge of Microsoft Purview, Azure Data Factory, Synapse or similar technologies
- Familiarity with wealth management platforms such as CashCalc or Oxford Risk
What This Role Offers - Reporting directly to the CITO / Transformation Director
- Ownership of the data platform with the opportunity to define enterprise data architecture from the ground up
- Direct influence over AI, data and technology strategy within a regulated wealth management business
- High-impact work enabling production AI solutions used in live regulated adviser journeys
- Flexible remote working with access to regional UK offices