Global Head

Global Head - data & AI

Location: US/UK/Europe

Required Skills & Experience

Leadership & Commercial:

15+ years in Data & AI / Technology, with at least 5 years in a senior practice leadership or P&L ownership role.

Proven track record of building and scaling Data & AI practices in a consulting, systems integration, or managed services environment.

Experience managing a global team across multiple geographies with direct reports in at least two regions.

Demonstrated success in winning large-scale transformation programmes ($10M–$100M+) and advising clients through complex data and AI transformation journeys.

Strong commercial instincts: business development, deal shaping, pricing, margin management, and pipeline discipline.

Hands-On Technical Foundation (Essential):

Prior hands-on career as a Data Architect, Enterprise Architect, or Solutions Architect is strongly preferred — practitioner credibility is a key differentiator for this role.

Deep expertise in modern data platform architectures: Lakehouse, Data Mesh, Data Warehouse modernisation (Teradata/Oracle/Netezza to Snowflake/Databricks/BigQuery).

Solid understanding of cloud data platforms: Microsoft Azure (Fabric, Synapse, ADLS), AWS (Redshift, Glue, Lake Formation), GCP (BigQuery, Dataproc, Dataplex).

Strong working knowledge of AI/ML engineering, MLOps, LLMOps, Generative AI, and Agentic AI frameworks.

Familiarity with data governance tooling: Unity Catalog, Alation, Collibra, Purview, Snowflake governance, or equivalent.

Ability to review, challenge, and guide architectural decisions on complex programmes without being a bottleneck.

GTM & Offering:

Proven experience creating commercial offerings, go-to-market programmes, and sales plays for data or AI services.

Track record of building and operationalising presales functions — from qualification through to proposal and contract.

Experience managing hyperscaler and ISV partnerships (preferred: Microsoft, Databricks, Snowflake, AWS).

Demonstrated thought leadership: published content, public speaking, analyst interaction, or executive advisory.

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field.

Certifications in Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF, ZACHMAN), Cloud (Azure Expert, AWS SA Pro, GCP Professional Data Engineer), or AI/ML platforms.

Recognised industry thought leader with a public profile in enterprise AI and data transformation.

Prior experience in Telco, Media, or Connectedness-adjacent industries is a strong differentiator.

Familiarity with responsible AI frameworks, EU AI Act compliance, and sovereign AI considerations.

Experience with agentic AI architectures, LLMOps platforms, and AI compute infrastructure (GPU-as-a-service, sovereign AI clusters).