Data and AI Engineer Director | Market Lead

Overview

Director-level Market Lead to head Thoughtworks UKI Data & AI practice. You blend deep technical solutioning with commercial acumen, engaging C-suite stakeholders and shaping an AI-first delivery model. You will build and mentor a cross-functional team, scale the practice, and drive multi-year P&L focused programs. This role combines architecture credibility with strategic deal-making in a hybrid, London-favored setting.

Responsibilities

• Drive commercial success on complex Data & AI deals across UKI, from opportunity shaping to signed contracts, including fixed-price and outcome-based models
• Partner with tech advisory and industry leads to align architecture, commercial story, and sector insight
• Frame business-outcome hypotheses and design thin slices of delivery to prove value quickly
• Maintain close delivery awareness to ensure realism and shared accountability for deal outcomes
• Lead growth of the UKI Data & AI practice, building and mentoring a high-performing team
• Coordinate demand and capacity with delivery and talent leads to optimize staffing and reduce bench
• Shift capability mix towards production AI engineering and agentic delivery via hiring, reskilling, and onboarding
• Manage executive-level relationships with CDOs, CIOs, CISOs and other CXOs; advise on AI strategy, risk, governance, and regulatory expectations in UK and wider markets
• Build and manage robust sales pipelines and lead strategic client workshops
• Drive P&L ownership with targets around TCV (50-75 M GBP) and ACV (45-50 M GBP)
• Lead and influence through change in a matrix organization, aligning commercial goals with delivery capability

Key requirements

• Significant senior experience in data and AI consulting (15+ years) with leadership track record
• Proven history of selling large-scale data and AI deals, including GenAI or agentic engagements
• Strong solutioning background across data platforms, governance, and AI systems in production
• AI-depth with recent focus (last 2–4 years) but solid data foundations
• Cloud proficiency on at least one major platform (GCP, AWS, or Azure); Snowflake or Databricks experience a plus
• Familiarity with AI tooling and model platforms on cloud; experience with NVIDIA and modern stacks is beneficial
• Comfort with P&L, ROI conversations, and CFO-level negotiations
• Experience leading and scaling large teams in a matrix, through organizational change
• London-based or within two-hour commute; UK-wide remit; travel 1–2 days/week

• Executive presence and C-level communication
• Ability to challenge assumptions and facilitate strategic workshops
• Comfort navigating ambiguity and maturing competency frameworks
• Data platforms and data products
• Data governance and production AI systems
• Agentic AI and LLM-based systems

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