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Director of Data and AI
Department: Platform
Location: London
Description
We’re seeking a strategic Director of Data and AI to lead, develop, and empower our Data and AI teams. This role balances leadership with technical excellence; you’ll define how data, analytics, machine learning, and generative AI enable the wider business.
You’ll work closely with senior stakeholders, translating business objectives into a clear Data and AI strategy, and ensuring the team delivers scalable, trusted, secure, and commercially impactful solutions. The ultimate goal will be to establish Data and AI as a strategic capability that supports better decision-making, improves customer and partner outcomes, and unlocks new opportunities across the business.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, manage, and develop the Data and AI team, driving a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement
- Define and execute the Data and AI strategy in alignment with wider business goals
- Partner with senior stakeholders across Engineering, Product, Risk, Commercial, Finance, and the wider business to ensure Data and AI capabilities enable delivery, growth, and operational excellence
- Ensure the business has access to accurate, timely, and actionable data, enabling self-serve analytics and insight-led decision-making
- Own and improve the reliability, scalability, governance, quality, security, and performance of data and AI platforms, products, and services
- Establish clear metrics to measure the impact of Data and AI initiatives, data quality, model performance, adoption, and team effectiveness
- Drive best practices across data engineering, analytics, machine learning, data governance, experimentation, model monitoring, and responsible AI
- Ensure that AI solutions are robust, explainable, compliant, and aligned to business outcomes
- Support career development, mentoring, and succession planning within the team
- Contribute to wider technology and business leadership discussions, helping shape how data and AI are used responsibly and effectively across the organisation
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise
- Proven experience leading Data, Analytics, Machine Learning, or AI teams at a senior level; ideally within a fintech environment
- Strong people leadership skills, with a track record of building and developing high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams
- Experience defining and delivering Data and AI strategy aligned to business outcomes
- Deep understanding of modern data platforms, data architecture, data modelling, data pipelines, analytics engineering, machine learning systems, and AI-enabled products
- Strong knowledge of data governance, data quality, privacy, security, regulatory considerations, and responsible AI principles
- Experience delivering production-grade data and AI solutions, including model deployment, monitoring, evaluation, and lifecycle management
- Strong hands-on understanding of modern data and AI tooling, ideally including SQL, Python, Snowflake, dbt, Airflow, Metabase, Tableau, and AWS-based data services
- Experience with data ingestion, streaming, and change data capture tooling, such as Fivetran, Estuary, or similar platforms
- Experience working with cloud data warehouses and operational databases, particularly Snowflake and Postgres
- Familiarity with BI and self-serve analytics platforms such as Metabase and Tableau, with an understanding of how to drive adoption across business teams
- Experience with SQL transformation and analytics engineering workflows using dbt, including governance, standards, and enablement for analytics engineers
- Ability to oversee API-based and batch data extraction processes, particularly those built in Python and orchestrated using Airflow
- Understanding of machine learning tooling and lifecycle management, ideally including DVC, MLflow, Evidently AI, or equivalent platforms for experiment tracking, versioning, monitoring, and evaluation
- Ability to work effectively across a data ecosystem that uses a range of AWS services to support ingestion, orchestration, transformation, machine learning, monitoring, and platform operations
- Ability to influence and communicate effectively with senior stakeholders and non-technical audiences
- Commercial awareness with experience managing budgets, prioritising investment, and optimising data and AI costs
- A pragmatic, delivery-focused mindset with the ability to balance short-term business needs and long-term Data and AI strategy
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Job Benefits
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Why join YouLend?
- Award-Winning Workplace: YouLend has been recognised as one of the “Best Places to Work in 2024 and 2025” by the Sunday Times for being a supportive, diverse, and rewarding workplace.
- Award-Winning Fintech: YouLend has been recognised as a “Top 250 Fintech Worldwide” company by CNBC.
- It's just getting fun
- We have developed powerful solutions, secured significant partnerships, and are growing rapidly.
- The global opportunity is still massive, and YouLend is a raw organisation where we are only just getting started.
- Lots of upsides
- High-growth (>100% growth during 2022 and 2023), so clear outlook to compensation (bonus or share option appreciation) and career growth (through growth with the business).
- Well-capitalised with supportive private equity backing.
- Part of Banking Circle Group with a fully licensed Luxembourg bank, which can provide a balance sheet and support European expansion in otherwise complex regulated markets.
- Motivating work environment
- A high-quality team that pushes each other to succeed through direct feedback and aligned incentives.
- Strong, transparent team culture: we have each other’s backs.
- Independent work environment where results matter.
- Data-driven culture and emphasis on speed (anti-red tape).
We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:
- Stock options
- Private Medical Insurance (via Vitality)
- EAP with Health Assured
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave
- Great office space (including a gym!) in Central London
- Subsidised lunch (via Feedr)
- Deliveroo allowance if working late in the office
- Monthly in-office masseuse
- Team and Company socials
- Sports clubs
At YouLend, we champion diversity and embrace equal opportunity employment practices. Our hiring, transfer, and promotion decisions are exclusively based on qualifications, merit, and business requirements, free from any discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, nationality, or any other protected basis under applicable law.
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