Head of AI Practice

At Close Brothers we look to recruit individuals from all different backgrounds and encourage you to apply even if you don’t tick every box. We celebrate diversity and promote inclusivity. Vacancies are available on a part‑time, job‑share or full‑time basis because we know the best person for the job isn’t always available full‑time. Our aim is to facilitate requests wherever possible and managers will consider requests on an individual basis.

Join the Close Brothers Technology Team where you will lead the Automation function and be responsible for a mature estate of robotics deployed across all business units and for shaping and building an enduring, enterprise AI capability. Working as part of the Technology Product leadership team our ideal team member will have previous experience in technology, data/AI, analytics or automation with significant delivery in regulated financial services with excellent influencing and communication skills.

• Define and own the enterprise AI & Intelligent Automation strategy and multi‑year roadmap, aligning to Banking strategy, customer outcomes and risk appetite.
• Run the AI & Automation portfolio and benefits realisation: shape business cases, prioritise demand, set OKRs/KPIs, and report value, risk and delivery health to senior stakeholders.
• Direct the identification, assessment and delivery of high-impact use cases (e.g. service operations, underwriting support, credit and fraud analytics, colleague productivity) from POC to production.
• Establish a modern AI engineering capability (MLOps/LLMOps): model development, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, drift management and continuous improvement.
• Lead the core AI Practice, work closely with all other business units to deliver value and engage closely with the AI CoE (risk, compliance, architecture) to ensure AI is scaled safely across the organisation.
• Translate technical capability into business value and influence adoption through clear narratives.
• Contribute to governance forums (architecture review, model risk, data governance, operational risk) to ensure consistent decision‑making and adherence to policy.
• Lead a high‑performing, engaged team, and sponsor people initiatives within the team.

As a line manager, you will be responsible for inspiring and motivating your team, as well as developing performance through coaching. You will encourage your team to take responsibility for their own personal development and provide support through regular feedback.

We would love to hear from you if you have:

• Proven management of multidisciplinary technology teams and experience scaling a centre‑of‑excellence/practice.
• Experience of orienting technology functions around product and value, with a focus on incremental and agile delivery of continuous and sustainable value to the business.
• A track record delivering AI/technology solutions into production, including model lifecycle management and operational monitoring.
• Strong knowledge of responsible AI and model risk management concepts (e.g. fairness, explainability, auditability, validation, controls) and experience working with Risk/Compliance.
• AI/ML engineering: Python, modern ML frameworks, feature engineering, evaluation and experimentation design.
• MLOps/LLMOps: CI/CD for models, model registry, monitoring/observability, prompt/version management, RAG patterns, and secure deployment.
• Evidence of management development (e.g. people leadership programmes, coaching/mentoring training).

It is not essential but it would be great if you have:

• Experience implementing AI governance frameworks or chairing AI ethics/model risk forums.
• Knowledge of UK/EU AI regulatory landscape and practical implementation of controls.
• Professional certifications (cloud, security, agile/product) or postgraduate study in AI/ML/data science.
• Cloud certification (e.g. Azure / Data Engineer) and/or MLOps certification.
• Agile / Product certification (e.g. Scrum, SAFe, or equivalent).
• Security and risk certifications relevant to regulated environments (e.g. CISSP/CISM) and/or model risk qualifications.
• RPA platform certification.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We recognise that candidates may have specific needs that require adjustments to ensure they have a fair and equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities. Candidates who require the job description or application form in an alternative format, or any other adjustments, are encouraged to email us at recruit.ssc@closebrothers.com or request a call back.

About Us At Close Brothers we support employees to balance their work life priorities and in this role you will be able to enjoy a mixture of hybrid working. Close Brothers is a leading UK merchant banking group providing lending, deposit taking and securities trading. We employ approximately 3,000 people, principally in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Close Brothers Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250.