Data & AI Internal Product Team Associate Director in Belfast

We are hiring an Associate Director to lead the strategy, oversight and delivery of Grant Thornton's Internal AI Product Team within Technology Consulting. The role will shape a clear internal AI product vision, translate senior management priorities into a pragmatic product roadmap, and ensure delivery of internal AI-enabled products, accelerators and workflow tools aligned to Grant Thornton's Data & AI offering. This is a senior strategic leadership role.

You will be expected to bring a proven track record of delivering data, AI, analytics, technology or product initiatives that are aligned to senior management's vision, commercially relevant, well governed and adopted by end users. You will provide oversight across the product portfolio, prioritise investment and delivery activity, lead multi-disciplinary teams, manage senior stakeholders, and ensure products move from concept and prototype into sustainable internal capability.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Define and own the internal AI product strategy, ensuring alignment with senior management priorities, Consulting objectives and Data & AI market direction.
• Translate senior leadership vision into a prioritised product roadmap, clear investment priorities, delivery milestones and measurable product success criteria.
• Provide oversight across the full product portfolio, including discovery, prioritisation, MVP definition, release planning, adoption and continuous improvement.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams across product analysis, AI engineering, data science, data engineering, governance and adoption activity.
• Set delivery standards for product governance, documentation, testing, quality assurance, release controls and user adoption.
• Engage Partners, Directors and senior internal stakeholders to understand priorities, shape product demand and secure adoption across the business.
• Provide strategic challenge and oversight on build-versus-buy decisions, product scope, technical feasibility, governance requirements and long-term maintainability.
• Ensure products are designed responsibly, with appropriate consideration of privacy, information security, explainability, human oversight, model limitations and EU/IE requirements.
• Identify opportunities to turn internal products into reusable IP, client delivery accelerators, proposal differentiators and market-facing assets.
• Coach and develop Assistant Managers, Senior Consultants and technical specialists within the internal product team.
• Report progress, risks, decisions and product performance clearly to senior management and relevant governance forums.
• Shape GenAI, RAG, document intelligence, workflow automation and analytics product opportunities.
• Support propositions and client-facing materials where internal product capability strengthens Grant Thornton's market position.

Skills and Experience:

• Degree or equivalent experience in a relevant discipline such as Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Business Analytics, Product Management or a related field.
• A minimum of 8 years professional experience in data, analytics, AI, product management, technology consulting, software delivery, automation, data governance or a related field.
• Proficiency in at least one relevant technology, platform or programming language such as SQL, Python, Power BI, Power Platform (Power Automate and Power Apps), Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Azure OpenAI, Databricks, Snowflake or equivalent tools.

We are looking for an experienced Data & AI product leader with strong strategic judgement, senior stakeholder credibility, delivery oversight and technical awareness. Candidates should be able to translate senior management vision into a practical product roadmap and lead delivery teams to produce usable, governed and scalable internal AI products.

Core experience and leadership skills:

• 8+ years in data, analytics, AI, product management, technology consulting, software delivery, automation, governance or related disciplines.
• Proven track record of delivering products, platforms, accelerators or technology-enabled capabilities aligned to senior management priorities.
• Strong strategic planning and portfolio oversight capability, including roadmap definition, prioritisation, governance and benefits tracking.
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams and providing delivery oversight across product, technical and business workstreams.
• Strong senior stakeholder management, including the ability to influence priorities and translate strategic direction into delivery plans.
• Ability to challenge product scope, technical feasibility, product risk, governance requirements and adoption plans constructively.
• Experience managing delivery risks, dependencies, budgets, workplans, release planning and product performance reporting.
• Commercial awareness and ability to identify opportunities for reusable IP, internal accelerators, proposal differentiation and market-facing propositions.
• Experience coaching and developing junior team members.
• Experience in consulting, professional services, internal product delivery or regulated, data-intensive environments is preferred.

About Us:

Grant Thornton Ireland is rapidly approaching 3,000 people, in 9 offices across Ireland, Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Bermuda. With a presence in over 149 countries around the world and a global network of 73,000 people, we bring our clients the local knowledge, national expertise and global presence to help them succeed wherever they’re located.

At GT, we work as trusted advisors, bringing local knowledge and national expertise, with a global presence, to help businesses succeed wherever they are located. We make business more personal by investing in building relationships and empowering our clients to make the right decisions for their organisation now and for the future.

At GT Ireland we don’t just predict your future, we build it.

A Career at GT:

Looking for a more fulfilling role in professional services? One where fresh thinking, collaboration and diversity are valued? At Grant Thornton we do things differently. What does this mean for you? A career in a more inclusive working environment, a more collaborative work culture, a more supported, flexible working role, more possibilities to grow and more opportunities to help shape the future for your clients.

We respect and value your experience. And we want you to bring your authentic self to work and be at your best. It is how it should be.

Grow with us:

At Grant Thornton, we care about our people and work hard to make you feel valued. If you are looking to deepen and develop your skills, knowledge, and experience throughout your career, then that is what you will get, and more.

Our Benefits:

Please follow this link for information on our generous benefits package.

Equity, diversity and inclusion:

At Grant Thornton, we provide equitable opportunities for all our colleagues. We are a responsible, sustainable business where equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) is at the forefront of our workplace culture agenda, and today, we continue to build and develop on our existing ED&I structure and strategy to meet our workplace culture needs.

People are at the heart of our business and teams built with varied individuals present diverse viewpoints, which need to be heard and valued. We are all at our best when we are able to be ourselves and we view integrity and authenticity as integral values to bring to our day-to-day work-life at the firm.

Diversity of thought, background and experience enables better decision-making, improves the quality of our delivery, and helps us to meet the needs of our clients. Our firm is built on people and their ideas, so we want to hear all the new perspectives and fresh thinking you have to offer.

Reward and benefits:

Our reward and benefits are designed to create an environment where our people can flourish. We are committed to building a culture where our people have access to the necessary benefits to help promote a healthy lifestyle and thrive.

Recognition:

We want to create a culture of recognition and celebrating success, by saying thank you to people who surpass our expectations and recognising the right values and behaviours. Our Shout Out recognition scheme is our way of highlighting and promoting achievements.