Head of Artificial Intelligence Strategy in London

Hoxton Wealth is an international, independent financial advice firm headquartered in Dubai, co-founded in 2018 by CEO Chris Ball and Matt Dean. We operate across the UAE, UK, US, Australia, South Africa, Cyprus, Malaysia and Cambodia, primarily serving an expatriate client base, with the ambition to become truly global under a single, unifying culture. With approximately 400 team members and over $4bn in assets under management, we combine market-leading organic growth with a growing appetite for acquisition. A proprietary client app, enterprise AI tooling, a modern client management system and a recent global custody partnership with Pershing give us a strong digital foundation — and an entrepreneurial, founder-led culture that moves fast and rewards experimentation.

The Head of AI Strategy owns the organisational energy behind Hoxton's AI transformation. This is not a purely technical post, and it is not a side-of-the-desk initiative. It is a senior leadership role that translates AI possibility into measurable commercial outcomes, builds the capability and culture for AI to take hold, and puts the guardrails in place that let people experiment with confidence.

Two ambitions define success:

• Reduce client plan turnaround to a single business day
• Double adviser client capacity — from roughly 150–200 to 300–400 clients per adviser — while holding the current operating cost base

Both are achievable. Both require AI to work in a coordinated way, built into how the business actually operates.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategy & executive momentum
  • Own the AI transformation agenda: set direction, maintain executive momentum, and keep leadership aligned and confident.
  • Co‑develop the vision for Hoxton's future organisational shape, using AI to maximise competitive advantage.
  • Build the case that moves the organisation from experimentation to a funded, resourced programme.
• Roadmap delivery
  • Build and own the digital roadmap: prioritised use cases, delivery approach, resourcing and a phased Year 1 timeline.
  • Prioritise ruthlessly — fewer, higher‑impact initiatives scored on feasibility, data readiness and time‑to‑value.
  • Deliver through cross‑functional pods with clear ownership and a regular delivery rhythm into senior leadership.
• Innovation & culture
  • Cultivate bottom‑up innovation, giving divisions genuine autonomy to experiment locally.
  • Design real incentives — recognition, reward and career visibility — for the best ideas.
  • Build firm‑wide AI literacy through a practical programme covering safe, compliant use.
• Governance & enablement
  • Publish clear, usable AI governance: approved tools, data‑handling principles, prohibited uses and an escalation path.
  • Scope a safe experimentation sandbox with the CTO — a lightweight environment for testing without central sign‑off or data risk.
  • Establish measurement and feedback: baselines and KPIs that connect AI activity to real business outcomes.
• Translation & stakeholder leadership
  • Bridge business and technology, translating fluently in both directions.
  • Surface opportunities and remove blockers across a distributed, multi‑jurisdiction organisation.
  • Be Hoxton's external voice on AI transformation to clients, partners and the market.

THE FIRST 90 DAYS

• Days 1–30 — Listen, learn, build trust: a structured listening tour across functional heads, shadowing the advice process end to end, landing one quick win (the 1-day client plan pilot), with a weekly CEO/COO working rhythm from day one.
• Days 31–60 — Create foundations: publish a simple, usable AI governance policy, scope the sandbox with the CTO, establish the measurement baseline, and prioritise use cases against a meaningful uplift threshold.
• Days 61–90 — Secure the future: build the roadmap, secure Year 1 resourcing and budget with the COO and CFO, produce an AI literacy outline, and present to ExCo for sign‑off.

The single most important deliverable is a fundable, resourced digital roadmap the organisation can commit to from Day 91.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE (12–18 months)

• Adviser client capacity: ~150–200 → 300–400 per adviser (2x)
• Client plan turnaround: multi-day → 1 business day
• Active weekly AI use: >70% of licence holders
• Admin & paraplanning time: reduced by >40% per review
• AI governance: compliant policy live in every market
• AI‑linked profit impact: 3+ use cases with measured bottom‑line gain
• Bottom‑up innovation: 10+ ideas implemented per quarter
• AI literacy: 100% of AI tool users trained

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

This is a rare blend of strategist, builder, translator and trusted operator. We care less about a specific job title on a CV than about evidence of turning emerging technology into real organisational change.

Experience

• Senior leadership experience driving AI, digital or data‑led transformation in a complex organisation, with a track record of measurable commercial outcomes.
• Comfort in high‑growth, founder‑led environments where decisions are fast and ambiguity is the norm.
• Financial services, wealth or another regulated, advice‑led industry is a strong advantage, as is multi‑jurisdiction experience.
• A record of building capability and culture across distributed teams — not just deploying tools.

Skills & knowledge

• Deep, current, hands‑on understanding of frontier AI and LLMs applied to knowledge work: genuinely fluent, not conceptually aware.
• Fluency in AI governance and responsible‑AI principles; familiarity with regimes such as DFSA, FCA, SEC and ASIC is an advantage.
• Operating‑model and process design: able to map how work is done today and redesign it around AI.
• Roadmap creation, prioritisation and delivery discipline, with the data literacy to work with CRM/data teams and a CTO as a peer.
• Exceptional communication — able to carry both an internal narrative and Hoxton's external voice on AI.

Mindset

• Bias to action: ships visible quick wins while building the foundations underneath.
• An enabler, not a gatekeeper: architects the conditions for others to innovate, and treats failure as learning.
• A trusted operator who builds relationships fast, shares openly and creates no surprises.
• Comfortable building for a future that isn't fully visible yet — and willing to spend significant time in Dubai, particularly in the first phase.

TRAVEL & PRESENCE

The role is UK-based; Hoxton's HQ and leadership are in Dubai. Presence is a programme requirement, front‑loaded into the first phase:

• Days 1–30: 3–4 weeks in Dubai — listening, shadowing and trust‑building can't be done remotely.
• Days 31–90: minimum one week per month, anchored to milestones.
• Ongoing: quarterly extended visits (1–2 weeks) once the operating rhythm is set.

WHY JOIN

• A rare mandate with real air cover — direct sponsorship from the CEO and COO.
• A genuine greenfield: shape the AI transformation of a fast‑growing, $4bn+ international wealth firm from the ground up.
• A strong platform to build on: clean data assets, modern infrastructure, Claude Enterprise already deployed and a young, low‑resistance workforce.
• Founder‑led pace: fast decisions, no committee delay, and the scope to build your own roadmap, team and operating model.
• Visible impact: measurable outcomes and early, CEO‑sponsored quick wins in a business that is ready to move.