Overview
Head of Responsible Data Innovation and AI - GDS - G6
Location: Bristol, London, Manchester
Organisation: Government Digital Service (GDS) within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
Job Description
This senior leadership role in Data Strategy shapes strategic planning and drives responsible innovation with data. As Head of Responsible Data Innovation and AI, you’ll lead cross-government efforts to embed accountable, effective use of data and AI. You’ll champion a culture of experimentation—rapidly prototyping machine learning models and emerging data technologies. The role focuses on sustainable data use: reuse, preservation, and protection from misuse in AI. You’ll lead pilots to test innovations in real-world public sector settings, evaluating their impact and scalability. You’ll work closely with suppliers to shape roadmaps for AI and data tools that unlock public sector capabilities. Strong influencing skills are essential to demonstrate value, drive adoption, and embed responsible deployment across government. Collaboration with internal teams—data architecture, ethics, privacy, and protection—is key to translating innovation into scalable, responsible delivery.
Responsibilities
* Lead cross-government programmes on responsible data and AI, focusing on data-driven reliability and data readiness.
* Develop tools and methods to unlock structured and unstructured data for AI.
* Scale successful innovations from pilot to deployment across departments.
* Translate strategic policy into tangible, data-driven tools and frameworks for responsible data readiness of AI adoption.
* Ensure alignment with legal and regulatory requirements.
* Contribute to governance structures by embedding strategic data perspectives.
* Design frameworks to assess responsible data use in AI and build open-source data evaluation tools.
* Build partnerships across government, academia, and industry; align innovation with ethics, privacy, and protection teams.
* Champion a culture of experimentation and rapid prototyping; design scalable tools to unlock value from complex data.
Qualifications / We Are Looking For
* Proven ability to lead research and horizon scanning to identify opportunities for statistical insights, reports and models to support strategic planning and technology adoption.
* Experience developing methodologies and tools to unlock data for AI, including experimentation with unstructured data.
* Strong grasp of ethical principles and risk mitigation; experience designing data evaluation frameworks for data-driven AI reliability.
* Skilled in rapid prototyping; ability to collaborate on shared code bases with academia and suppliers.
* Ability to experiment with, analyse, and forecast data to inform data and AI policy; support tool development and incorporate public attitudes for socially responsible innovation.
* Experience leading small teams, delivering results, and communicating technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
* Experience developing policy guidance and standards, translating strategic objectives into actionable frameworks.
* Experience building relations with specialist teams across organization, sectors, and academia to develop data science products for AI and emerging technologies.
* Demonstrated understanding of data science techniques such as LLMs, agentic AI, and other emerging technologies.
Seniority
* Executive
Employment Type
* Full-time
Job Function
* Product Management and Marketing
Industries
* Technology, Information and Internet
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