Head of AI & Machine Learning - Credit Risk, Valuation & Data Strategy
This role is being recruited for by Vecta, on behalf of one of our partner companies.
Location: Northampton, UK (Hybrid)
Contract: Permanent, Full-Time
Salary: Competitive Base + Annual Bonus (up to 15%)
Reports To: Senior Leadership / C‑Suite
Direct Reports: Senior Data Scientist, Senior ML Engineer (growing team)
The Opportunity
A leadership role with genuine scope to build something from the ground up. A privately owned, high‑growth UK financial services group - one that has funded over £1.5 billion for 20,000+ SMEs - is creating its first dedicated AI & Machine Learning function, and this role will lead it.
The business operates as both a direct lender and a broker with a panel of 60+ lending partners. Credit decisions, asset valuations, and portfolio management are at the heart of everything it does. The opportunity is to take those processes - many of which still rely on manual assessment and legacy tooling - and rebuild them around modern data science, machine learning, and intelligent automation.
As Head of AI & ML, you’ll set the strategy, hire and develop the team, and work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with underwriting, technology, and senior leadership to identify where machine learning can create the most value. You’ll also be hands‑on with the models themselves - this is not a purely managerial position. The business wants a technical leader who can set direction and also roll up their sleeves when it matters.
What You’ll Do
* Define and own the AI & ML roadmap - setting the agenda for data science, model development, and the broader data strategy across the business.
* Identify and prioritise the highest‑value opportunities for machine learning, working across underwriting, risk, operations, and commercial teams.
* Build, lead, and develop a high‑performing data science and ML engineering team, starting with two senior hires and growing from there.
* Act as the senior voice for AI within the business - present strategy, results, and recommendations to the executive team and board.
* Establish governance frameworks for model risk management, validation, and regulatory compliance.
Hands‑On Delivery
* Propose and help deliver improvements to credit risk models, credit strategies, and underwriting workflows - from scorecard refinement to new ML‑driven decisioning.
* Oversee the development and deployment of discounted cash flow and asset valuation models in AWS.
* Identify gaps in existing processes and data infrastructure, and design solutions that are practical, scalable, and commercially grounded.
* Drive the adoption of ML engineering best practices: reproducible pipelines, model monitoring, version control, and automated retraining.
* Stay ahead of developments in credit risk modelling, applied ML, and financial regulation, bringing external best practice into the organisation.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
* Partner with the technology team to shape data architecture, cloud infrastructure, and integration patterns that support ML workloads.
* Work closely with underwriting and risk to translate business requirements into model specifications and ensure models are adopted operationally.
* Collaborate with commercial leadership to quantify the business impact of AI initiatives and build the case for continued investment.
What You’ll Bring
* Significant experience in a senior data science or ML leadership role, with a proven track record of setting strategy and delivering results.
* Demonstrated people leadership - you’ve hired, managed, and developed data scientists and/or ML engineers.
* Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility with both technical teams and C‑suite stakeholders.
* A commercial mindset - you instinctively connect model performance to business outcomes and know how to prioritise for impact.
* Hands‑on experience with credit risk models in a lending or financial services environment.
* Proficiency in Python and the modern data science stack.
* Strong problem‑solving ability and the resilience to drive change in a fast‑moving business.
Preferred
* Understanding of financial concepts such as discounted cash flows, net present value, and yield curves.
* Experience working with AWS services (SageMaker, S3, Glue, Step Functions, or equivalent).
* Familiarity with model risk management frameworks and regulatory expectations (e.g. SR 11‑7, PRA guidance).
* Experience building an AI or data science function from an early stage - setting culture, hiring the first team, and establishing ways of working.
The Kind of Person Who Thrives Here
* You lead from the front - you can set the vision in a board meeting and debug a pipeline the same afternoon.
* You’re commercially sharp and understand that the best model is the one that gets adopted and drives decisions.
* You’re calm and organised under pressure, comfortable owning multiple workstreams simultaneously.
* You build trust quickly across functions - people want to work with you because you make their teams better.
* You’re energised by building something new rather than maintaining the status quo.
Why This Role
Your models will underpin decisions on a book worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Strong base salary plus annual bonus of up to 15%.
Northampton HQ with flexible hybrid arrangements.
A company that’s more than doubled in recent years, with ambitious plans ahead.
Help Define the Function
Build the AI & ML team and strategy from scratch - genuine greenfield leadership.
About the Company
This is a well‑established, privately owned UK finance group headquartered in Northampton. Founded in 2007, the business provides SMEs with access to a comprehensive range of funding options - from asset finance and hire purchase to business loans and government‑backed schemes. Operating as both a direct lender and a broker with a panel of 60+ partners, the company has arranged over £1.5 billion in funding for more than 20,000 businesses across every sector.
Highly rated by its customers (4.8 stars across 900+ reviews) and having more than doubled in size in recent years, the business is making its most significant investment yet in AI and machine learning. This role is the cornerstone of that investment - the person hired will define how the company uses data science to compete, grow, and make better lending decisions for the next decade.
Please note: as part of the recruitment process, a criminal records check and a credit history check will be carried out by an authorised third party.
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