Head of Data Science

Aventis Solutionshas partnered with a high-growth technology team seeking aHead of Data Scienceto lead and scale a world-class data science function across their global business. This is a unique opportunity to shape the data science vision and execution of a company deeply invested in innovation and advanced analytics. This would suit a lead or principal-level contributor such as a Data Scientist, Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, AI Engineer / AI Developer looking to step up, or an existing manager looking for more innovation time.

Key details:

Salary: £90,000–£125,000 + bonus + 10% pension contribution+ comprehensive benefits package

Location: London HQ + very flexible hybrid working model (remote work)

Future Outlook: You'll work closely with an impressive Chief Data Officer and the wider IT/digital team, which is experiencing high growth. Therefore, in the long term, there will be plenty of opportunities to progress vertically into more strategic business positions or even horizontally into more enterprise technical architecture areas.

Key Skills, Attributes & Tech Desired:

• Data Science Pedigree: Proven track record in senior data science or advanced analytics leadership roles, ideally within innovative or regulated environments.
• Technical Depth: Expertise in statistical modelling, machine learning (supervised and unsupervised), deep learning, and MLOps. Proficiency in Python, SQL, and data science platforms such as Dataiku, Azure Synapse, SageMaker, or similar.
• Data Ecosystem Knowledge: Experience with cloud-native data platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), scalable data pipelines, and version-controlled model deployment environments.
• Strategic Mindset: Ability to align data science objectives with business priorities. Experience building roadmaps and securing stakeholder buy-in across commercial, product, and technology teams.
• Leadership: Strong leadership and mentoring skills; track record of leading, managing, and inspiring high-performing data science teams.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Comfortable interfacing with engineering, data engineering, governance, marketing, product, and finance to embed data science into strategic decisions.
• Financial Services Knowledge:Background in financial services (banking, insurance, fintech, asset management) is desirable, but not mandatory.
• Innovation Focus: Demonstrated interest in experimentation, model interpretability, and ethical AI practices. Bonus points for experience with generative AI, LLMs or time-series forecasting at scale.
• Communication: Clear, persuasive communicator with the ability to present technical findings to non-technical audiences and influence senior stakeholders.

Role Overview:

Head of Data Science Function: You will own and evolve the company’s data science capability, acting as a thought leader, strategic advisor, and hands-on problem solver. This role sits at the core of a newly formed technology analytics and insights group, designed to act as an internal accelerator for data-powered innovation. You’ll be empowered to explore emerging methods and tools, traditional statistical modelling ideas, and foundation models to advance to real-time personalisation techniques.

The company is already investing heavily in its next-gen analytics stack and sees data science as a strategic driver of growth and competitive advantage. Your work will have immediate and measurable business impact across risk, revenue, operations, and customer experience.

Interested?Please submit your CV via LinkedIn or message Billy Hall for further information.

Aventis Solutions is acting on behalf of our partner.