We are looking for a Director-level Market Lead to head our Data & AI practice in the UK & Ireland. This is a hybrid leadership role. You combine deep technical solutioning with real commercial skill, and you are credible both in an architecture debate and across the table from a CDO, CIO or CFO.
Our delivery model is shifting from large time-and-materials teams to small, AI-first pods working against a business outcome. As Market Lead, you will shape how we take that model to UKI clients: what we sell, how we price it, and how we staff and deliver it. You will lead a core team of 5–6 direct reports and a wider matrix of around 50-75 people across UKI, and you will help them build the skills this shift requires. We are developing these ways of working together.
Job responsibilities
- The successful candidate is a true dual-threat practitioner, equally at home in a complex architecture discussion and in closing a large commercial deal.
- Drive commercial success on complex Data & AI deals across UKI, from shaping the opportunity through to a signed deal. This includes structuring fixed-price and outcome-linked commercial models, and understanding delivery cost, margin and risk.
- Partner with tech advisory and industry domain leads from pre-sale through delivery, so the commercial story, the architecture and the sector insight reinforce one another.
- Frame and test business-outcome hypotheses with executives, and define thin slices of delivery that prove value quickly.
- You stay close enough to delivery to know what is realistic, and you share accountability for outcomes on the deals you sell.
- Spearhead growth of the UKI Data & AI practice: build, lead, scale and mentor a high-performing team.
- Work with delivery and talent leads to match demand with capacity, so the right people and pods are available when deals land. Keep specialist skills sourced and bench waste low.
- Shift the practice's capability mix towards production AI engineering and agentic delivery, through hiring, reskilling and role-based onboarding.
- Manage executive-level relationships with CDOs, CIOs, CISOs and other CXOs. Act as a sparring partner on AI strategy: challenge assumptions, size the opportunity, and help clients decide where agentic automation and AI can move the P&L.
- Build and manage robust sales pipelines and lead strategic client workshops.
- Advise clients on responsible AI, covering risk, governance and regulatory expectations in the UK and wider markets.
- Expected to lead and drive P&L with TCV of 50 -75 M GBP and ACV of 45-50 M GBP/
- Expected experience and capabilities in driving all P&L criterias including sales, margin, utilization, bench management, training, learning, partnership based sales etc.
Job qualifications
Technical Skills
- Enterprise Tech & AI Architecture: Deep proficiency in at least one major cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure), modern data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks), and AI/NVIDIA ecosystems.
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Data/AI Production Experience (70/30 Split): 15+ years in data consulting with concentrated recent depth (last 2–4 years) in productionizing AI, LLMs, and agentic systems.
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Delivery & Risk Management: Deep understanding of the realities of deploying AI into production—specifically evaluating failure modes, delivery costs, governance, and technical risks (not just drawing architecture diagrams).
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Complex Deal Structuring: Proven history of shaping and selling large-scale Data & AI deals, specifically transitioning clients to outcome-linked or fixed-price commercial models.
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P&L & Operations Ownership: Hard business acumen required to manage £50–£75M TCV and £45–£50M ACV, including driving margins, utilization, bench management, and capacity planning.
Professional Skills
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Suite Advisory & Presence: Exceptional ability to act as a strategic sparring partner to CDOs, CIOs, and CFOs. Comfort challenging client assumptions and negotiating ROI and business cases at the executive level.
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Navigating Ambiguity: High resilience and drive. The ability to build momentum and define strategy while internal delivery models, pricing structures, and competency frameworks are still maturing.
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Consultative Facilitation: Adept at framing business-outcome hypotheses, leading strategic client workshops, and breaking down massive transformations into thin, fast-value delivery slices.
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Matrix Leadership & Change Management: Experience leading, scaling, and managing a matrixed team of 50–75 practitioners across the UKI region.
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Coaching & Capability Building: A strong mentoring mindset focused on reskilling existing talent, raising the overall AI fluency of the practice, and shifting the team towards AI-first delivery pods.
Other things to know
Learning & Development
There is no one-size-fits-all career path at Thoughtworks: however you want to develop your career is entirely up to you. But we also balance autonomy with the strength of our cultivation culture. This means your career is supported by interactive tools, numerous development programs and teammates who want to help you grow. We see value in helping each other be our best and that extends to empowering our employees in their career journeys.
Responsible Use of AI in Recruitment
At Thoughtworks, we use AI tools to support our recruitment team with administrative tasks such as drafting communications, scheduling interviews and writing job descriptions.
Crucially, our AI tools do not screen, assess, rank or make hiring decisions. Every application is reviewed by our team and all selection decisions are made exclusively by our interviewers and hiring managers.
We are committed to fairness and responsible AI. We actively manage our AI systems by testing, monitoring for biased outcomes and implementing mitigation measures. We hold our third-party vendors to these same high standards through a rigorous governance process. For additional information, please see our full Thoughtworks AI Policy for Recruitment.
About Thoughtworks
Thoughtworks is a dynamic and inclusive community of bright and supportive colleagues who are revolutionizing tech. As a leading technology consultancy, we’re pushing boundaries through our purposeful and impactful work. For 30+ years, we’ve delivered extraordinary impact together with our clients by helping them solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator. Bring your brilliant expertise and commitment for continuous learning to Thoughtworks. Together, let’s be extraordinary.
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