VP, Head of Data Science
About this role
Competitive salary and compensation structureGenerous paid time off and holiday scheduleFrequent firm-wide social events and activitiesExcellent environment for learning and growthFurther benefits, depending on location We are looking for a hands-on technical leader to lead Penta’s Data Science team: someone who still designs, builds and reviews real solutions while owning execution, delivery and team development. You will be accountable for turning data science capability into shipped, dependable value for our clients and advisory teams, in alignment with our product roadmap.Penta’s technology makes client outcomes sharper, faster, more differentiated and harder to replace. The Data Science team’s success is measured by how much it improves live client work, not by technical elegance in isolation. Our core data science focus is natural language understanding at scale, processing millions of articles daily across stakeholder sentiment, topic identification over time, competitive peer-set selection, summarisation, contextualisation and other processing of unstructured content. Most use cases are creative chains of multiple steps drawn from data processing, exploratory analysis, fundamental ML, NLP, SQL, LLMs and integration into our live systems.What you’ll doLead the teamManage, coach and develop Penta’s Data Science team, setting priorities, planning capacity and creating a high-trust, high-output delivery culture.Translate the product roadmap and advisory needs into a focused data science plan, partnering with Product, Advisory, Database, Development and DevOps teams to keep delivery aligned with client outcomes.Raise the delivery bar for execution, quality, pace, maintainability and cost discipline.Ship production data science and AI systemsDesign, build and review data science solutions across NLP, LLM workflows, machine learning, SQL and large-scale content processing.Own technical design and architecture for data-science-enabled applications, ensuring solutions are maintainable, supportable, observable and easy to operate.Productionise delivery with DevOps and MLOps, automating deployment in AWS and puttinge evaluation, monitoring and provider-routing controls in place so AI outputs remain reliable and cost-effective.Scale practical AI adoptionDesign and implement AI workflows as skills, models and MCP tools in OpenWebUI, with cost control, provider routing and observability built in.Partner with other departments to turn AI capabilities into everyday workflows, reusable tools and knowledge layers that improve internal productivity and client delivery.Evaluate emerging AI tools, models and agentic patterns, bringing the useful ones into production quickly and responsibly.Success in this roleMeans the Data Science team is shipping reliable, maintainable AI and analytics capabilities into live client and advisory workflows; team members are growing; delivery is predictable; and Penta’s applied AI capability is visibly improving across products and engagements.The TeamOur Technology team supports Penta’s ambitious delivery plans, using technology to automate solutions, optimise outcomes and support continuous integration and deployment. The six-person Data Science team sits alongside Development, Engineering / DevOps & Platform Security, IT and the PMO, and works hand in hand with the Product team.The environment is collaborative, pragmatic and delivery-focused. We move quickly, share ideas openly, and use regular hackathons and experiments to generate practical business value. This is the hands-on leadership role for that team. Reporting to the CTO, You will lead a team working at the frontier of applied AI and data science, combining production LLM workflows, advanced prompting, agentic tooling, NLP, ML and large-scale content processing. You will set its direction, raise its delivery bar, grow its people through hands-on coaching, and lead from the front by actively shaping and delivering the work yourself. Our approach to AI is practicalWe are forward-thinking and ambitious in practically applying AI across client-facing work, corporate teams, technology and data science. We do not train our own foundation models; we apply, orchestrate and evaluate the best available models from major providers, engineering them into robust workflows that solve real business problems. We validate and document our methodologies through white papers and technical explainers, setting out the academic and analytical foundations behind our products, and the evidence that supports their use. This helps build trust in our tools, why they work and shows how they can be applied. We build on open-source AI software, including LiteLLM and OpenWebUI, to maximise the internal value of AI and build durable institutional capability. Reliability, cost control, observability, instruction-following, usability and adoption matter most. The team designs reusable workflows, skills, models and MCP tools that support Penta’s move towards an AI-native advisory operating system. Keeping Penta at the forefront of practical AI in PR, communications and strategic consultancy is part of the role. Tech skills required: applied AI, LLMs and data scienceAdvanced Python coding for data sciencePower-user fluency with frontier AI tools, especially Claude: expert-level prompting, context engineering, agentic workflows, model selection, evaluation, and practical use of the latest AI- native data science techniquesPractical experience engineering production LLM workflows, including prompt / skill design, evaluation, cost control, provider routing, agentic / human-in-the-loop orchestration, embeddings, vector search and RAGImplementation of foundational ML algorithms, classic NLP techniques and LLMsStrong SQL for analytical and production use, ideally PostgreSQL, including complex joins, CTEs and aggregationAWS: EC2, ECS, S3; DevOps and automated deploymentGit version controlIdeally experience with OpenWebUI, LiteLLM, MCP tools and/or Claude CodeKey competencies & experienceSignificant hands-on experience as an Applied AI / Data Science technical leader, with recent, practical experience using frontier LLMs, prompting and agentic workflows to ship production systems. Typically this will mean around 10+ years’ hands-on experience, with technical-leadership exposure.A suitable degree, ideally in Software Engineering or a related technical field, and the technical grounding set out above will round out the profile. The successful candidate will also have:an analytical and logical mind, dynamic, positive and ready to make a difference;the ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to senior, non-technical and technical audiences;a passionate drive for code quality, results and getting work shipped, with sound judgement on build-vs-buy, prioritisation and balancing speed against maintainability, cost and risk.We strongly believe in developing talent and are willing to invest time to develop the people who join our team.
What this role is, and what else it is called
Employers in London advertise this kind of work as Director of Engineering, IT Manager, Engineering Manager and Senior Engineering Manager too, so it is worth searching more than one wording. It is a head-of or director level IT Leadership & Management role in London, advertised without a stated working pattern, which is worth asking about.
About hiring at Penta Group Europe Limited
Penta Group Europe Limited appears alongside 1 other live technology role on this source domain, across Data, AI & Machine Learning and IT Leadership & Management. Elsewhere in its adverts Penta Group Europe Limited asks for Docker and Claude. See all Penta Group Europe Limited roles, salaries and stack.
How this role compares to the market
110 live UK roles list Python right now, across 78 source domains. The median annual salary midpoint is £55,000. 64% of 58 roles with a known arrangement are remote. Browse Python roles.
96 live UK roles list AWS right now, across 67 source domains. The median annual salary midpoint is £55,000. 44% of 55 roles with a known arrangement are remote. Browse AWS roles.
London has 1,325 live IT vacancies across 689 source domains, with a median annual salary midpoint of £55,000. Browse London roles.
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Technologies mentioned
Detected on Penta Group Europe Limited's careers page. ProdReady Recruitment lists this vacancy as an aggregator and is not the employer; applications go to the employer's own site. More IT jobs in London.