Lead Data Scientist AI Lab | Banking

My client is looking for a Lead Data Scientist to join a newly established AI Lab within a leading banking organisation. This is a high-impact opportunity for a technically strong hands‑on Data Scientist who can take AI and machine learning solutions from concept through to production. The ideal candidate will have a strong Computer Science technical academic background and be a genuine full‑stack Data Scientist someone who can write production‑ready code build models work across the engineering stack and deploy solutions independently.

• Lead the design development and deployment of advanced AI and machine learning solutions across banking use cases
• Own the full lifecycle from problem definition data preparation and modelling through to deployment monitoring and optimisation
• Develop production-grade solutions using Python SQL and modern ML AI frameworks
• Build and product ionise GenAI LLM RAG NLP and agentic AI solutions where relevant
• Work closely with Data Engineers Software Engineers and Product teams to take AI solutions into production
• Develop robust ML pipelines APIs model-serving components and MLOps processes
• Establish best practices around model deployment testing monitoring reproducibility and responsible AI
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to create tangible value for the bank
• Mentor Data Scientists and contribute to the technical direction of the new AI Lab

• 8+ years experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, AI Engineering or a related technical field
• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or another highly quantitative discipline
• Strong hands‑on Python development skills and excellent SQL
• Proven track record of taking machine learning / AI models into production
• Strong understanding of software engineering principles including Git, APIs, testing, CI/CD and containerisation
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP
• Experience with modern ML/AI technologies such as PyTorch, Tensor Flow, Hugging Face, LLMs, RAG, vector databases and agentic AI is highly desirable
• Banking, financial services or fintech experience would be advantageous

• Full-stack Data Scientists who are equally comfortable experimenting with models and engineering them into scalable production systems
• Strong preference will be given to candidates with a rigorous Computer Science or technical background over candidates whose background is primarily business commercial or MBA‑focused
• The successful candidate will be a builder technically autonomous hands‑on and capable of taking an AI solution from an initial idea all the way through to production