Global Head of Applied AI & Decision Systems - Commodities & Global Markets

Macquarie Bank Limited; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing leave day

Parental leave (up to 20 weeks)

Volunteer leave & donation matching

Hybrid and flexible working

Job summary

Macquarie is seeking a Global Head of Applied AI & Decision Systems for Commodities & Global Markets. Based in London (and with Sydney) you will lead a global, hands-on technical leadership effort spanning business enablement, data utilisation, and intelligent automation to deliver measurable outcomes.

You will partner with business leaders, design AI applications at scale, and establish guardrails, observability, and risk management controls while driving value realisation across the group.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in senior technical leadership roles across software engineering, data architecture, ML, applied AI, or related disciplines.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems and enterprise data architecture.
• Hands-on experience deploying AI/ML in production, incl. LLMs, observability, and support models.
• Ability to quantify business value and prioritise a portfolio of AI initiatives.
• Familiarity with agentic systems, tool-calling and workflow orchestration.
• Experience with cloud platforms and secure, scalable deployment.
• Ability to engage with senior stakeholders across business, technology and risk.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and delivering durable enterprise capability.
• Experience with both closed and open-weight models and considerations of performance, cost, explainability.
• Experience in financial services or regulated data environments is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead global Applied AI strategy across Commodities & Global Markets.
• Define and deploy scalable AI use cases with governance and risk controls.
• Partner with business, engineering and control functions to realise value.
• Drive guardrails, observability and safety across enterprise AI deployments.

Skills

Senior technical leadership

Distributed systems

AI/ML in production

Observability and risk controls

Cloud platforms (AWS/GCP)

Stakeholder engagement

Ambiguity tolerance

Model selection and governance

Regulated data environment

Tools

AWS

Google Cloud

Job description

Global Head of Applied AI & Decision Systems - Commodities & Global Markets

Additional office locations

London, Sydney

Job ID

22906

Date

28-Aug-2026

Permanent - Full time, Senior

Job category

Commodities and Global Markets helps clients manage financial and commodity market risks, access capital and financing, trade in global markets, and support the movement of physical commodities such as energy, agriculture products, oil and metals. We serve corporate, institutional and government clients around the world.

We are seeking a senior, deeply technical leader to define and execute our global Applied AI strategy. You will sit at the intersection of business strategy, engineering, data architecture, AI/ML and enterprise risk management, with accountability for turning AI from isolated experimentation into a scalable, controlled and commercially valuable capability across the group.

We are a global financial services group operating in 30 markets with 57 years of unbroken profitability. At Macquarie, you’re empowered to shape a career that is fulfilling and creates value. You will bring your insights and expertise to the task at hand and feel supported as you make your own kind of impact for a better future.

What role will you play?

This is a global, hands-on technical leadership role spanning business enablement, application design, data utilisation, and intelligent automation. You will focus on how data, models and systems are practically combined to deliver measurable outcomes, rather than on owning core data sourcing, engineering, or governance functions.

You will partner with business leaders to identify and prioritise high-value opportunities; work closely with Engineering and control partners to establish appropriate guardrails, observability, and risk management controls; and lead the design, deployment, and value realisation of AI use cases at enterprise scale.

What you offer

• Significant experience in senior technical leadership roles across software engineering, data architecture, machine learning, applied AI, AI platform engineering or related disciplines.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, enterprise data architecture, cloud platforms, application programming interfaces, and modern software delivery practices.
• Hands-on experience designing and deploying AI and machine learning solutions in production, including large language model applications, evaluation frameworks, observability, and operational support models.
• Demonstrated ability to quantify business value, prioritise a portfolio of initiatives and track outcome realisation beyond the proof-of-concept stage.
• Strong familiarity with agentic systems, tool-calling and workflow orchestration patterns, and the control requirements needed to operate them safely in enterprise environments.
• Experience with AWS and/or Google Cloud, including managed AI services, security controls, and scalable deployment approaches.
• Ability to identify business value, prioritise initiatives and engage effectively with senior stakeholders across business, technology, and risk functions.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity, setting direction, and making pragmatic trade-offs to move from experimentation to durable enterprise capability.
• Experience selecting and operating across both closed and open-weight models, with sound judgment on trade-offs involving performance, cost, explainability, portability and confidentiality.
• Experience in financial services, markets, banking, trading or another regulated data and engineering environment is preferred.

What we offer

• 1 wellbeing leave day per year
• Up to 5 additional service bonus leave days per year
• Up to 20 weeks’ paid parental leave for primary caregivers along with 12 days of transition leave upon return to work, and 6 weeks’ paid leave for non-primary caregivers
• 2 days of paid volunteer leave and donation matching
• Up to 12 months’ gender affirmation leave, including 6 weeks’ paid leave
• Access to Employee Assistance Program and wellbeing benefits including skin and health checks, and flu vaccinations
• Access to a wide range of salary packaging options
• Access to a wide range of learning and development opportunities, including reimbursement for professional membership or subscription
• Hybrid and flexible working arrangements, dependent on role
• Reimbursement for work from home equipment

About Commodities and Global Markets

Commodities and Global Markets is a global business offering capital and financing, risk management, market access, physical execution and logistics solutions to its diverse client base across Commodities, Financial Markets and Asset Finance.

Inclusion at Macquarie

We are committed to providing an inclusive environment for all, where different experiences, skills and perspectives are valued and respected. Macquarie provides access to opportunities for all individuals regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, marital status, gender identity or any other characteristic or circumstance.

We provide reasonable adjustments to individuals who may need support during the recruitment process and employment. If you require an adjustment, please let us know during the application process.