Lead Data Scientist: Production AI Delivers Impact

Howden; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Howden is expanding its Group Data Science team in London, seeking a senior Lead Data Scientist to own and deliver scalable AI/ML initiatives. You will partner with business, data engineers and platform teams, ensuring production‑ready, high‑impact solutions across Howden’s global operations.

The role requires deep technical expertise, strong commercial acumen and a track record of delivering AI products from concept to production in large organizations. Hybrid working is available.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of building and deploying production‑grade AI/ML applications that generate measurable business value.
• Experience working with Data Engineering, MLOps and Product teams to bring ML systems from research to deployment and maintenance.
• Excellent Python programming skills and hands‑on experience with ML libraries.
• Experience with cloud platforms and AI platforms, particularly Azure and Databricks.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and storytelling capabilities; translate technical complexity for executives.
• Experience in agile, cross‑functional product and delivery teams.
• Strong problem‑solving skills with a commercial mindset focused on outcomes.
• Insurance or financial services exposure is desirable.
• Experience with Generative AI, LLM applications, agentic systems.
• Exposure to mentoring or coaching other data scientists.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end‑to‑end delivery of ML/AI solutions from discovery to production deployment and ongoing optimization.
• Partner with business stakeholders to identify opportunities, define use cases, and prioritize work based on value.
• Design, develop, and deploy scalable ML, analytics and AI applications.
• Drive best practices across data science, experimentation, model development, MLOps, and software engineering.
• Collaborate with Data Engineering, Platform, and Product teams to deliver production‑grade solutions.
• Contribute to the evolution of Howden’s AI capabilities, standards, and ways of working.
• Support agile delivery teams, providing technical leadership and guidance.
• Stay current with developments in data science, AI, and cloud technologies.

Skills

Python

Stakeholder engagement

Agile

Data storytelling

Commercial mindset

Problem solving

mentoring

Leadership

Regulated industry experience

Generative AI

LLM applications

Tools

Azure

Databricks

XGBoost

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Hugging Face

Job description

Howden is expanding its Group Data Science team in London, seeking a senior Lead Data Scientist to own and deliver scalable AI/ML initiatives. You will partner with business, data engineers and platform teams, ensuring production‑ready, high‑impact solutions across Howden’s global operations.

The role requires deep technical expertise, strong commercial acumen and a track record of delivering AI products from concept to production in large organizations. Hybrid working is available.