VP of AI

Cleo; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company in London is seeking a VP of AI to lead AI initiatives and define the future of AI in the financial industry. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in LLMs, strong leadership skills, and a strategic vision for AI development. This role offers a competitive salary and the opportunity to impact financial technology significantly.

Benefits

Competitive compensation package

25 days annual leave

Private Medical Insurance

Workplace Nursery Scheme

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading and executing on cutting edge AI.
• Ability to think strategically about AI capabilities.
• Deep expertise in advanced ML techniques.

Responsibilities

• Set the AI Vision and own the ML/AI roadmap.
• Identify product opportunities utilizing AI.
• Lead advanced work in LLMs and AI agents.

Skills

Leadership

Deep expertise in LLMs

Strategic vision

Collaboration

Technical mastery

Education

Ph.D. or Master’s in Computer Science or related field

Job description

About Cleo

At Cleo, we're not just building another fintech app. We're embarking on a mission to fundamentally change humanity's relationship with money. Imagine a world where everyone, regardless of background or income, has access to a hyper-intelligent financial advisor in their pocket. That's the future we're creating.

Cleo is a rare success story: a profitable, fast-growing unicorn with over $200 million in ARR and growing over 2x year-over-year. This isn't just a job; it's a chance to join a team of brilliant, driven individuals who are passionate about making a real difference. We have an exceptionally high bar for talent, seeking individuals who are not only at the top of their field but also embody our culture of collaboration and positive impact.

If you’re driven by complex challenges that push your expertise, the chance to shape something truly transformative, and the potential to share in Cleo’s success as we scale, while growing alongside a company that’s scaling fast, this might be your perfect fit.

Follow us on LinkedIn to keep up to date with new product features and insights from the team.

Key Responsibilities

AI isn’t just a new craze for Cleo, six years ago we believed that the future of personal finance would be an AI powered financial assistant, today our mission and belief still remains the same. We are hiring for our very first VP of AI to spearhead this AI campaign and help define the future of what AI looks like within the financial industry.

Cleo was initially built as a chat based purely on Facebook Messenger, this was before the age of LLMs, we gathered a lot of chat data in terms of how people interact with a text-based UI regarding their finances. In addition to conversational data we have millions of users bank accounts connected and therefore a wealth of transactional data to power Cleo.

We have constantly evolved the Cleo architecture, recently re-architecting to be agentic in order to fully utilise the next generation of approaches.

We now need someone to help take Cleo to the next level; evolving the chat system, the future of the Cleo product and leading the team of ML/AI Engineers. You will be solving for how we can help chat to succeed in its goal of increasing retention, engagement and building deeper relationships with our customers. Chat is a main element of the Cleo product, however this role will also help identify where we can further utilise AI to expand the Cleo product. This is pivotal role

What you will be doing:

• Set the AI Vision: Strategically establish and own the ML/AI roadmap, ensuring alignment of AI advancements with business objectives and translating cutting‑edge research into concrete, user‑focused products.
• Identify product opportunities: Working closely with the product, commercial and leadership team you will identify how we should expand our build new products utilizing AI. Ensuring they are both valuable for customers and Cleo.
• Lead Applied Research: Spearhead advanced work in LLMs and AI agents, not only pushing the boundaries of what’s possible but also ensuring the scalability of the products.
• Build & Inspire Teams: Lead, inspire, and actively participate in the growth of a large, elite team of ML engineers/researchers across product squads and our dedicated research group, fostering a high‑performance, results‑oriented culture.
• Foster Collaboration: Work closely with Product Directors, leadership and cross‑functional teams to integrate AI capabilities seamlessly with product goals, actively building features that users will love and trust.
• Stay Cutting-Edge: Ensure Cleo remains at the forefront in ML by actively engaging with the latest trends in NLP, reinforcement learning, and generative AI, and applying them to our products.
• Communicate at All Levels: Translate insights for senior leadership and bridge the gap between technical and non‑technical teams, actively contributing to strategic decisions with clarity and understanding.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven Experience: Have proven experience leading and executing on cutting edge AI and having impact on companies products and performance. You should have also been hands‑on building ML/AI products.
• Strategic Vision: Ability to think strategically about the development and implementation of advanced AI capabilities, aligning them with company goals.
• Technical Mastery: Deep expertise in LLMs, AI agents, and advanced ML techniques.
• Academic Pedigree: Ph.D. or Master’s in Computer Science, ML, or related field from a top‑tier institution.
• Strong Leadership: you will have experience of managing managers and an ability to execute through the people around you driving high performance.
• Active Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to foster collaboration across functions, working seamlessly with product, engineering, and research teams.
• Execution Excellence: Proven track record of actively executing tasks and driving projects to completion, not just promoting ideas.
• Cross-functional Leadership: Skilled in partnering with product leaders to bring AI ideas to life.
• Clear Communicator: Ability to explain and champion complex AI concepts to diverse stakeholders.

What do you get for all your hard work?

• A competitive compensation package (base + equity) with bi‑annual reviews, aligned to our quarterly OKR planning cycles.
• Work at one of the fastest‑growing tech startups, backed by top VC firms, Balderton & EQT Ventures
• A clear progression plan. We want you to keep growing. That means trying new things, leading others, challenging the status quo and owning your impact. Always with our complete support.
• Flexibility. We can’t fight for the world’s financial health if we’re not healthy ourselves. We work with everyone to make sure they have the balance they need to do their best work
• Work where you work best. We’re a globally distributed team. If you live in London we have a hybrid approach, we’d love you to spend one day a week or more in our beautiful office. If you’re outside of London, we’ll encourage you to spend a couple of days with us a few times per year. And we’ll cover your travel costs, naturally.
• Other benefits;
• Company‑wide performance reviews every 6 months
• Generous pay increases for high‑performing team members
• Equity top‑ups for team members getting promoted
• 25 days annual leave a year + public holidays (+ an additional day for every year you spend at Cleo, up to 30 days)
• 6% employer‑matched pension in the UK
• Private Medical Insurance via Vitality, dental cover, and life assurance
• 1 month paid sabbatical after 4 years at Cleo
• Regular socials and activities, online and in‑person
• We’ll pay for your OpenAI subscription
• Online mental health support via Spill
• Enhanced parental leave
• Workplace Nursery Scheme
• And many more!

This is a 5-stage interview process:

1. Interview with the Recruiter (30 mins)
2. Interview with the VP of Technology (60 mins)
3. Interview with the Product Director (45 mins)
4. Case Study Interview (60 mins)
5. Interview with the CEO - optional (30 mins)

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio‑economic backgrounds.

If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

UK App access: The Cleo app is no longer downloadable in the UK (but only until next year). If you’re an existing user, you’ll still have access to the app. But some features won’t be available (just for a little while). Why? 99% of our users are based in the US – where financial health is often overlooked. We’ve decided to shift our focus to where we can provide the most value and make the greatest impact for users who need it most. Then we’ll be able to apply what we learn to better support our UK users in the future.

By submitting this application, I confirm that all the information given by me in this application for employment and any additional documents attached hereto are true to the best of my knowledge and that I have not wilfully suppressed any material fact. I confirm I have disclosed if applicable any previous employment with CLEO. I accept that if any of the information given by me in this application is in any way false or incorrect, my application may be rejected, any offer of employment may be withdrawn or my employment with CLEO may be terminated summarily or I may be dismissed. By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be processed in accordance with CLEO's Candidate Privacy Notice.