Lead AI Data Scientist

LeadAIDataScientist

BuildthedatasciencefunctionataPE-backedlegalservicesgroupgoingall-inonAI

Ourclientisafast-growing,privateequity-backedlegalservicesgroup.They'vegrownthroughasuccessfulbuy-and-buildstrategyandnowbringtogetherseveralleadingregionallawfirmsacrosstheUK.

They'vejustsecuredboardapprovaltorolloutacentralisedAIplatformacrossthewholegroup.AIadoptionisalreadyhigh(around95%oflawyersuseit),butuseisn'tjoinedupacrossthefirms.Thenextphaseismakingitstructured,measurableandscalable.Thisisanewlycreatedroletoleaddatascienceacrossthatprogramme.

Whythisrole?

• Foundingrole: you'llbethefirstdatascientistandwillhire,withroomtogrowthefunctionfromthere.
• Modelsthatship: thisisaPE-backedbusinesswithamandatetodeliver,soyourworkgoesintoproductionratherthansittinginanotebook.
• Realinfluence: you'llbeattheheartofthebusiness,shapinghowanentiregroupusesAI,notoneofhundredsofdatascientists.
• Legalisaheadofthecurve: itsoneofthefewindustrieswhereAIhasmovedfromexperimenttoeverydaypractice.Whatyoudoherewillplayoutinothersectorslater,andyou'llhavedoneitfirst.

Whatyou'lldo

• Workwithlawyers,subjectmatterexperts,businessanalystsandengineerstofindwhereAIandautomationcanhavethebiggestimpactinlegalworkflows.
• PrototypeLLM-basedsolutionsandtestthemusinghuman-in-the-loopreviewandLLM-as-judgeevaluation,thenguidethesuccessfulonesintoproduction.
• Mapdataacrossmatter,client,document,time-recordingandbillingsystems,andhelpdefineatargetdatamodel.
• Setbaselinesandsuccessmetrics,andbuildbefore-and-afteranalysisanddashboardstoshowimpactonproductivity,quality,costandmargin.
• MonitormodelsandAI-enabledworkflowsinproductionforqualitydegradationanddrift.

Whatwe'relookingfor

• 5+yearsasadatascientist,includingtimeleadingorsettingdirectionforDSwork.
• Atrackrecordoftakingmodelsfromprototypeintoproductionandkeepingthemrunning.
• Hands-onexperiencebuildingandevaluatingLLMsolutions,includingpromptdesign,RAGandstructuredevaluation.Exposuretoagents,MCPorcontextengineeringisaplus.
• StrongPythonandSQL,plusexperienceonaclouddataplatform(Databricks,AzureorSnowflake).
• Experiencedefiningsuccessmetricsandshowingmeasurablebusinessimpact.
• Excellentstakeholderskills,withtheabilitytoturnworkflowsintotestableAIproposalsandexplaintrade-offstosenior,non-technicalaudiences.
• Experiencementoringormanagingothers,oraclearambitiontomoveintopeopleleadership.

Nicetohave

• Professionalservices,legalorlegaltechexperience.
• Backgroundinaregulated,data-drivenindustrysuchasfinancialservicesorinsurance.
• PE-backedorinvestor-ownedenvironmentexperience.
• Familiaritywithlegalplatforms(ShareDo,Clio,Aderant)orlegalAItools(Jylo,LexisProtégé,Copilot).
• Awarenessofconfidentiality,privilegeanddata-protectionconsiderationswhenapplyingAItoclientdata.

Thisisafull-timepositionwithahybridset-upfromtheircentralLondonoffice.Unfortunatelyvisasponsorshipandrelocationsupportarenotavailableforthisrole.