Head of AI – Alternative Credit - Multi-Billion Dollar Hedge Fund - Market Leading Compensation - London

A growing credit-focused investment firm is seeking a hands-on Head of AI to lead the practical adoption of artificial intelligence across the business. This is a senior, engineering-led role focused on turning data and AI into real, trusted tools that enhance investment decision-making and operational efficiency, rather than running a standalone research function.

The firm is at an inflexion point: core data infrastructure is being established, and the next step is a senior AI leader who can extract value from that foundation, working closely with engineers, investors, and senior management.

The Role

The Head of AI will own the firm’s applied AI roadmap, from use-case identification through to production deployment. You will remain close to the technology—designing systems, guiding implementation, and setting standards, while acting as the senior authority on how AI is used responsibly and effectively across the organisation.

This role suits someone who blends strong engineering judgement with practical AI capability, and who enjoys building systems that get used in real-world investment workflows.

Key Responsibilities

Applied AI Strategy

• Define and execute an AI roadmap focused on near- and medium-term business impact rather than speculative research.
• Identify high-value AI use cases across investment research, portfolio monitoring, reporting, and internal workflows.
• Translate firm-wide objectives into concrete AI initiatives with clear success criteria.

Hands-On System Design & Delivery

• Design and help build AI-enabled systems, including LLM-powered research tools, internal co-pilots, and workflow automation.
• Partner closely with the Lead Data Engineer to ensure AI solutions are built on robust, well-governed data foundations.
• Stay close to implementation, reviewing architecture, code, and deployment approaches.

Platforms, Guardrails & Governance

• Establish best practices for model evaluation, prompt and workflow design, monitoring, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Ensure data privacy, security, and compliance considerations are embedded into all AI solutions.
• Maintain flexibility across models and vendors, avoiding lock-in while preserving data ownership.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Work directly with investment professionals to understand problems and deliver AI tools that are genuinely adopted.
• Act as the firm’s internal AI authority, educating stakeholders and setting realistic expectations.
• Provide clear communication to senior management on progress, risks, and opportunities.

Candidate Profile

• Senior technologist with experience delivering applied AI or ML systems in production environments.
• Strong engineering background with the ability to operate hands-on and make sound architectural decisions.
• Practical experience with LLMs, APIs, agents, or workflow automation, ideally integrated into real business processes.
• Comfortable working in a lean, evolving environment without large teams or heavy research infrastructure.
• Commercially minded, with a focus on usability, reliability, and measurable impact.
• Experience in financial services, asset management, or other data-driven domains is advantageous but not essential.

Why This Role

• Opportunity to define how AI is actually used within an investment firm at a critical growth stage.
• Broad remit with genuine ownership, rather than a narrow research or advisory function.
• A role calibrated to the firm’s maturity, focused on delivery, integration, and trust.
• Competitive senior compensation, without the expectations of building a large AI research organisation.

This role is well-suited to someone who wants to lead AI in practice, not theory, building systems that investors and operators rely on every day, and shaping a credible, sustainable AI capability from the ground