Chief AI Officer recruitment in the UK

The Clario team recruits Chief AI Officers and Heads of AI for UK scale-ups and mid-market companies. This page is for chief executives and boards deciding whether they need one, which of the two roles fits, and what a good search involves.

Many companies have reached the same point. AI is being used in several parts of the business, the board is asking questions, and nobody senior is clearly responsible for it. A Chief AI Officer is one answer to that problem. It is not always the right one, and the sections below should help you decide.

What a Chief AI Officer does day to day

A Chief AI Officer is the member of the executive team responsible for how the company uses AI. They usually report to the chief executive. In a typical week they might:

• decide which AI projects should continue, which should grow and which should stop
• work with the chief executive, finance director and CTO so the business has one agreed AI plan and budget
• explain to the board, in plain language, where AI is being used, what it costs and what the risks are
• decide whether to build a system in-house, buy one from a supplier or wait
• set the rules on which AI tools staff can use and how customer and company data is handled
• lead the AI team and manage the suppliers working on AI projects

It is a leadership role. A Chief AI Officer needs to understand the technology well enough to judge it, and they will not spend their week writing code. If a job description asks for company-wide strategy and hands-on building, it is describing two jobs, and it will be hard to find one person who does both well.

Signs you need a Chief AI Officer

It is usually time to hire one when several of these are true at once:

• The board keeps asking who is responsible for AI, and the honest answer is several people, or the CTO on top of their existing job.
• Different departments have bought AI tools separately, and nobody can say what they cost in total or whether they are being used safely.
• Part of the business now relies on an AI system, and no senior person is accountable if it goes wrong.
• AI is changing how you serve customers or compete, and decisions about it are being made too slowly.
• You have the budget to build a team, and you need someone with the authority to decide where it goes.

If the main need is to help staff make better use of software you already pay for, that is usually a smaller role. It may sit better with your CTO or with a training programme.

When to hire a Head of Data first

AI depends on good data. If your data is spread across systems, inconsistent or owned by nobody in particular, a new Chief AI Officer will spend most of their first year sorting it out, and the board may wonder why progress is slow.

In that situation it is often better to hire a Head of Data or Chief Data Officer first, and bring in the AI leader once the foundations are in place. Our CDO, Head of Data and CIO page explains how to choose between those roles.

If the board wants an AI leader first, that can still work, provided the brief says clearly that fixing the data is part of the job and the candidate has done that work before.

Chief AI Officer or Head of AI?

A Head of AI is the better hire when the direction is already set and the gap is in delivery. A Head of AI usually reports to the CTO or the product director. They lead the people who build and run AI systems, make sure those systems work and are worth what they cost, and see projects through to everyday use in the business.

The difference comes down to authority. A Chief AI Officer sits with the executive team and shapes company strategy. A Head of AI runs the work within a strategy someone else owns. Titles such as Director of AI can mean either, so we look at the reporting line and the decisions the person will be able to make before agreeing on a title. A senior title attached to a limited remit tends to put off the very people you want.

Head of AI recruitment

If the direction is already set and the gap is delivery, the search is for a Head of AI, not a Chief AI Officer. That page covers what the role does day to day, who it reports to, and how we run that search. Published Head of AI pay is on the Head of AI salary page.

What to look for in a candidate

The strongest candidates have already been responsible for AI that customers or staff use every day. Look for people who:

• can explain a project that went wrong to a board, clearly and without jargon
• have stopped projects as well as started them
• have led teams, or are open about where their management experience is limited
• have worked in a business with pressures like yours, whether that is a factory, a lender, a retailer, a healthcare provider or a software company

A well-known previous employer is useful context. On its own, it does not show that someone can do this job in a business of your size.

Pay for these roles is usually £100,000 or more, and higher for a Chief AI Officer with a team and a reporting line to the board. If we think the salary will make the search difficult, we will tell you before it starts.

How we run a Chief AI Officer search

1. Agree the role. We meet the chief executive, and the CTO if that is a different person, to agree what the role will own, who it reports to, the team, the salary and the location.
2. Written brief. We write this up. You review it, and we do not approach anyone until you are happy with it.
3. Direct approach. We approach people already working in senior AI roles. Most strong candidates are not responding to adverts.
4. Shortlist. You receive a short list with our written assessment of each candidate: why they fit, where the gaps are and what they are likely to ask for.
5. Offer and start. We stay involved through interviews, the offer and the notice period.