Director of Data & AI

Reports to: CTO
Location: London, Hybrid. With Global travel as required
Job type: Full time
 
A bit about us
We’re Hyve - organiser of the world’s fastest-growing and most forward-thinking B2B events.
As the chosen event partner to many of the world’s leading companies, our platforms play a critical role in their strategies - helping them enter new markets, accelerate growth and connect with the people who matter most.
Our portfolio features some of the world’s leading events in sectors like ecommerce, healthcare, edtech, and fintech. We’re growing fast with an entrepreneurial culture that empowers big ideas and quick action, plus an ambitious acquisition strategy bringing exciting new events into our mix.
Alongside our market-leading events, we’re building tech and data-driven products that supercharge connections – from one-to-one meeting programs and curated table talks to year-round engagement platforms.
Whatever your role, you’ll join a global team redefining how industries connect, collaborate, and grow – working with some of the most talented people in the business. 
Think that sounds good? Wait until our talent acquisition team tells you about the culture.
 
A bit about you
First things first: whatever your background, beliefs or ambitions, there’s a culture of belonging at Hyve — and everyone is welcome. The question isn’t where you’ve come from, but where you want to go.
You’ll thrive here if you’re curious, collaborative and not afraid to challenge convention. We look for people who take pride in what they do, who are excited by change and always moving forward. The kind of people who stay open, keep learning, and look for better ways to make an impact.
Our shared behaviours guide how we work: we dare to do things differently, own our work, embrace collaboration, stay true to ourselves and others, and remember that optimism wins.
If that sounds like you, you’ll fit right in.
 
About you
As Director of Data & AI, you will define and execute Hyve's enterprise data and AI strategy, turning trusted data and responsible AI into practical capabilities that support growth, better customer experiences and more effective decision-making.
Reporting to the CTO you will lead a team of 8-10 people across Data Engineering, Analytics and AI. You will own the data platform, semantic layer, analytics estate and AI enablement agenda, while working closely with business and technology leaders across Hyve.
Your immediate priorities will be to complete and embed a standard Hyve semantic data model; rationalise hundreds of duplicated reports into the core tens that matter; enable genuine stakeholder self-service; and champion meaningful generative and agentic AI use cases across the business.
This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role. You will combine data architecture, engineering, analytics, AI, governance, product thinking and organisational change to create a trusted, scalable and commercially valuable Data & AI capability.
Key responsibilities
Data & AI Strategy

• Define and own Hyve's enterprise Data & AI strategy, aligned with the company's growth priorities, technology strategy and transformation roadmap.
• Create and maintain a multi-year roadmap across data engineering, analytics, self-service data and AI, balancing near-term business value with sustainable platform development.
• Translate business priorities into a focused portfolio of data products, analytics capabilities and AI use cases with clear ownership, outcomes and measures of value.
• Develop investment cases and provide transparent executive reporting on delivery, adoption, risk, cost and benefits.
• Represent Data & AI within the Technology Leadership Team and relevant Executive and governance forums.

Standard Data Model & Governance

• Complete the implementation and bedding-in of a standard Hyve semantic data model covering the core entities, definitions and relationships used across the Group.
• Establish clear ownership and governance for shared measures, dimensions, business definitions and master data, ensuring that teams use consistent language and calculations.
• Partner with Commercial, Finance, Marketing, Event Technology and operational teams to agree authoritative definitions for customers, accounts, events, products, pipeline, revenue and engagement.
• Ensure the semantic model is adopted across data products, reports, dashboards and self-service tools rather than becoming a parallel technical artefact.
• Strengthen data quality, lineage, metadata, access controls, retention and lifecycle management, with accountable data owners and measurable improvement plans.

Data Platform & Engineering

• Own the strategy, architecture, reliability and evolution of Hyve's enterprise data platform and data warehouse capabilities.
• Lead the Data Engineering team responsible for data ingestion, transformation, orchestration, modelling, testing, observability and operational support.
• Ensure appropriate use of Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Snowflake and dbt across Hyve's Azure and AWS cloud environments.
• Establish engineering standards for reusable pipelines, data contracts, automated testing, deployment, documentation, monitoring and incident management.
• Work with the Enterprise Architect, Security and platform owners to ensure data solutions are scalable, resilient, secure, cost-effective and aligned with enterprise standards.
• Simplify fragmented data flows and reduce manual extracts, duplicated datasets and unsupported point-to-point integrations.

Analytics, Reporting & Self-Service

• Rationalise Hyve's large and duplicated report estate, reducing hundreds of reports to the core tens that support material business decisions and operational needs.
• Establish a governed catalogue of trusted Power BI reports, dashboards, metrics and reusable analytical datasets, with clear ownership and retirement processes.
• Enable stakeholders to answer everyday questions and perform routine list-pulls directly from governed warehouse data, freeing Data Engineering and Analytics teams from repetitive manual work.
• Define a practical self-service operating model covering access, tooling, guardrails, training, support and escalation pathways.
• Improve data literacy and adoption across the business through role-based enablement, documentation, communities of practice and visible success measures.
• Lead the Analytics team to focus on high-value insight, decision support and data products rather than recurring manual extraction and report production.

AI Strategy, Adoption & Innovation

• Champion Hyve's AI strategy and build a pragmatic roadmap for generative AI, agentic AI and intelligent automation.
• Identify, prioritise and deliver meaningful AI use cases that improve customer experience, commercial effectiveness, event operations and employee productivity.
• Build AI literacy across Hyve, helping leaders and teams understand where AI can create value, its limitations and how to use it responsibly.
• Lead the AI team and establish repeatable methods for discovery, experimentation, prototyping, evaluation, production deployment and benefits tracking.
• Use Microsoft Power Platform and Power Apps, alongside appropriate AI services, to accelerate well-governed workflow automation and business-led innovation.
• Establish appropriate governance for responsible AI, including privacy, security, intellectual property, human oversight, model risk, transparency and vendor assessment.
• Monitor the external AI landscape and recommend where Hyve should adopt, partner, build or deliberately wait.

Data Product, Delivery & Value

• Operate the Data & AI portfolio as a product capability, with clear customers, outcomes, roadmaps, service expectations and lifecycle ownership.
• Establish prioritisation and delivery governance across Data Engineering, Analytics and AI, ensuring capacity is directed to the highest-value outcomes.
• Define and track KPIs covering data quality, platform reliability, report rationalisation, self-service adoption, delivery performance, AI adoption and realised business value.
• Ensure new capabilities are embedded through effective change management, communication, training and transition into sustainable operational support.
• Maintain transparent management of dependencies, risks, technical debt, resources and budgets.

Leadership & Organisation

• Lead, coach and develop a team of 8-10 people within a broader global Technology function of ~70 people.
• Define clear accountabilities and effective ways of working and build capability through recruitment, performance management, succession planning, mentoring and targeted development.
• Create a culture of curiosity, technical excellence, commercial focus, collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Develop strong partnerships with Finance, Commercial, Marketing, Event Technology, Digital Experience, Enterprise Architecture, Security and business leadership.
• Manage strategic technology and delivery partners, ensuring strong commercial value, knowledge transfer and performance against agreed outcomes.

Valued Skills
The Director of Data & AI is responsible for building a trusted enterprise data foundation and turning it into accessible insight, intelligent automation and measurable business value. We are looking for someone with:

• Extensive experience in a Director of Data, Head of Data & AI, Chief Data Officer or comparable senior leadership role in PE-backed organisations with significant M&A activity.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams across Data Engineering, Analytics and AI.
• A strong track record of defining and executing enterprise data and AI strategies, roadmaps and operating models.
• Hands-on understanding of modern data architecture, dimensional and semantic modelling, data warehousing, data lakes, pipelines, orchestration and integration patterns.
• Proven success rationalising complex report estates and establishing trusted, governed enterprise reporting and business self-service, while maintaining appropriate controls, quality and a coherent source of truth.
• Strong technical experience across Azure and AWS cloud infrastructure and services, with particular knowledge of Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, dbt, Power BI.
• Experience with Microsoft Power Platform and Power Apps for workflow automation and business-facing solutions.
• Practical experience identifying and delivering generative AI, agentic AI and intelligent automation use cases from discovery through to production adoption.
• Strong understanding of responsible AI, information security, privacy, data governance, metadata, lineage and regulatory considerations.
• Ability to connect technical data and AI decisions to commercial outcomes, customer experience and operational performance.
• Experience managing technology partners, cloud consumption, budgets, investment cases and benefits realisation.
• Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills, with the credibility to influence at Board and Executive level.
• Strong change leadership, coaching and data literacy capability, with a track record of embedding new behaviours and ways of working.
• Previous experience in the Events industry is desirable but not essential.