Head of Product and Engineering

Role: Head of Product & Engineering -AI

Salary: £120k to £150k basic, Plus Bonus and Excellent benefits

Location: London Hybrid

Our client is a global media and information-services company helping people and organisations understand complex global challenges through rigorous analysis and evidence-based insight.

The role

We are seeking a Head of Product & Engineering to lead an AI innovation lab’s product and technical work. You will own the full 0-1 journey: setting direction, shaping the roadmap, guiding discovery, making architectural decisions and validating useful, reliable products. This is a hands-on leadership role for a small multidisciplinary team working closely with editorial colleagues. This is a Hybrid role with 3 days a week in the London office.

Responsibilities

• Set the AI lab’s product and technical direction, translating editorial and business priorities into a focused innovation roadmap.

• Lead a multidisciplinary product, design and engineering team, fostering rapid experimentation and high standards.

• Own the 0–1 process from research and prototyping through user testing, launch and decisions to improve, scale or stop.

• Champion customer needs and work with editorial colleagues to create valuable products while protecting quality, provenance and independence.

• Guide architecture, build-versus-buy decisions and engineering practices for reliable AI product development.

• Define success measures and connect successful concepts with the organisation’s wider platforms, data and priorities.

Who you are

• Experienced leading B2C digital product development and delivery with accountability for product outcomes and engineering delivery. Subscription, media, e-commerce or marketplace experience is preferred.

• A track record of taking products from 0–1 by identifying valuable problems, testing assumptions, shipping quickly and learning from users.

• Practical experience building AI-powered products, including LLM application patterns and evaluation methods.

• Strong engineering judgement, with the ability to guide architecture, challenge decisions and earn senior engineers’ confidence.

• A record of hiring and developing strong technical teams.

• Comfortable working in ambiguous, fast-changing environments with clear communication across technical, editorial and commercial audiences.

• A commitment to intellectual rigour, global perspective and editorial independence