Global Head Data Science

S&P Global, Inc.; Greater London; On-site; GBP 95,000 - GBP 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in London is seeking a Data Scientist Leader to advance its AI/ML strategies. This hands-on role involves leading the design and operation of complex analytical systems, ensuring production models meet regulatory standards. Ideal candidates will have over 20 years of experience in applied data science or machine learning, especially within highly regulated environments. The successful candidate will engage deeply in model lifecycle management, working collaboratively across engineering and product teams to drive success in production.

Qualifications

• 20+ years working with analytics, data science, or ML systems in production.
• Strong understanding of production ML system design.
• Experience operating models in production over time.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and operation of high‑rigor analytical systems.
• Define the AI/ML roadmap for Enterprise Solutions.
• Work closely with engineering and product teams.

Skills

Applied data science

Machine learning

Statistical analysis

Anomaly detection

Predictive modeling

Job description

About the Role

Grade Level (for internal use): 15

The Team

The Enterprise Solutions Technology team is dedicated to delivering next‑generation, high‑scale technology platforms through resilient architecture, data excellence, and engineering innovation. Our mission is to enhance our digital presence and improve customer engagement across Lending, Corporate Actions, Tax, Regulatory & Compliance, Regulatory Reporting, Public Markets, and Private Markets portfolio monitoring.

Role

We are seeking a Data Scientist Leader to lead the design, development, and operation of high‑rigor analytical and machine‑learning systems across a complex, regulated financial‑services estate.

This is a strategy‑led and hands‑on applied data science and ML engineering role, responsible for defining the AI/ML roadmap for Enterprise Solutions while also building high‑rigor analytical and predictive models for anomaly detection, variance analysis, drift detection, market and behavioral signals, forecasting, and prediction. The expectation is production‑grade models, comparable in rigor to fraud, risk, or surveillance systems.

What’s In for you :

The role exists to ensure AI/ML strategy is sound and that analytical models are correct, explainable, reliable in production, and able to withstand operational and regulatory scrutiny.

You will work closely with engineering, data platform, and product teams to take models from problem definition through to production operation, including feature engineering, back‑testing, deployment, monitoring, and ongoing performance management.

You will get involved early in complex or high‑risk analytical problems and step in when models degrade or fail in production. A key part of the role is knowing when to apply advanced modelling, when simpler approaches are sufficient, and when modelling is not appropriate.

You may have limited line management responsibility, but impact is driven primarily through hands‑on technical contribution, review, and influence.

Responsibilities:

• Strong experience delivering applied data science and machine learning in production within banking, capital markets, or similarly regulated, data‑intensive environments.
• Deep grounding in statistics, machine learning, time‑series analysis, and predictive modelling, with experience building models under real operational constraints.
• Hands‑on ownership of the full model lifecycle: data exploration, feature engineering, model development, back‑testing, validation, deployment, monitoring, and ongoing tuning.
• Extensive experience working with large, complex, and imperfect datasets, including missing data, outliers, regime changes, noisy labels, and evolving schemas.
• Strong understanding of production ML system design, including batch vs real‑time inference, model serving patterns, performance trade‑offs, and failure modes.
• Experience operating models in production over time, including versioning, drift detection, retraining strategies, and incident response when models misbehave.
• Practical experience designing explainable models suitable for regulated environments, including feature attribution and model transparency techniques.
• Experience combining statistical models, ML, semantic models, and rules‑based logic where needed to achieve accuracy, stability, and explainability.
• Strong focus on data quality, anomaly detection, and monitoring, including metrics that surface real issues and drive sustained improvement.

Experience & Mindset

• 20+ years working with analytics, data science, or ML systems in production, with significant experience in financial services or other regulated, high‑availability domains.
• Comfortable working directly with data, models, and code, and collaborating closely with software engineers and platform teams.
• Pragmatic and outcome‑driven; measures success by models that run reliably in production, adapt to changing conditions, and withstand scrutiny.
• Clear communicator who can explain modelling choices, assumptions, and limitations to engineers, product partners, and senior stakeholders.
• Acts as a technical mentor to other data scientists through review, pairing, and example, limited people management where appropriate.

About S&P Global Market Intelligence

At S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global, we understand the importance of accurate, deep and insightful information. Our team of experts delivers unrivaled insights and leading data and technology solutions, partnering with customers to expand their perspective, operate with confidence, and make decisions with conviction.

For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence

What’s In It For You?

Our Mission: Advancing Essential Intelligence.

Our People: We’re more than 35,000 strong worldwide—driven by curiosity and a shared belief that Essential Intelligence can help build a more prosperous future. We’re committed to a more equitable future and to helping our customers find new, sustainable ways of doing business.

Our Values: Integrity, Discovery, Partnership

We are an equal opportunity employer. Equal opportunity information is available in the company policy. If you need an accommodation during the application process, please email [e-mail].

Recruitment Fraud Alert: If you receive a suspicious email, report fraud to [e-mail] and review our guidelines on fraudulent domains.

USA: The EEO is the Law Poster and Pay Transparency posters apply.

Job ID: 325514 • Posted On: 2026-02-04 • Location: London, United Kingdom