Head of AI (Regulatory Policy and Supervision)

Information Commissioner's Office

Wilmslow SK9 5AF, UK

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 4 weeks

Policy

Full time

£72,146 - £81,952 per year

Job summary

Head of AI

Full time / Part time

Salary: £ 72,146 - £ 81,952, with potential for further progression to £92,273pa with our pay progression scheme.

Location: Hybrid

Contracted to our Wilmslow, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office, however, we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities. There will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need. Please note, from Autumn 2026 our head office will relocate from Wilmslow to Manchester city centre.

Why work for the ICO?

Pay progression scheme.
Hybrid and flexible working options.
25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
Health Cash Plan.
Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website .

Job description

Step into a role where technology, policy, and societal impact converge. The Technology Directorate—home to the ICO’s most forward‑thinking technologists—sits at the heart of the Regulatory Risk and Innovation Service, tackling some of the most complex and consequential questions of our digital age. You’ll influence national thinking on responsible AI development and help translate data protection principles into meaningful, future‑proof practice. This is an opportunity to lead at the frontier of technology and regulation—where your decisions will shape not just policy, but public trust in AI itself.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

Job description

You will leverage your experience to support the wider Directorate and ICO in making sure the use of data and AI by organisations that we regulate conforms with the law. You will identify and seek to address ethical issues such as bias or discrimination and will advocate for changes in industry that promote a privacy and fairness by design approach to the use of AI. You will champion and push the boundaries of responsible data use, translating data protection and privacy rights from principles to practice.

Working with the Director of Technology and Head of the Core Technology Department you will be instrumental in shaping the future of AI regulation and responsible AI development.

Person specification

Grow, mentor and lead the ICO’s AI department, ensuring that team members are clear about expected standards of performance, motivated and developed to provide effective and efficient services.
Support delivery of AI and Biometrics strategy and develop the AI department.
Represent the ICO in situations where expertise in AI is required e.g. meeting representative bodies and information rights interest groups, giving evidence to Parliamentary committees, speaking at conferences and taking part in media activity.
Advocate for a fair and rights-based approach to AI and data use. Engage with the practitioner community and policy makers to develop and implement privacy and rights focused approaches to data science and the use of AI, focusing on embedding ‘by design’ approaches.
Identify emerging ethical, legal and technical problems within AI and data science and develop approaches to mitigate these issues by collaborating with a range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society.
Collaborate with other regulators to identify and respond to common challenges, and build common capability and approaches
Be conversant with relevant legislation and political, social and legal as well as technological developments, that impact on information rights.

Person specification

Essential criteria assessed at application stage:

Substantial experience relevant to the role requirements, as described in the role responsibilities and person specification, and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational qualifications or experience.
Significant experience in AI, data science and its ethical impact/policy implications (also measured at interview)
Significant experience of recruiting, establishing and managing a data science / AI team (also measured at interview)
Significant experience of developing a data strategy and data governance approach (also measured at interview)
Experience of the latest privacy preserving machine learning techniques and related technologies (also measured at interview)
Experience of developing new approaches to managing and mitigating ethical and responsible use issues with AI and data (also measured at interview)
Experience of writing business cases, strategies, roadmaps and presenting to senior stakeholders at C-Suite level (also measured at interview)

Essential criteria assessed during interview:

Up to date, expert knowledge of current trends and practices relating to the use of AI, machine learning, data and algorithms
Good knowledge and understanding of data protection and privacy legislation, rights legislation and frameworks, ethical frameworks for AI, policy and best practice
Excellent analytical skills, data presentation skills and data visualisation ability
Experience of translating legislative requirements to the development and application of AI, machine learning and data science solutions
Knowledge of threat and risk assessment processes and practices
Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills including the ability to explain technical matters to a non-technical audience, at C-suite level
Strong research skills demonstrating an ability to identify emerging trends, issues and technologies
Personally effective – excellent organisational skills, ability to prioritise and delegate.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £72,146, Information Commissioner's Office contributes £20,900 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Please visit ico.jobs for full details, including salary and benefits.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.

Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO’s commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.

As part of the ICO’s commitment to our EDI objectives and creating a workplace that represents the communities and societies we serve, we guarantee an interview to candidates who declare they identify as belonging from an ethnic minority background and who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy

If you are disabled or have an impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at recruitment@ico.org.uk

Closing Date

Please submit your CV and cover letter by 23:59, 5 March 2026. Your cover letter should be no more than 1,000 words and should clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at recruitment@ico.org.uk.

In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.

All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.

Clearance Required for this role:

Security Check (SC)

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

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Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£72,146 - £81,952 per year