Job title: Head of AI

Package: Pension, Unlimited leave, Flexible working

Location: Hybrid

Contract: 18 months

Salary: £110,000 - £120,000

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

Role

Over the next 18 months, you’ll play a central role in defining and delivering Corndel’s AI strategy—starting with identifying the right opportunities and focusing on where AI can have the biggest impact. You will own the AI strategy, governance and delivery oversight across the organisation. Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, you’ll lead a small team and embed AI thinking into both our internal operations and external offerings delivering an improved learner and client experience. From streamlining processes to enhancing our digital learning products, your work will help lay the foundation for long‑term innovation and transformation. You will set the vision, enforce guardrails and ensure responsible AI practices. We’re looking for someone who enjoys both setting direction and delivering impact in a hands‑on, collaborative way. You’re confident working in evolving environments, with a natural ability to bring clarity and structure to complex challenges. You don’t need to have worked in apprenticeships or education before—but you do need to be excited about the potential of AI to improve lives, increase equity, and support learning. You will join a company which is breaking new ground and offering a more intelligent, dynamic, and achievable way of developing people through a world class programme of vocational learning. Corndel delivers a range of programmes, including Leadership and Management, Project Management, Fundraising, Data Analytics, DevOps, and Software Development. This is your opportunity to work with some of the largest and highest profile businesses in the UK, helping them and their staff succeed. You will evidence a commitment to the values of Corndel and an understanding of the transformational impact of education.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead AI Strategy: Define, update and execute our AI strategy & AI roadmap that aligns with our transformation and growth goals. Manage prioritisation of AI initiatives.
• Organisation‑Wide Collaboration: Engage with all functions—Product, Excellence, Operations, Sales and more—to identify prioritise and deliver AI initiatives.
• Drive Value through Efficiency: Use AI to improve internal workflows, reduce manual effort, and unlock better decision‑making through data and automation. Drive cost optimisation and AI platform sustainability.
• Enhance the Learner Experience: Work with Product and Delivery teams to explore and develop AI‑enabled features and tools that personalise and improve learning journeys.
• Manage and Mentor: Lead a small AI‑focused team (2–3 people), providing strategic guidance, coaching and clear direction.
• Promote Ethical Adoption: Champion responsible, inclusive, and transparent use of AI, ensuring compliance with data protection and sector regulations and own policies, ethics and risk governance.
• Champion Change: Help build AI awareness and capability across the organisation, enabling teams to engage confidently with new tools and approaches.
• Measure and Prioritise: Define success metrics and focus resources where they will have the greatest impact.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven experience leading an organisation's AI governance and delivery and ideally AI strategy.
• A strong technical awareness of ML platforms, security and architecture.
• Proven track record of delivering AI efficiencies and / or product enhancements with measurable outcomes.
• Experience working cross‑functionally to identify and implement AI‑driven improvements.
• Comfortable managing a small team and fostering collaborative, outcomes‑focused working.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts in clear, accessible language.
• Awareness of ethical and inclusive AI practices, and a strong understanding of data protection in the UK context.
• Driven by learning and experiments with new AI, processes etc.

Why join Corndel?

• We're committed to having a fully inclusive, welcoming and safe culture and always striving to improve.
• We provide an environment that is truly flexible and supportive, somewhere you will have autonomy over your role.
• We're a leader in our field, with quality and excellence at the heart of what we do.

As part of our commitment to create an inclusive workplace where all colleagues can be their true selves, excel in their roles and progress in their careers, we recognise the importance of embracing the diversity in the working population and making Corndel a fully accessible employer. As Corndel is a Disability Confident Employer, we make sure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job will be offered an interview. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, when submitting your application, please select the appropriate option to let us know that you have a disability. Please note this does not mean that all disabled people are entitled to an interview, in some recruitment situations such as peak times, we might need to limit the overall numbers of interviews we offer.

If you have a disability that might affect any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know about any help or reasonable adjustments you need before any interview or assessment. We’ll work with you to make sure any appropriate support is in place and make the application process a more positive experience.

Corndel is committed to safeguarding and safer recruitment practices, and will undertake pre‑employment checks on the successful candidate, including DBS Disclosure Check.