LEEDS DATA & AI RECRUITMENT
OVERVIEW
Businesses in Leeds and across West Yorkshire trust Harnham for their specialist Data and AI recruitment.
Here at Harnham, our team of Data & AI expert recruiters means if you’re job hunting for a Data & AI job in Leeds there’s no one more well-equipped to assist you. Additionally, any company that needs a Data and AI role filled can rely on us to help so contact our Leeds team now.
As a job hunter, you need a recruiter that spends the time getting to know and understand your skills and goals on an in-depth level and rest assured Harnham will do just that so you can find the right fit for you. So, whether you want a job as an AI Architect, Data Scientist, Data Engineer, Data Architect or Business Analyst Harnham can help you.
Likewise, any company searching for that perfect candidate can use our Data & AI industry knowledge to get the best advice and support for finding a candidate. We'll also make sure to provide the best candidates we have that are specialised in that role.
So, whether you’d like to make a career step in Leeds or hire the next member of your team Harnham can support you.
DATA & AI RECRUITMENT AND STAFFING
HOW WE DO IT
Just like the Data & AI professionals we place, Harnham use tried and tested models in our recruitment processes.
By gaining valuable market knowledge across a range of industries and regions, Harnham is able to provide a service which is second to none within our marketplace.
We have seen unprecedented growth in our specialist sector and always have a wide range of vacancies at both junior and senior levels including AI jobs, Data Science jobs, Data Analyst jobs, and Big Data jobs, all available throughout the UK, France, United States, and the Netherlands
WHAT SETS US APART FROM OTHER LEEDS DATA & AI RECRUITMENT AGENCIES?Â
We’re passionate about helping the people of Leeds to achieve their career goals and are proud to be part of the city’s thriving Data and AI industry.Â
We have a deep understanding of the Data and AI sector, and our team in Leeds is made up of experienced consultants who have worked in this sector for many years.
Our consultants have developed relationships with a wide range of employers in Leeds, and we have access to exclusive roles and opportunities that other agencies may not have.
We also provide a tailored approach to recruitment, so we can find the best fit for both employers and job seekers.
Our Leeds and West Yorkshire recruitment team is headed up by experienced Senior Manager Jamie Smith
JOBS
LATEST LEEDS
DATA & AI JOBS
Harnham are a specialist Data & AI Recruitment business with teams that only focus on niche areas.
Senior AI Engineer
London
£90000 - £115000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
This is an opportunity to join a growing AI function at a business investing heavily in artificial intelligence, automation, and digital transformation. You will play a key role in shaping technical direction, delivering production-grade AI solutions, and influencing how AI is embedded across a large, commercially focused organisation.
The Role
You will take ownership of AI initiatives from concept through to production, helping design and deliver solutions that solve real business challenges.
Responsibilities include:
- Leading the design and delivery of production-grade Generative AI and AI-powered solutions
- Owning architecture decisions across AI products and platforms
- Building and deploying LLM, RAG, and agentic AI systems at enterprise scale
- Evaluating build versus buy approaches and making pragmatic technology recommendations
- Working closely with engineering, security, governance, and business stakeholders
- Driving technical standards, best practices, and reusable AI frameworks
- Supporting and mentoring engineers across multiple workstreams
- Contributing to AI strategy and helping prioritise high-value use cases
- Ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, observable, and production-ready
Your Skills & Experience
You will bring:
- Strong commercial experience delivering Generative AI solutions into production
- Proven capability leading end-to-end AI projects from discovery through deployment
- Deep understanding of LLMs, RAG architectures, agentic AI, orchestration, prompting, and evaluation
- Strong software engineering foundations, including APIs, cloud architectures, and system design
- Experience making architecture and technology decisions within complex environments
- Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous and rapidly evolving problem spaces
- Experience collaborating with security, governance, compliance, and data protection teams
- Strong communication skills with the ability to engage technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Experience within enterprise-scale organisations, ideally in regulated environments
- Exposure to AWS and modern AI engineering practices is highly desirable

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior Data Scientist (Pricing)
Leicester
£60000 - £100000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentLeicester, Leicestershire
To Apply for this Job Click Here
I’m hiring a Senior Data Scientist to join a leading UK insurer’s Pricing & Data Science function, working on innovative machine learning solutions that directly influence risk assessment, pricing, fraud detection, and commercial performance.
This is a role for someone who enjoys taking models from problem definition through to deployment, working with modern ML techniques and real-world commercial challenges.
1 day/week (Leicester / London / Bexhill)
£60k-£100k
What you’ll be doing
- Build and deploy predictive models across pricing, claims, fraud, and risk analytics.
- Engineer new data assets and rating factors to improve pricing performance.
- Identify and leverage new data sources to drive business value.
- Partner with stakeholders across Pricing, Data Science, Analytics, and Engineering teams.
- Own ML projects end-to-end, including EDA, deployment, monitoring, and model refreshes.
What they’re looking for
– Proven experience delivering ML projects from concept to deployment.
– Strong Python and SQL skills.
– Experience with Azure ML, Git, and cloud-based analytics environments.
– Strong stakeholder engagement and commercial problem-solving capability.
– Passion for applying emerging ML techniques to real business problems.
Why join?
- Work in a highly respected pricing and analytics function.
- Bonus scheme + £5k car allowance.
- Private medical cover and strong benefits package.
- Opportunity to work on innovative modelling and pricing challenges at scale.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
AI Engineer
London
£500 - £600
+ Data Science & AI
ContractLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
AI/ML Engineer (Contract)
London
Fully Remote
Outside IR35
£400 – £500 Per Day
3 months long initially, may extended.
The Company
They are a well-established consumer goods business with a strong international presence and a growing investment in AI and advanced analytics. Data and technology are central to their strategy, with multiple initiatives focused on automation, personalisation, and operational efficiency. You will work within a collaborative environment where innovation is encouraged and modern machine learning technologies are actively adopted.
The Role and Deliverables
- Build, deploy, and maintain machine learning models for a range of business use cases.
- Develop scalable AI solutions that support customer, marketing, supply chain, and commercial functions.
- Work closely with data scientists, data engineers, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into production-ready solutions.
- Implement MLOps best practices to support model deployment, monitoring, and performance optimisation.
- Evaluate and integrate emerging AI technologies, including generative AI and large language models where appropriate.
- Support the development of a robust machine learning infrastructure and technical roadmap.
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience developing and deploying machine learning models in production environments.
- Excellent Python development skills and experience with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Scikit-learn.
- Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Strong understanding of MLOps, CI/CD principles, and model lifecycle management.
- Experience building scalable data and AI solutions using modern engineering practices.
- Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Experience within a consumer goods, retail, e-commerce, or FMCG environment would be advantageous.
How to Apply
If you are interested in this AI/ML Engineer opportunity and would like to learn more, please apply with your updated CV.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Scientist (Contract)
London
£500 - £600
+ Data Science & AI
ContractLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Scientist
London
2 Days in Office
Outside IR35
£500 – £600 Per Day
6 months long
The Company
They are a well-established media organisation with a strong presence across digital and traditional channels. The business is heavily invested in data and analytics, using insights to enhance audience experiences and support growth initiatives. They foster a collaborative environment where data science plays a key role in business strategy. You will join a team that values innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning.
The Role and Deliverables
- Build and deploy data science solutions to support audience growth, content optimisation, and commercial performance.
- Analyse large and complex datasets to identify trends, opportunities, and actionable insights.
- Develop predictive models and machine learning solutions to improve business decision-making.
- Collaborate with stakeholders across analytics, product, marketing, and commercial teams.
- Communicate findings through clear visualisations, presentations, and recommendations.
- Contribute to the development of best practices for data science and advanced analytics within the organisation.
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience applying statistical analysis and machine learning techniques to real-world business challenges.
- Advanced programming capability in Python and experience working with data science libraries.
- Strong SQL skills and experience working with large-scale datasets.
- Experience developing predictive models, segmentation frameworks, or recommendation systems.
- Ability to translate complex analytical findings into clear business recommendations.
- Experience using data visualisation tools to communicate insights effectively.
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
- A proactive approach to problem-solving and delivering measurable business impact.
How to Apply
If you are interested in this Data Scientist opportunity and would like to learn more, please apply with your updated CV.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Scientist (Contract)
London
£400 - £500
+ Data Science & AI
ContractLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Consumer Goods Data Scientist (Contract)
London
2 Days in Office
Outside IR35
£400 – £500 Per Day
6 months long
The Company
They are a well-established consumer goods business with a strong presence across multiple markets. The organisation is investing heavily in data and analytics to improve customer understanding, optimise commercial performance, and support strategic decision-making. You will join a collaborative team that values innovation, curiosity, and evidence-based thinking.
The Role and Deliverables
- Develop and deploy data science solutions to address customer, marketing, and commercial challenges.
- Build predictive models to support demand forecasting, customer behaviour analysis, and business planning.
- Analyse large datasets to identify trends, opportunities, and actionable insights.
- Partner with stakeholders across commercial, marketing, and analytics functions to translate business requirements into data-driven solutions.
- Present findings and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Support the continuous improvement of analytics methodologies, tools, and processes.
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience applying data science techniques within a consumer goods, retail, or customer-focused environment.
- Demonstrated capability in machine learning, statistical modelling, and predictive analytics.
- Proficiency with Python, SQL, and relevant data science libraries.
- Experience working with large and complex datasets to generate business value.
- Ability to communicate technical findings clearly to senior stakeholders.
- Experience delivering end-to-end data science projects from problem definition through to implementation.
- Strong commercial awareness and a data-driven approach to decision-making.
How to Apply
If you are interested in applying your data science expertise within a forward-thinking consumer goods environment, please submit your application for further information

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Scientist – FMCG, Distribution & Operations
London
£350 - £400
+ Data Science & AI
ContractLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Scientist
£400 per day | Outside IR35 | Six months | Remote, UK-based
We are working with a specialist Data Science consultancy that is looking for a Data Scientist to join a major engagement with a global FMCG business.
The role will focus on distribution and operations, using Data Science to improve areas such as logistics performance, forecasting, territory planning and operational decision-making.
This is a strong opportunity for a Data Scientist with three or more years of experience who has built solid technical foundations and is ready to take greater ownership of their work. You do not need to be the finished article, but you must be able to work independently, communicate confidently and apply Data Science to genuine business problems.
Working pattern
The role will be completed remotely from the UK. However, the end client’s main stakeholders are based on the US West Coast.
Candidates must be comfortable adjusting their working hours and remaining available until approximately 7pm UK time. This will provide at least two hours of daily overlap with the US team.
The company
The consultancy specialises in solving complex commercial problems through Data Science and advanced analytics.
You will join a small, experienced delivery team supporting an established global consumer goods business. The working environment is collaborative and fast-moving, with the opportunity to contribute to how analytical models, processes and products are developed.
The consultancy places significant value on attitude and personality. They are looking for someone who is approachable, proactive and able to build trusted relationships with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
The role
You will work across the full analytical lifecycle, including:
-
Working with stakeholders across Sales, Operations and Distribution to understand their challenges.
-
Turning loosely defined business problems into clear analytical plans.
-
Identifying, acquiring and assessing the quality of relevant data.
-
Using Python, SQL and Snowflake to explore and structure large datasets.
-
Building forecasting, classification, clustering, regression and optimisation models.
-
Developing repeatable analytical models and pipelines rather than one-off analyses.
-
Applying experimentation and causal inference methods to measure the impact of business decisions.
-
Connecting analytical outputs to measurable operational and commercial outcomes.
-
Presenting findings and recommendations clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
-
Managing your own work and providing proactive updates on progress, risks and dependencies.
-
Using tools such as Claude Code, Cursor or GitHub Copilot within a structured development workflow.
-
Contributing to daily stand-ups, planning sessions, technical discussions and peer reviews.
This is not a pure modelling position. You will be expected to understand the business problem behind the analysis and explain how your work should influence real decisions.
Your skills and experience
The successful candidate will have:
-
Three or more years of commercial Data Science or applied analytics experience.
-
Strong Python skills, including pandas, scikit-learn and common Data Science libraries.
-
Advanced SQL skills and experience working with large or varied datasets.
-
Commercial experience using Snowflake.
-
A good grounding in statistics, machine learning and model validation.
-
Experience applying forecasting, classification, clustering, regression or optimisation in a business environment.
-
Experience handling messy real-world data and making sensible decisions around data quality.
-
Practical experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot or similar.
-
Experience within FMCG, consumer goods, retail, logistics, distribution or supply chain.
-
Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
-
The ability to take ownership of a problem and deliver with limited supervision.
-
A personable, positive and collaborative working style.
-
Availability to work until approximately 7pm UK time.
Desirable experience
Experience in any of the following areas would be beneficial:
-
Distribution or logistics analytics.
-
Direct Store Delivery or route-to-market operations.
-
Time-series forecasting.
-
Mathematical optimisation or operations research.
-
Vehicle routing or territory planning.
-
Geospatial analytics.
-
Google OR-Tools, Gurobi or SciPy.
-
Streamlit, Shiny for Python or similar analytical applications.
-
Consulting or embedded client delivery.
Contract details
-
£400 per day.
-
Outside IR35.
-
Initial six-month contract.
-
Remote working from the UK.
-
Later working hours, with availability required until approximately 7pm UK time.
-
Two-stage interview process.
How to apply
Please apply with an up-to-date CV highlighting your experience with Python, SQL, Snowflake and applied Data Science within an operational, retail, FMCG, logistics or supply-chain environment.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
We are the global leaders in Data & AI recruitment
With over 15 years of experience working solely in the Data & AI sector, our UK Northern-focused consultants are able to offer detailed insights and support into the industry.
Industry Hub
HARNHAM
News & Blog
With over 10 years experience working solely in the Data & AI sector our consultants are able to offer detailed insights into the industry.
Visit our Blogs & News portal or check out our recent posts below.
What Does an AI Engineer Do?
What Does an AI Engineer Do? Job Description, Responsibilities and Skills AI Engineers turn artificial intelligence from…
How Much Does an AI Engineer Make in the UK?
How Much Does an AI Engineer Make in the UK? AI Engineers are among the most sought-after…
How to Become an AI Engineer in the UK
How to Become an AI Engineer in the UK AI Engineering is one of the fastest-growing careers…
Why Fintech’s AI Talent Pool Is Smaller Than It Looks
By Luc Simpson-Kent, Business Manager – Harnham The share of US job postings requiring AI skills increased…
The Growing Demand for Commercially Driven Analysts
By Lauren McAlister, Senior Recruitment Consultant – Harnham A big trend we’re seeing in the analytics market…
AI Driven Data – Built in the North and Midlands | How Data Engineers are Using AI to Build Better Data Pipelines
Across organisations, AI is rapidly changing how data-driven teams operate, from how insights are generated to how…
Hiring for Agentic AI in the Netherlands: What We’re Seeing
Recently, we’ve been running a few searches in the Netherlands for people with experience in agentic AI….
AI Driven Data – Built in the North and Midlands | AI in CRO and Experimentation
Across organisations, AI is rapidly changing how data-driven teams operate, from how insights are generated to how…
How Tri-State Insurers Are Using AI to Combat Rising Fraud in 2026
By Conor Larkin, Associate Vice President – Harnham Insurance fraud costs the U.S. industry over $40…
AI in Private Equity: How Talent Strategy Drives Portfolio Value Creation
by Nick Mandella, Director at Harnham. Most PE firms are investing in AI, but returns remain mixed….
Testimonials
Client and
candidate
testimonials
A trusted partner of professionals across the globe.
We understand the challenges our customers face and offer the
recruitment solutions needed to drive business success through Data & AI.








