This week our guest on ‘Data & AI live’ was Catherine Breslin, former Head of AI at Amazon Alexa. We discussed all the basics of how companies can start to use LLM’s in their businesses. We covered: – How specific large language models are trained – Typical use cases & business outcomes – Build vs. Buy […]

I speak to companies that have had vacancies in Data & AI open for 9 months, sometimes even 12 months. The obvious conclusion is that they can’t tap into the right talent pools, or that their hiring process is broken somewhere. And that might be the case. But with situations like this it is normally […]

You need to make 2 or 3 Data hires instead of one. Companies make the error of trying to hire a Player Coach Data Analytics leader in isolation. An individual who they think can do everything. Manage a team of Data Scientists & Engineers, still be hands on and review code, and handle the commercial […]

Recently we hired 4 Quantum Machine Learning Engineers for a client in less than 7 weeks. In the previous 8 months they’d only managed to hire 2, despite having budget to hire 6. Below is how we did it. Whilst this example is based on a project to hire Quantum Machine Learning Engineers, the principals outlined are universal […]

People say Data Science & AI has become an oversaturated skills market. And you can understand why. Put out a job advert and in no time you’ll have 200 + applicants. But dig a little deeper into those 200 applicants and you’ll probably find something like this: 70 of the applicants are from the other […]

It’s really difficult to hire successful Data & Analytics leaders today. 10 years’ ago Data Analytics leaders were expected to deliver Insights to Senior Management to inform business decisions Today, they are expected to be part of Senior Management delivering on business strategy, and they therefore require a whole different commercial & leadership skillset on […]

The role & responsibilities of the Chief Data Officer don’t need to be defined. But people seem desperate that this should be the case. Take the CEO role. There isn’t a desperate need to define beyond all doubt what the responsibilities & experience of a CEO should be. Yes there are some overarching principles, but what […]

Are Chief Data Officer Job Adverts a cry for help? Most of the CDO & Data Analytics leadership adverts you see online often read like a cry for help. Reading between the lines the adverts say: “Hey !  We don’t really know what we are looking for or how to define success in this role, […]

5 things you need to do to be ready to hire a Chief Data Officer:   Define the use cases: You need to be able to do this as part of your communication strategy, verbally & in any written format.  This information you should pass onto anyone involved in the recruiting processes.  Being able to […]

At the Executive Search end of the rapidly changing Data Analytics space a lot of the best work we do doesn’t end up in a hire being made Sounds Counter Intuitive, but Let me explain….. Company X have a very smart VP of Data Analytics, the most senior Data person in the business.  They lead […]

Innovative global companies are finding novel ways of releasing extra Data Analytics budget; They are cutting Data Infrastructure costs with no loss of function.  Here are some ways they are doing it: Cutting Third Party Data Spend Does the business really need all the 3rd party data sources it is spending money on? Does everyone […]

The Data Analytics Translator; The new sexiest role of the 21st Century? Maybe not, but of absolute critical importance to companies as they try to scale their Data Analytics efforts & infrastructure. They can be the game changers that mean success or failure of an initiative. They will be able to define the business problems, […]

New Chief Data Officer role – check it out Candidates should take the time to read all the elements of this job advert carefully. Please make your application promptly. Our client are a Large corporate looking to hire a figurehead Chief Data Officer who can talk a great game to the board and/or shareholders. On […]

Are Faculty the UK Version of Palantir ? Palantir are one of if not the most high profile start up/scale up success stories in Data over the last decade or so.  Founded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel in 2004. Initially the company used a fraud risk engine, very similar to PayPal technology to investigate cyber […]

Sky News reported on Monday that CEO Alexis Nassard was to leave Data & Research giant Kantar after just 4 months in the job.   It has been announce from Kantar that both parties came to a mutual agreement that Nassard was unlikely to be “an effective long term fit.” Quite a turnaround from 4 months […]

Is Bill Gates the best Recruiter ever? He might well be, and it may come as a surprise that as well as being one of the finest CEO’s he’s also right up there with the best Recruiters who has ever lived. It’s a little known fact about Bill Gates that he spent the biggest portion […]

Big Tech companies (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft), are hiring army’s of PHD Economists. Why? Could this be the beginning of the end for ‘Data Scientists’ ? Economists training lends itself very well to analysing data sets in a commercial way, spotting trends, identifying correlation & causation. Economists are trained to understand market forces & the levers […]

Are you sure you want to become a Chief Data Officer?  There are still few real Chief Data Officer jobs about – Some aren’t even called CDO, but let’s use that title to make it easier.  What we are referring to is overarching Data Leadership positions, responsible for the entire Data Value Chain within established […]

So it’s finally happened.  After years of teasing and false starts, Palantir finally IPO’d this week fetching a market value of £17 billion. For the uninitiated Palantir are one the best regarded, and most secret, Data Analytics companies in the world; well known for their work with US & UK governments, as well as many […]

AgriTech – not just the future of farming but the future of the planet – Data Science Saves the Planet. This might sound like a dramatic title but it’s really not. Food is responsible for around 30% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and if we don’t take action this number is predicted to grow Agritech […]

The emergence of HealthTEC Many people will be aware that the NHS has partnered with DeepMind. they are using their Deep Learning technologies to unlock hidden insight into the patient record data of the biggest nationalised health service in the world. This is a vast data set which it is probably fair to describe as impenetrable. […]

A Brief Case Study of Sky TV Recently I had Sky Q – Sky’s most up to date service installed and it got me thinking about the nature of the business and how data & technology can change & shape our lives. Sky like, BT, Talktalk, Virgin, etc have all been seen promoting the triple […]

7 Sectors focusing on Data Engineering & Machine Learning recruitment in 2020 (that might surprise you!)   Data Engineering & Machine Learning Recruitment The Data Recruitment market has traditionally been dominated by sectors such as Financial Services, Marketing & Retail.  In 2020 a number of other sectors will be recruiting in and investing heavily in […]

Are you a High Performing Data Analytics Leader? – Compare yourself against Wyatt Partners 5 Dimensions of Data Leadership After thousands of hours interacting with the very best Data Analytics leaders, we have created a five-dimensional Data Analytics leadership model. The best leaders will have strong competence in most if not all of these areas: […]

Autonomous Vehicles – Data Scientists are trying to make it happen! But will they ever be on our Roads? As a Data Science talent solution business, It is a privilege to be a small part of the journey of some of the newest technologies and sectors changing our lives. Many of the Data Scientists we […]

How to Value Data as an Asset Current GAAP accounting Practices don’t allow for valuation of intangible assets (Data) on a Balance sheet, so how does an organisation Measure or Place value on their data? Drucker’s famous Phrase comes to mind here “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” This brings the line of reasoning that […]

Definition of a Data scientist – Wyatt partners Data analytics Perspectives Wikipedia says – Data science is an inter-disciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge It would follow that a data scientist is someone who does that shouldn’t it? Well as with so many things in adult life and […]

Data Science Recruitment Guide part 2   How to design an Interview process for Data Science Candidates   What are you trying to achieve in hiring this Data Scientist? What do you want this candidate to achieve in the first 6 -12 months on the Job? They seem like simple questions and they are, but […]

How to hire a Data Science Leader Know what you want in a data leadership candidate. If you have the knowledge base you can manage it internally if not you can engage consultants to define your needs. The rest, as they say, is easy: To hire the best Data science Leaders then you need to […]

Data Science, Medicine & Data Governance The importance of Data Science in Medicine has never been more starkly highlighted than the current times. Businesses like Faculty are using AI to find key metrics in the billions of rows of data.  Others like Hitachi Vantara, Babylon health and Current health to name but a few of […]

2 Ways to Organise a Data team The terms Data scientist and data engineer and analyst are ubiquitous within the Data sector now and often used interchangeably. Some people might think inaccurately but that is because the roles and job titles can be so varied. This is clearly a generalisation but broadly speaking there are […]

The Purpose of Data Science and Data Leadership in Business and Comparisons with the Current COVID 19 Crisis response, The roles of Chief Data Officers and similarities to the Chief Medical officers role in this Crisis The Corona Virus has put a lot of things in perspective and made us consider new points of view. […]

Data Science Recruitment Tips Hiring Data Scientists can be tough in today’s candidate driven market.  The best individuals will be constantly approached and have many suitors for their employment. Most of the best candidates step back from the noise.  They take themselves off social media & other sourcing channels partially or sometimes even completely.  Through […]

Do not underestimate the telephone interview.  It is often overlooked in the hiring process but can be a key weapon in securing the best candidates.  If your company is still looking to complete critical hiring during this period of self-isolation it might be the most important tool you have. (We recommend a telephone interview rather […]

Data Science Recruitment: Ten rules for Growing a Great Data Science team – with Ben Dias, Data Science Director @ easyJet  (Transcribed from an interview with Ben Dias)   Focus on Retention First Most companies focus on growth first rather than retention.  There are 2 main reasons why it is better to first focus on […]

What Kind of Data Analytics Leaders should companies hire to help enable Digital Transformation? Gartner named Data Analytics competence within organisations a key indicator of digital transformation success.  Let’s look at ideas around what kind of Data Analytics leaders organisations should look for to enable this competence. Heavy customer-focused industries such as Retail, Financial Service, […]

Frustrations of Data Analytics Leaders A common frustration of functional Data Analytics Leaders is when they are overlooked for a role by a Company or a Search Firm on the basis that they lack knowledge or experience of working in that sector. The feeling is that this is an unfair basis on which to judge […]

How Data Analytics Leadership Assessment can make sure you Leverage your Data efficiently taking your Business to New Levels? Wyatt Partners, the only pure-play Search firm in Data Leadership are also the only Search firm that offers a formal Data Analytics Leadership Assessment program Part of our Universe First Product. (Click the image below)   […]

The COO Recruitment Process For rapid growth companies in the Digital, Data & Tech ecosystem, the COO recruitment process is a vital piece of the puzzle to ensure long term success of the firm.  The right COO can free up a passionate founder or CEO to implement the creativity & develop the strategy to push […]

Here are 5 of the most common challenges facing Chief Data Officers today.   Attributing Success Let’s set this against the context of Gartner’s Mario Faria who said that by the end of 2019, 50 percent of chief data officers would be seen to fail, highlighting the extent of the challenges facing Chief Data Officers This […]

Chief Data Officer Recruitment The Chief Data Officer job title, and Chief Data Officer recruitment, has been around for well over a decade now.  The thinking behind the role being that with Data becoming ever more important & of greater volumes within organisations that there should be someone at a senior level whose job it […]

We’d like to highlight to our readers this excellent piece on Data Science Jobs and Data Science recruitment by Diksha Dutta from the Dataconomy site.  In it she gives a snapshot of the key trends and statistics from the Data Science Jobs market in Europe.  This is a must read piece for all Data & […]

Data Analytics Recruitment The Data Analytics Recruitment & Data Science Recruitment market has traditionally been dominated by sectors such as Financial Services, Marketing & Retail.  In 2019 a number of other sectors will be recruiting in and investing heavily in Data Science – here are 5 which may surprise you.   Government Famously the Governments […]

How Should you go about hiring a Chief Data Officer?   Do: Ask yourself whether ‘Chief Data Officer’ is the Right Job Title for the role you are hiring   Have them report into the CEO or at the very least make sure the CEO is their biggest cheerleader, IBMs chief data officer Playbook identifies […]

Data Expert & Data NED, Caroline Worboys Interview In a modern business world that often lacks real Data expertise at Board level, Caroline Worboys is a trendsetter. Sitting on the boards and being an investor in many successful rapid growth firms she has carved out a niche for herself as a Data Expert and “The Data […]

Data Analytics Leaders When considering a Data Analytics executive search there are some often overlooked key elements to consider: 1. Business Focused You must understand the business you are working in and the industry sector implicitly. You need to understand where and how the business generates revenue, and areas where you can drive change to create […]

Here are 6 key recruitment strategies for rapid growth Tech Companies that we have found to be highly successful.   Take time to understand how people get things done Sorry to break it to you but some people embellish on their CV’s, stretch the truth in interviews, and take credit for things that might not […]

Skills shortage in Data Analytics Recruitment? There is a popular current narrative about skills shortages of Data & Analytics talent. It tells that there are just not enough people with the skills to manage the data, analyse the data, sell the projects, lead the divisions, grow the teams, run the companies & sit on the boards. […]

Data Scientist Recruitment Can Data Scientists become CEO? This is a question we get asked frequently. The answer is……. it depends (Shock!), but the chances are pretty slim ☹ Although don’t worry as the chances of other technical job functions becoming CEO’s are also pretty rare at present. “Can Data Scientists / Analysts become CEO’s” […]

Recruitment and HR When asked to identify the primary asset in their company, the majority of business leaders will respond quickly and simply – their people. Yet while most identify those who work for them as the most important part of their organisation, very few will have included their Human Resources or talent manager on […]

Whilst advances in digital hardware have arguably been slowing in the last few years, the explosion in the digital information it has enabled has not. We are in the early stages of exponential growth in data volumes, the ultimate effects of which cannot yet be foreseen. With this comes an urgent and escalating need for […]

Data Science Recruitment Data Scientists are a rare breed, we all know that by now. But how do you spot one and how do you undertake data science recruitment? One of the reasons they are so rare is that there skill set is made up of three different technical disciplines. So when you are trying […]