As Client Services Director, Private Equity at Datasparq, you will be responsible for the growth and profitability of our private equity channel.

Your goal will be to build and maintain relationships with private equity (‘PE’) houses and their portfolio companies, to grow our presence in companies backed by private equity, oversee delivery of work to private equity portfolio companies and work with Product, Data Science and Engineering teams to ensure we develop relevant capabilities.

Strategic Leadership: 

• Craft and execute a comprehensive strategy tailored to the PE vertical. This strategy should encompass market positioning, opportunity mapping, competitor intelligence and go-to-market messaging 
• Lead future strategic initiatives relating to private equity, such as international expansion or PE specific product development 
• Contribute to and manage financial targets and business plans for the PE vertical, making data-driven decisions to optimise growth, stickiness and profitability 

Client Engagement: 

• Build relationships with key decision-makers in private equity firms (primarily operating partners and deal professionals, but also CTOs and Heads of Data) 
• Work closely with the Sales / Business Development team in targeting, pursuing and qualifying PE leads and opportunities. Identify and pursue expansion opportunities from existing PE relationships 
• Collaborate closely with clients to pinpoint pain points where our services can deliver substantial value in portfolio companies. Act as a trusted advisor, shaping customised solutions that drive tangible enhancements to portfolio value 
• Partner with sales and delivery teams on PE opportunities in the creation of business cases, quantification of value to the client and preparation of pitch materials and demos, leveraging deep knowledge of PE 
• During project delivery, play a key role in project governance by reviewing key deliverables, attending critical meetings such as client workshops, leading quality review meetings and ensuring overall client happiness and success 

Marketing: 

• Stay at the forefront of developments in AI, machine learning, and other data-driven use cases most relevant to the private equity sector, as well as the latest thinking amongst PE firms 
• Collaborating with the marketing team, contribute to development of relevant marketing materials and content relevant to PE audiences 
• Participate in relevant conferences, publications and forums, such as those targeting PE operating partners, to bolster our industry presence and network with PE firms

Product Development: 

• Act as the voice of private equity clients within Datasparq, ensure that our capabilities and products address likely areas of value to PE clients and solicit feedback from clients on how well we are meeting their needs 
• Closely follow the development of Datasparq’s capabilities and products to ensure we bring the most value-generating offerings to PE customers 
• Collaborate with the Product team to guide the development of our capabilities, tooling and products where relevant for private equity applications 

Leadership and teamwork: 

• As a member of the leadership team, contribute to the company's overall vision, strategic direction, financial and resource planning as it relates to the private equity vertical 
• Collaborate collegiately with other client directors focused on industry verticals, sharing insights, collateral, strategies and bringing sector-specific insights to relevant PE portfolio companies 
• Coach and lead team members, providing guidance and support in their professional growth and successful project delivery

Required skills: 

The ideal candidate should have all or most of the following: 

• A robust academic background with at least a bachelor's degree in a related field 
• At least fifteen years’ experience of working in private equity and/or related consulting, including C-level stakeholder management 
• Ability and flexibility to excel in C-level and investor conversations. Ability to influence and negotiate with senior stakeholders 
• A proven track record of customer relationship management and a strong network of existing relationships in PE 
• A proven track record of identifying, pursuing and closing new and expansion professional services opportunities 
• Exceptional strategic thinking and commercial problem-solving skills 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including writing of pitch materials 
• Extensive experience in governance of complex project delivery with multiple stakeholders 
• Ability to lead, inspire and guide a diverse group of professionals 
• Ability to partner with and influence product and technical teams 
• Familiarity and passion for artificial intelligence, machine learning and other advanced data solutions 
• The ability to work independently, prioritising multiple demands on time including pursuits and active engagements 
• A high level of flexibility and comfort with ambiguity 
• A results-oriented mindset with a commitment to exceeding financial and operational goals

Datasparq is a specialist AI & data firm that designs, builds and runs high-impact AI & data solutions. We build bespoke AI and data science tools—and turn them into robust, reliable services for our clients.

We are a highly dedicated team of experienced data scientists, engineers, product designers and visualisation professionals who between us solve impactful problems for a diverse range of companies from international airlines to multinational pharmaceutical companies to luxury global hotel brands. 

We start with research and iterate—using lean startup principles—to quickly uncover impactful solutions to high-value challenges. Our product team ensure that we build the right solution in the right way. Our data science team ensure that the AI and data science solutions we build are best-in-class. And, our engineering team ensure that solutions are robust and ready to be deployed in the real world. When it comes to operationalising solutions, we run data science products in the cloud as services for our clients or deploy to their infrastructure as needed.

We don’t just build ML models—we take our science from the broad spectrum of mathematics, statistics, operations research and computer science. We work with academic partners and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) across the UK to ensure that what we do is founded on high-quality, up-to-date science.

As a company, we don’t just value diversity - we place it at the heart of what we do. We need diverse thinking from diverse people to help us create solutions quickly that are effective and respect the audience for the tool.