What we’re about
Data & AI Leaders is a practitioner-led community for Heads of Data, Directors of AI & Analytics, Chief Data & AI Officers, Principal & Staff Data Engineers, ML and Platform Leads, and senior decision-makers responsible for building, governing, and scaling data and AI capabilities within their organisations.
We focus on the strategy, leadership, operating models, and real-world execution behind high-performing data and AI functions, from data platforms and MLOps to organisational adoption, governance, value delivery, and responsible AI.
We run:
• Bi-monthly in-person roundtables and meetups in London
• Occasional online sessions for our wider leadership community
• Collaboration with related groups across the Community Stack ecosystem
Whether you lead a data or AI organisation today, are transitioning into a senior leadership role, or operate as an experienced individual contributor influencing strategy and direction, you’re very welcome here.
Our events explore:
• Data & AI strategy, investment and business value alignment
• Building and scaling high-performing data, ML and analytics teams
• Modern data platforms, architecture patterns and platform ownership
• MLOps, LLMOps, model lifecycle and production reliability
• Governance, risk, security, privacy and Responsible AI in practice
• Operating models, stakeholder alignment and transformation journeys
• Real-world leadership lessons, successes — and the challenges behind them
This community is part of the Community Stack Ecosystem, meaning members can also discover and join our wider communities across Cloud, Platform Engineering, DevOps, Open Source, AI & Engineering Leadership, and more. You can explore and join other ecosystems and events here.
Members are automatically subscribed to our weekly community newsletter via Meetup, where we share upcoming events, speaker opportunities, leadership reflections and ecosystem updates. We also publish selected talks and highlights through our YouTube channel.
We’re always looking for:
• Speakers — leadership case studies, transformation journeys and strategic insights
• Hosts — organisations able to support executive-style roundtables and meetups
• Sponsors — support with venue access, refreshments and accessibility
• Collaborators — leadership networks, partner communities and ecosystem peers
If you’d like to speak, sponsor, host, or get involved, please reach out via Meetup or connect with Ethan Sumner on LinkedIn.
Community Values:
This group follows the Community Stack Code of Conduct.
We aim to create a respectful, thoughtful and inclusive environment where leaders can share openly, learn from peers, and help shape the future of the broader Data & AI ecosystem.
Sponsors
Upcoming events
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Data & AI Leaders #2 Scaling AI Teams & Reducing Toil in Security - Incident.io
incident.io, 66 City Rd, London EC1Y 2AL, London, GBHello and welcome to our next Data & AI Leaders event.
This session brings together Heads of Data, AI, and Analytics; senior technology and engineering leaders; Principal and Staff Data/ML Engineers; Platform and Capability Leads; and strategic decision-makers responsible for shaping data and AI strategy, governance, and value delivery within their organisations.
Our meetups are friendly, thoughtful, and discussion-driven, designed to create a space where leaders can share real-world experience, reflect on complex challenges, and learn from peers who are building and scaling Data and AI capabilities in the real world.
This session will include leadership talks, guided discussion, Q&A, and time for networking with fellow data and AI leaders.
We run:
• Bi-monthly in-person leadership meetups and roundtables in London
• Bi-monthly online sessions for our wider leadership community
Please keep an eye on our Meetup page for future events. Food and refreshments will be provided for in-person events where a host venue is supporting.
We are delighted to host this security-focused meetup in London on the 22nd of January, in partnership with Incident.io.
Speakers and Sessions:
Speaker: Dylan Ratcliffe, Founder at Overmind
Session Title: How We Detected Toil among 36,000 Changes
Description: How much precious engineering time are you spending on changes that don’t really need it? In this talk, we’ll reveal how we analysed nearly 37,000 infrastructure modifications to rigorously quantify "toil"; the work that slows teams down without adding real value. We’ll share the statistical techniques and practical models we developed to find the best opportunities for safe auto-approval, and show how you can use similar methods to identify (and eliminate) wasted effort in your own workflows. We’ll also discuss pitfalls, trade-offs, and how AI can take your approval process even further. Whether you’re a platform engineer or an SRE, you’ll learn how to free up your team to focus on what really matters while keeping your systems safe and reliable.
Speaker: Rory Malcolm, Product Engineer at Incident.io
Session Title: My first year as an AI engineer
Description: Join Rory, Product Engineer at Incident.io, as he walks through everything the team learned in their first year building an AI capability.
This session focuses on how they scaled both technically and socially, growing from early work into an engineering team able to make meaningful progress against real AI goals. Expect practical insight into team growth, collaboration, and what actually enabled progress.
Agenda (GMT / UK):
18:00 — Welcome and refreshments
18:30 — Introduction — Ethan Sumner
18:35 — Speaker 1
19:10 — Break
19:20 — Speaker 2
19:55 — Close and networking
We are always keen to hear from:
• Speakers — leadership case studies, transformation journeys and strategic insights
• Hosts — organisations able to support executive-style roundtables and meetups
• Sponsors — support with venue access, refreshments, recording or accessibility
If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future session, please get in touch with Ethan Sumner via LinkedIn.
You can find our YouTube channel via our community pages, where we publish selected talks and highlights.
This community forms part of the Community Stack ecosystem and follows the Community Stack Code of Conduct, ensuring a respectful, inclusive and welcoming environment where leaders can share openly and learn from one another.42 attendees
Past events
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