Data and AI Leaders Community

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.