About
I’ve spent the last decade building AI systems and leading teams in government, not-for-profits, and startups. I co-founded Mantis NLP, an AI consultancy, and served as CEO and then CTO over five years. I now work independently with organisations who need senior AI capability without the overhead of a full-time hire.
The career arc
- Research Fellow & PhD Researcher Cranfield University, modelling forest growth and soil carbon storage
- Data Scientist Department for Education (first data scientist recruited to the department)
- Data Scientist Government Digital Service (GDS), pioneered Reproducible Analytical Pipelines
- Lead Data Scientist Juro, AI-enabled contract management platform
- Freelance Data Scientist Reproducible Analytics, clients including the Wellcome Trust
- Founder & CEO, then CTO Mantis NLP, built to profitability over 5 years
- Consultant (Network Member) Public Digital, digital transformation for governments
- Independent AI Consultant Based in Valencia, Spain
The human stuff
I live in Valencia, Spain with my family. When I’m not working, I’m usually training for a triathlon, running along the Turia, or trying to improve my Spanish. My career path was unusual: I started as an environmental scientist, retrained in data science, and found my way to AI via government. That non-linear route means I bring a different perspective to most AI consultants; I understand research rigour, public interest constraints, and the gap between academic AI and production systems.
Speaking
I speak at conferences about AI leadership, responsible AI, and what actually works when deploying AI in government and mission-driven organisations.
Debugging Leadership: Six Errors when Moving From Code to Management
PyData London 2025
Lessons from the transition from Data Scientist to Co-Founder, framed as Python errors. From battling imposter syndrome (ValueError) to learning to delegate (DeadlockError) and avoiding burnout (RuntimeError).