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RETAINED EXECUTIVE SEARCH FOR AI, DATA & TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP
AI and technology investment needs to show up in the business.
When it doesn’t, the question is who can turn it into results.
Lucent Search is a founder-led retained executive search firm for senior AI, data and technology leadership. Rebecca Hastings starts with a leadership diagnostic to understand what the business is trying to achieve, what leadership is required and what the market can realistically provide — before beginning the search.
A TRACK RECORD IN
COMPLEX LEADERSHIP SEARCH
15 years
Executive search experience
100+
Senior leadership appointments
Boards & investors
Trusted when the leadership problem is difficult to define — and costly to get wrong.
Lucent is founder-led by Rebecca Hastings. Clients choose Lucent because they want Rebecca involved in the appointment.
Before you search, establish what the business actually needs.
The need for stronger leadership may be clear. The answer is not always a new title or a direct replacement.
Is the strategy sound but execution weak?
Does the existing technology leadership have what the next phase requires?
Should AI have a dedicated executive, or should responsibility sit with the CIO, CTO, CDO/CDAO or elsewhere in the business?
Is the role being proposed actually capable of delivering the outcome expected of it?
The answers may confirm the role already being considered, reshape it or show that a new appointment is not the answer.
More than a shortlist.
Clarity on the role, the market and the decision.
A strong search should leave the client better informed than when it began — about the leadership requirement, the available market, the trade-offs and the evidence behind the final decision.
Decision confidence
Make the final appointment with a clearer view of capability, trade-offs and risk.
Evidence-led assessment
Test candidates against the outcomes the role actually needs to deliver.
Market intelligence
See who has been identified, who has been approached and what the market is telling us.
Role clarity
Define the outcomes, scope, reporting lines and decision rights before search begins.
06
Integrate
Carry the agreed outcomes into onboarding and review progress after appointment.
05
Appoint
Support the final decision, offer and appointment.
04
Assess
Test evidence of capability against the outcomes the role must deliver.
03
Search
Map the market comprehensively and engage the strongest relevant candidates.
02
Define
Set the outcomes, scope, decision rights and market parameters.
01
Diagnose
Understand the business problem and what leadership must change.
A structured six-stage process designed to clarify the leadership requirement, test the market properly and support the appointment through integration.
Lucent Smart Search®
HOW LUCENT WORKS
CLIENT PERSPECTIVE
“What stood Rebecca apart from the rest was her ability to get to the nub of where our business was on its journey, its objectives and my team needs by not just jotting down a shopping list, but by challenging my rationale for the team design and the skills and experience I needed.”
James MacLean
Client while leading Product & Design at OVO Home Services Insurance
06
Integrate
Carry the agreed outcomes into onboarding and review progress after appointment.
05
Appoint
Support the final decision, offer and appointment.
04
Assess
Test evidence of capability against the outcomes the role must deliver.
03
Search
Map the market comprehensively and engage the strongest relevant candidates.
02
Define
Set the outcomes, scope, decision rights and market parameters.
01
Diagnose
Understand the business problem and what leadership must change.
CLIENT PERSPECTIVE
“What stood Rebecca apart from the rest was her ability to get to the nub of where our business was on its journey, its objectives and my team needs by not just jotting down a shopping list, but by challenging my rationale for the team design and the skills and experience I needed.”
James MacLean
Client while leading Product & Design at OVO Home Services Insurance
FOUNDER-LED EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Rebecca Hastings
Rebecca leads every Lucent search personally.
Her work has centred on senior AI, data and technology appointments where the role has to work across business priorities, organisational complexity and significant technology change.
Her perspective is informed by more than search. Recent work includes enterprise AI strategy, original research into AI and data leadership, speaking with senior business audiences and conversations with executives through What Strategy Becomes.
That keeps her close to both the leadership market and the business questions behind the appointment.
“By the time Rebecca is presenting a shortlist of candidates you know they have gone through her rigorous process, which inspires confidence that you will be dealing with an outstanding future colleague.”
Stuart Bell
CTO & CPTO | AI Strategy, Delivery & Innovation Leadership
SEARCH TRANSPARENCY
See the market behind the shortlist.
A shortlist should not only show who reached the end of the process. It should show how thoroughly the market was searched, what the market said and why the recommended candidates are there.
Lucent clients can see the active talent map throughout the search:
Identified — who is in scope
Approached — who has been contacted
Market response — how the market is reacting
Process status — where candidates sit in the search
By shortlist, you should understand the market searched, the
trade-offs exposed and the evidence behind each recommendation.
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TECHNOLOGY, AI & DATA UK EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Senior AI, data and technology leadership
The leadership requirement changes with the business problem.
Lucent Search runs retained executive searches across the UK for senior AI, data and technology leaders. We work with established and regulated organisations where the appointment has a material impact on transformation, operational performance and business value.
Chief Information Officer
For organisations modernising technology, leading enterprise transformation or strengthening accountability for technology performance.
Chief Technology Officer
For organisations where product, platforms, engineering and technology architecture are central to growth and execution.
Chief Data Officer &
Chief Data Analytics Officer
For organisations that need clearer ownership of data, stronger governance and the capability to turn data into measurable business value.
Chief AI Officer
For organisations deciding who should own AI, how it should be governed and how to move from experimentation into scaled execution.
Retained executive search across the UK, including London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
WHERE LUCENT WORKS
Established organisations where technology leadership has to deliver through complexity.
Lucent works with established organisations where AI, data and technology leadership has to deliver through complexity. This is often alongside legacy technology, regulation, governance and significant pressure to change.
Financial Services, Insurance and Wealth Management
Energy
Transport & Infrastructure
Water, Waste & Environmental Services
Public Bodies & Heavily Governed Institutions
Engineering, Manufacturing & Industrials
Telecommunications
Construction & the Built Environment
Across these environments, technology change has to produce business results while working through established operations, existing systems and organisational constraints.
AI & DATA LEADERSHIP 2025–2026
Original Lucent research with more than 100 AI and data leaders on what helps, and gets in the way of, execution.
The findings cover leadership, organisational ownership, governance, collaboration, talent, investment and the challenge of demonstrating value from AI and data.
63%
of AI and data leaders plan to change jobs within the next 12 months.
Leadership instability becomes an execution risk when senior leaders lack the authority, sponsorship or structure to deliver.
91%
of AI leaders struggle to move pilots into production.
Pilots are harder to scale when ownership, decision rights and the operating model remain unclear.
CONVERSATIONS ON LEADERSHIP & EXECUTION
What Strategy Becomes
Conversations and analysis about leadership, technology and what happens between setting a strategy and making it work.
Hosted by Rebecca Hastings, What Strategy Becomes brings together senior leaders, investors and operators to examine the decisions, structures and leadership capability behind execution.
START A CONVERSATION
Working through a difficult leadership appointment?
Tell Rebecca what is happening. She will tell you candidly whether Lucent can help.