Head Of Data Protection & DPO (AI)

Location: London (Shoreditch), hybrid; minimum 3 days per week in the Shoreditch office

Salary: £110,000–£140,000 per year, plus discretionary recognition bonus and £100,000 in equal share options

Company

hirify.global builds a digital healthcare productivity platform for the NHS, including triage, appointment booking, patient questionnaires, healthcare communications, and AI-powered consultation note-taking.

What you will do

• Own data protection strategy, the statutory DPO role, the privacy team, and privacy-related decisions across hirify.global.
• Set responsible frameworks and guardrails for AI products handling sensitive NHS and patient data, including controllership, automation, retention, subprocessors, and model hosting.
• Embed privacy by design with product, design, and engineering teams, supporting informed and calculated innovation in healthcare.
• Build reusable governance templates, approved data flows, and plain-English privacy notices for healthcare organisations.
• Inform, advise, and monitor compliance under UK GDPR, including records of processing, DPIAs, training, audits, breach assessment, testing, and reporting.
• Lead corporate privacy, supplier and partner due diligence, regulatory evidence, and the growth of a privacy and data function supporting 200+ colleagues.

Requirements

• Experience working inside a product company and helping ship products with privacy-focused approaches.
• Experience guiding technology organisations through responsible innovation, particularly where AI/ML meets sensitive data.
• Deep practical expertise in UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, and the common law duty of confidentiality.
• Understanding of how modern AI systems handle data, ICO AI guidance, and the direction of relevant regulation.
• Experience building and leading privacy teams, including developing capability, delegating ownership, and building cross-functional trust.
• Confidence representing the business to regulators, NHS organisations, partners, and other external stakeholders, while communicating complex positions clearly.
• Knowledge of healthcare and the NHS, or a fast route to learning it, including controller and processor roles in primary care, DSPT, DTAC, the Caldicott Principles, and the national data opt-out.
• Ability to stay ahead of developments in digital health, AI, and data ethics and use privacy to enable responsible business progress.

Culture & Benefits

• Office-first, collaborative environment with regular hackathons and dedicated visits to GP practices and other healthcare settings.
• 28 days of holiday plus bank holidays, with up to 4 weeks per year to work from anywhere.
• Flexible healthcare, pension, and life insurance options.
• Enhanced parental leave, fertility support, and parental loss support.
• Free healthy breakfasts, snacks, lunches, and a weekly sweet treat in the dog-friendly Shoreditch office.