Head of AI salary · base pay by place and company size, 2026
What a head of AI earns, by place, company size and title
A head of AI salary in 2026 runs from £90,000 to £205,000, with a median of £157,250, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent head of AI.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £213,750.
Job ads quote less: IT Jobs Watch puts the median advertised salary at £100,000, on 108 ads over the six months to 5 October 2026.
The title covers a wide spread of seats, from a hands-on lead to the person who sets AI policy for the business, and the pay follows the scope.
When you hire a head of AI through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a head of AI
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Head of AI candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Technology leadership jobs on the board
No Technology leadership roles on the board in the last three months. Showing technology and operations leadership roles instead.
- FractionalSyndicatedFractional Product Practice Leader - 9 Month Contract
Tails.com · London
est £1,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalExclusiveFractional COO
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate not statedLondon - InterimExclusiveInterim Chief Operating Officer
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate not stated5 d/wk
Technology leadership roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Head of AI brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What a head of AI does, and what sets the pay
A head of AI turns an AI strategy into working systems: which uses to build or buy, the data they need, the models or vendors, and the people who run them.
The seat usually reports to the CTO, the CIO or the COO.
A chief AI officer is a different seat, an executive who answers to the board for AI across the company; see what a chief AI officer does.
The job carries risk as well as delivery.
The ICO’s guidance on AI and data protection covers accountability, fairness, accuracy and security in AI systems, and the NCSC publishes guidelines for secure AI system development.
ISO/IEC 42001 sets out the requirements for an AI management system.
The government’s 2023 white paper on AI regulation set out principles for existing regulators to apply in their own sectors.
A head of AI who owns those questions as well as the build is paid more than one who leads a team of engineers.
Experience sets the pay first.
Robert Half describes the bottom of its £90,000–£205,000 range as a candidate with little or no prior experience in the position, and the top as one with above-average experience who may hold specialised qualifications.
The title matters too.
Robert Half’s national range for a head of machine learning is £76,000–£115,000, with a median of £90,000: well below its head of AI figures.
Robert Walters puts the step above, a VP or director of AI and machine learning in London, at £160,000–£210,000 in a medium enterprise and £185,000–£235,000 in a large one.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a head of AI
1. Decide which seat you are filling
Write down what the role owns.
A lead who builds models with a small team is a different hire from a leader who decides where AI is used across the business and answers for the risk.
The second costs more, and if the board wants one person accountable for AI, the seat may be a chief AI officer rather than a head of AI.
2. Price the title you advertise
The same work is advertised as head of AI, head of machine learning or head of data science, and the published pay differs by title.
Check the figures for the title you will use, and for the one candidates hold now.
SFIA, the global skills framework for digital roles, covers AI and data science and helps describe the level of responsibility a seat carries.
3. Set base, bonus and equity together
The figures on this page are base pay.
In a growth business, part of the package is often equity: HMRC’s Enterprise Management Incentives are the tax-advantaged share option scheme most smaller companies look at first.
What we do on an AI leadership brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary technology leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
If the work fits into part of the week, see fractional head of AI jobs.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 3 roles · technology and operations leadership
Engagement
- Fractional2
- Interim1
Seat
- COO2
- CPO1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting2
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated2
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
- Not classified2
Newest posting on the board: 12 Sept 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional head of AI.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional head of AI holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim head of AI.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim head of AI takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent head of AI after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim head of AI holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent head of AI.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
Head of AI salary by source, place and company size
Permanent pay as each publisher states it, all 2026. Robert Half publishes starting salary projections (base); Robert Walters publishes basic-salary ranges and averages of advertised roles; IT Jobs Watch counts salaries quoted in job ads over six months. Each row names the title the publisher uses. Robert Half and Robert Walters are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
On Robert Half’s £157,250 median, that is about £22,800 a year (our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must also pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
A bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet head of AIs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Head of AI tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ head of ai salary uk
Head of AI salary UK: two benchmarks that measure different things
The two national figures for a head of AI salary UK employers pay sit far apart.
Robert Half’s range, £90,000–£205,000 with a median of £157,250, is a starting-salary projection built from its own placements and third-party vacancy data.
IT Jobs Watch’s median of £100,000 comes from salaries quoted in job ads, and its range runs from £72,104 to £131,875.
Ads are a moving sample.
IT Jobs Watch counted 141 permanent head of AI ads in the six months to 5 October 2026, against 30 in the same months of 2025, and the median fell from £108,500 to £100,000.
A count that changes that fast can change the mix of seats behind the median, so read the figure with the count beside it.
Read each figure as one view of the market.
The useful question is which seat you are filling, how big the business is and where the head of AI will work.
09/ head of ai salary london
Head of AI salary London, and the regions
The head of AI salary London employers pay sits at the top of Robert Half’s figures: £122,500–£278,750, with a median of £213,750.
Robert Walters puts a London head of AI or machine learning at £125,000–£190,000 in a medium enterprise and £135,000–£185,000 in a large one.
IT Jobs Watch’s London median, from 79 ads, is £100,000, the same as its national figure.
Outside London, Robert Walters publishes the combined title head of machine learning or head of data science.
In the North it puts the seat at £100,000–£120,000 in a medium enterprise and £120,000–£140,000 in a large one.
In the South the bands are £100,000–£130,000 and £140,000–£160,000.
10/ head of artificial intelligence salary
Head of artificial intelligence salary against head of machine learning
The head of artificial intelligence salary depends on what the title means in that business.
Robert Half’s national median for a head of AI is £157,250; for a head of machine learning it is £90,000.
In London the gap is £213,750 against £122,500.
A head of machine learning usually leads the people who build and run models.
A head of AI more often owns where AI is used across the business as well, with the data protection and security questions that come with it.
Price the seat by its scope, then check the title.
11/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or part of the week: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a head of AI every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim head of AI salary for the day rates.
A fractional head of AI works part of the week on a day rate; we have not found a published fractional head of AI rate we can source, so see fractional head of AI jobs for how those roles are scoped, and fractional head of AI salary for this salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate).
Compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
12/ questions
Head of AI salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of AI.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
