Building a Foundational Data & AI Function for a FinTech Scale-Up

MAYDAY Technology partnered with a high-growth FinTech scale-up during a critical phase of expansion, supporting the build of its entire Data & AI function from the ground up.

Client Overview

A rapidly scaling FinTech organisation had achieved strong commercial growth and product traction but lacked the internal Data & AI capability needed to support the next stage of scale.



The business required both strategic leadership and technical delivery capability, but needed clarity around team structure, role ownership and hiring priorities before entering a highly competitive market.

The Challenge

The client was facing several key challenges:

• No existing Data leadership to define structure or strategy
• Unclear separation across Data Engineering, Analytics and AI responsibilities
• A highly competitive, candidate-short market
• Need to build an entire team quickly without compromising quality

They needed more than recruitment support; they needed a strategic talent partner capable of designing and building the function alongside them.

Our Approach

Within a 12-week engagement, we delivered a Head of Data & AI, Lead Data Engineer, Lead AI Engineer and a team of mid-to-senior engineers through a fully embedded, consultative partnership model.

• Function design and market consultation: We partnered with founders and senior stakeholders to define team structure, hiring priorities and role ownership before entering the market, ensuring clarity and reducing hiring risk from the outset.
• Leadership-first hiring strategy: We prioritised the Head of Data & AI hire first, targeting leaders with proven experience building teams from scratch and aligning technical capability to commercial outcomes.
• Embedded delivery model: Operating as an extension of the business, we held weekly strategy sessions, provided real-time market insights and continuously refined hiring priorities as the function evolved.
• Community-led talent access: Leveraging our deeply embedded Data & AI networks, we engaged high-quality passive talent and delivered highly relevant shortlists within days.
• Scalable team build-out: Following the leadership appointment, we supported the phased build-out of the wider Data & AI team while providing ongoing market guidance and interview support throughout the process 
  

Timeline

• Week 1 – Function design, role scoping and market consultation completed
• Weeks 2–4 – Head of Data & AI identified and secured
• Weeks 4–8 – Lead Data Engineer and Lead AI Engineer hired
• Weeks 6–12 – Mid-to-senior engineering team built out in parallel

The Impact

• A full leadership shortlist was delivered within 4 weeks
• The wider Data & AI function was successfully built within 12 weeks
• Highly matched shortlists were consistently delivered within 3–5 days per role
• Every offer extended throughout the engagement was accepted
• The client secured a fully operational Data & AI capability ready to support continued growth and innovation
• The final team brought deep technical expertise, commercial alignment and proven scale-up experience across Data Engineering and AI

Within three months, the client had a fully operational Data & AI function with clear leadership, scalable team structure and high-calibre engineering capability delivering immediate impact.



Beyond the hires themselves, the business gained a long-term talent strategy and a scalable foundation ready to support continued growth and innovation.