AI Lead, FMUK

Location: Stephen Street, London with regular time in FMUK production companies and on productions

Contract: Permanent

Direct reports: 2

About Fremantle UK

Creating the Extraordinary, Together.

Fremantle UK is one of the UK’s leading creators, producers and distributors of world-class entertainment, drama, film and documentaries. As part of the global Fremantle group, we develop and produce bold, distinctive content that reaches audiences across the UK and around the world.

From award-winning entertainment formats such as Britain’s Got Talent, The Apprentice and Too Hot to Handle, to critically acclaimed dramas including The Responder, starring Martin Freeman, and internationally celebrated films such as Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar-winning Poor Things, Fremantle UK is home to some of the industry’s most recognised and talked-about programming.

Our Purpose

We are driven by a shared purpose of Creating the Extraordinary, Together. We tell stories that connect people around the world, reflecting and celebrating the diversity of the communities we serve. Through compelling and irresistible entertainment, we aim to engage, inspire and create meaningful cultural impact.

To achieve this, we bring together talented people from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives both within our teams and across our productions. We are committed to fostering an inclusive culture and creating opportunities for diverse talent in everything we do.

Role Purpose

The FMUK AI Lead sets the vision for how AI can make Fremantle UK a more competitive and future-ready business. They own the resulting AI strategy and is accountable for turning it into measurable value across programme-making and the wider business.

The role spans two connected areas: production enablement, from creative development through to delivery, and productivity enablement across FMUK's corporate and operational functions. The Lead sets an ambitious direction, decides where to invest, champions new ways of working, and holds the relationships that make adoption possible: with MDs and CEOs, senior editorial, Heads of Production, functional leaders and the Global AI team.

The Lead will shape how FMUK's producers, editorial teams and storytellers use AI to originate, develop and make better programmes, explore new formats and new ways of engaging audiences, and open up new creative and commercial opportunities, while protecting the creative integrity, talent relationships and intellectual property on which the business depends.

The ideal candidate is an imaginative and credible leader who understands how programmes are made and the pressures production teams face, who can inspire creative and production teams to see what AI makes possible, who can weigh creative ambition against commercial, legal and operational realities, and who can build engagement across a federated group of companies.

1. Vision, creative leadership and innovation

• Articulate a compelling, ambitious vision for how AI can enhance creativity and storytelling at FMUK, from originations and development through to delivery and audience, and bring editorial, production and executive leaders with you.
• Champion creative innovation: explore how AI could open up new formats, creative workflows, ways of developing and pitching ideas, and new audience and commercial opportunities, in partnership with creative leaders, talent and buyers/clients.
• Build and run an innovation pipeline: scan emerging technologies, creative practice and competitor activity, run structured pilots and test-and-learn programmes, and make clear, evidence-based decisions on what to scale, adapt or stop.
• Act as a visible ambassador for FMUK's approach to AI, internally and externally, setting a tone that is optimistic, ethically grounded and respectful of creative talent and human authorship

1. Strategy, governance and the Group

• Own FMUK's AI strategy, setting a bold multi-year vision, and translate it into a prioritised roadmap that balances quick wins with longer-term, transformational bets, with clear objectives, owners, milestones and measures of success.
• Advise and challenge the FMUK Executive Team on strategic opportunities, how AI could shape FMUK's competitive position and ways of working, investment, dependencies and risks, and report regularly on progress, benefits and decisions required.
• Represent FMUK on the Global AI Board, actively shaping Group direction and ensuring FMUK's priorities and experience inform Group activity while retaining local accountability for FMUK strategy, investment and delivery.
• Own responsible-AI governance for FMUK: set a clear, principled position on the creative and ethical use of AI that protects talent, contributors and IP, and ensure compliance with Group policy, legal requirements and production obligations, working with Legal and Business Affairs, Data Protection, Information Security and HR.
• Scan developments in AI, creative technology and the wider industry, anticipate emerging opportunities and risks, and turn them into clear, timely perspectives and strategic choices for FMUK.

1. Enablement

• Direct the identification and prioritisation of production use cases where AI or automation enhances creativity and quality or improves speed, efficiency or cost, across development, scheduling, budgeting, production paperwork, archive, post-production, graphics, transcription, logging and content creation.
• Create space for creative experimentation: sponsor pilots, labs and showcases that let producers, editorial and creative teams explore what AI can do for their programmes in a safe, supported environment, and amplify what works.
• Direct the identification of process and ways-of-working improvements across FMUK's corporate and operational functions, working with functional leaders on use cases with clear operational or financial benefit.
• Ensure every initiative is grounded in a genuine production need and reflects creative judgement, production realities and buyer/ client requirements.
• Ensure implementation includes process redesign, training, creative upskilling and change management, not just tool deployment, and that successful approaches are scaled across FMUK.
• Hold the senior relationships with company CEOs, editorial leaders and Heads of Production, acting as a trusted thought partner who brings ideas and inspiration as well as delivery.

1. Team, investment and adoption

• Lead, inspire and develop the FMUK AI team, setting a clear vision and objectives, managing performance, creating clear accountability across production enablement, productivity enablement and technical delivery, and fostering a culture of curiosity and ownership.
• Oversee local investment in tools and initiatives, with clear criteria for prioritisation, production impact, deliverability, cost and risk, visibility of benefits realised, and space for exploratory, higher-risk innovation where the learning is the value.
• Chair the FMUK AI Champion Network and, with Internal Comms and the People Team, build engagement, confidence and enthusiasm among colleagues with varying levels of AI knowledge, inspiring them to experiment and share what they learn.
• Coordinate with Global AI, IT, engineering, procurement and external partners where specialist capability is needed, and foster a culture of curiosity and responsible experimentation with clear accountability.

1. Essential

• A deep understanding of how programmes are developed, produced, post-produced and delivered, and of the pressures production teams work under, gained in production or by working closely alongside it.
• Creative and strategic vision: the imagination to see what AI could mean for the future of storytelling, production and the business, and the ability to articulate a compelling, credible vision that inspires creative, production and executive audiences alike.
• A track record of leading change, innovation or process improvement in a complex or federated organisation, and of taking bold ideas from concept through to implementation.
• The credibility to work with CEOs, senior editorial leaders, Heads of Production and corporate functions, and the judgement to balance creative ambition with commercial, legal and operational considerations.
• Influence and communication: an engaging communicator and storyteller who can bring creative talent, sceptics and senior leaders on the journey, and who handles the sensitivities around AI with empathy and credibility.
• Commercial judgement: able to assess anticipated benefits, investment requirements and delivery risk, and to prioritise accordingly.
• An informed, active and curious interest in AI, automation and emerging creative technology, with the ability to see where it could take the business and to explain it in plain production and business language.
• Sound judgement on the creative, legal and ethical implications of AI in content production.
• Experience leading and inspiring a team, setting direction and creating the conditions for others to innovate and deliver.

1. Strongly preferred

• Experience developing business cases and managing project or innovation budgets.
• Experience of creative or R&D innovation, such as labs, incubators, pilots or new-format development, or of building partnerships with technology companies, start-ups or academic institutions.
• Experience working across multiple production companies, labels or genres, or across both production and corporate environments.
• Experience establishing champion networks, communities of practice or cross-functional working groups.
• Knowledge of AI governance, intellectual property, data protection or production compliance.

Our benefits include generous company pension, summer Fridays, audience tickets, employee assistance program, access to free courses and training, EV scheme, cycle to work scheme, season ticket loan and volunteer days.

If you need any of this information in a different format or would like to suggest a different form of application, please contact FMUKHR@fremantle.com

Fremantle is part of RTL Group, a global leader across broadcast, content and digital, itself a division of the international media giant Bertelsmann.

For more information, please visit Fremantle.com, follow us @FremantleHQ or visit our LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

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