In this episode of the Boss N’ Data Podcast, Joshua Smith is joined by Sean Harkin, PhD, Data Science & AI Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, for conversation about what it actually takes to move AI from proof-of-concept to production in a highly regulated environment.

Sean has 18 years across financial services from risk modelling in investment banks, through fintech, to leading data science and AI in the insurance arm of Lloyds Banking Group. He is currently shipping GenAI and agentic solutions into production where most firms get stuck.

You’ll hear:

• How Sean’s team controls LLM hallucination at production quality ontologies
• Why decision-recommendation tools in underwriting are designed to support humans, not replace them
• When to reach for a domain-specific model versus careful prompt engineering on a general LLM
• How to make AI reasoning transparent enough for regulators, risk teams, and reinsurers
• The cost-per-token reality check on agentic systems most teams underestimate
• What separates AI projects that ship from POCs that stall and the customer journey result one of Sean’s use cases demonstrates
• Why doing the science well and doing risk management well are the same thing

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guest in this episode are their own and do not reflect those of their current or former employers.

Sean Harkin, PhD, is Data Science & AI Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, working in the insurance arm. He has 18 years’ experience in financial services across startups, banks, and consultancies, with a research science background spanning biochemistry, biophysics, and a PhD in applied statistical modelling focused on causal inference.

Sean now leads a team of data scientists, ML engineers, and other technical professionals putting GenAI and agentic solutions into production, cutting through the POC bottleneck that holds many firms back. His current work focuses on AI for medical documentation analysis, decision recommendation, and the practical realities of shipping AI safely in a regulated environment.

👉 Connect with Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-harkin-phd-22776674/

Joshua Smith has been a Data and AI talent specialist since 2011. He is Sales Director at MBN Solutions, responsible for leading and supporting the growth and diversification of MBN’s client portfolio, and building MBN’s position as a leading Data & AI talent consultancy across the UK, Europe, and US.

Explore industry updates and the latest in data and AI talent on MBN Solutions’ LinkedIn page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Boss N’ Data Podcast, Joshua Smith is joined by Christopher Conroy, Chief Data & Product Officer at Future Anthem, for a proper behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to scale a data function and a platform at the same time.

Chris has lived the full journey: from the early analytics → data science wave (2014/2015) into building Future Anthem over the last six and a half years.

• What pulled Chris into building real-time personalisation in betting/gaming
• How the early analytics → data science wave (2014/15) compares to what’s happening now
• How the technical function at Future Anthem evolved from day one to today
• How they thought about generalists vs specialists early on
• What roles became essential once they hit a certain scale
• What architectural inflection points showed up as the platform scaled and what needed change

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guest in this episode are their own and do not reflect those of their current or former employers.

About the Guest

Christopher Conroy is the Chief Data & Product Officer at Future Anthem, a real-time personalisation platform in the betting and gaming industry. He’s spent the last six and a half years building the technical function and embedding product at Future Anthem, focused on real-time AI systems designed to operate at scale, with performance targets measured in milliseconds.

Before Future Anthem, Christopher worked across the early wave of analytics → data science transformation, including roles at Rank Group, where cloud and machine learning capabilities were being built out at enterprise level.

👉 Connect with Chris Conroy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisconroydata/

About Your Host

Joshua Smith has been a Data and AI talent specialist since 2011. He is Sales Director at MBN Solutions, responsible for leading and supporting the growth and diversification of MBN’s client portfolio, and building MBN’s position as a leading Data & AI talent consultancy across the UK, Europe, and US.

Explore industry updates and the latest in data and AI talent on MBN Solutions’ LinkedIn page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Boss N’ Data Podcast, Joshua Smith is joined by Rich Hunt, Director of Data & Insight at Openreach, to unpack what it really takes to lead data teams through constant change.

Openreach’s team has won DataIQ Best Data & AI Team of 2025 and in this episode, Rich shares how Openreach approaches transformation, from moving to a hub-and-spoke analytics model, to navigating a major migration and keeping teams focused on outcomes.

They dig into the realities data leaders face: long timelines, rising costs, stakeholder skepticism, and the risk of data teams becoming detached from business value.

They also discuss GenAI skepticism vs hype, and why building change resilience is now part of the job.

By the end of this episode, you’ll understand:

• What Openreach does and why its data challenges are uniquely complex
• How to structure data teams to stay close to decision-making while scaling capability
• How to defend long-term data investment when ROI isn’t instant
• How to keep data work relevant: translating business priorities into data-led impact
• Agentic AI: cutting through hype and skepticism
• What change resilience looks like inside a complex, regulated organisation.
• Practical advice for leading teams through change
• The next big shift for data leaders to prepare teams for

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guest in this episode are their own and do not reflect those of their current or former employers.

About the Guest

Rich Hunt is the Director of Data & Insight at Openreach, a senior data leader with 16+ years’ experience. He leads end-to-end data capability and has been accountable for connecting business strategy to data-led solutions, including leading Openreach’s migration to cloud and supporting cultural change around data. Openreach’s team has won DataIQ Best Data & AI Team of 2025.

👉 Connect with Rich Hunt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huntr/

About Your Host

Joshua Smith has been a Data and AI talent specialist since 2011. He is Sales Director at MBN Solutions, responsible for leading and supporting the growth and diversification of MBN’s client portfolio, and building MBN’s position as a leading Data & AI talent consultancy across the UK, Europe, and US.

Explore industry updates and the latest in data and AI talent on MBN Solutions’ LinkedIn page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.