Director of Architecture, Data and AI

About Ricoh

A global leader in digital services, recognised for innovation, sustainability and a people-first culture. We feature in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, are listed in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies, and have been named one of Forbes’ World’s Best Employers 2025.

At Ricoh, we believe people do their best work when they feel valued and supported. We create inclusive workplaces where you can grow, contribute, and make a positive impact while helping to build a more sustainable future.

Find your place. Transform your future

Our purpose is centred on understanding and improving how people work. By focusing on real working experiences, we support individuals to develop their skills, realise their potential and do work that feels meaningful.

People transform when they Love What They Do

This belief sits at the heart of The Ricoh Promise. It guides how we recruit, how we support our people, and how we work together every day, creating an environment where you can grow, feel valued and make a difference.

When you join us, you are encouraged to share your ideas, challenge the way things are done, and work with others to build something better. If you are looking for a place where your voice is heard, your development is supported, and your work feels meaningful, you will feel at home at Ricoh.

What you will be doing

Ricoh are currently recruiting for a Director of Architecture, Data and AI based in London who will own the enterprise-wide architecture vision, governance model, and data and AI strategy, enabling Ricoh to operate as a product organisation. This role is a strategic, non-platform-owning position, partnering closely with Platform and Applications teams to ensure they can design, build, and run at speed and quality and CISO function to ensure secure and available solutions.

In this role you will translate architecture choices into investable narratives, building roadmaps and business cases that land with the CFO and Board, not just the CIO. You will be equally comfortable making the case for new investment and recommending what to kill: decommissioned systems, retired platforms, and cancelled initiatives and simplification are as much a measure of success as what you build.

This is a leadership role as much as an architecture role. The successful candidate will inherit a team with significant untapped potential and a clear mandate to elevate both capability and culture, bringing the coaching rigour, psychological safety, and high standards that turn a functional team into a high-performing one.

Lead the Team

• Coach and develop a high-performing team, driving engineering excellence and growth
• Build communities across architecture, data and AI; promote cross-functional collaboration
• Develop talent pipelines, mobility and skills programmes
• Champion a culture of inclusion, continuous improvement and accountability

Set Direction & Investment Strategy

• Define and communicate enterprise architecture vision and roadmaps aligned to digital strategy
• Translate strategy into clear business cases for senior stakeholders, including CFO/Board
• Drive application and data simplification to reduce cost and complexity
• Track and deliver measurable outcomes across cost, delivery, automation, security and growth

Lead AI & Data Strategy

• Own enterprise data and AI strategy, including governance and scalable operating models
• Identify and prioritise high-value AI use cases; challenge low-impact initiatives
• Establish secure experimentation, data quality standards and ROI-driven delivery

Govern Architecture

• Implement lightweight, outcome-focused governance to balance speed and risk
• Build and maintain architecture standards, patterns and reusable assets
• Partner with Product and Platform teams to embed architecture into delivery
• Lead architecture reviews and uphold standards with confidence

You will ideally have

• Demonstrable skills and experience from working in similar level roles, ideally in complex or matrixed organisations with multi-country reach.
• Proven record leading enterprise architecture as a strategic function, reporting to or partnering directly with the CIO, not a platform delivery team.
• Leadership experience and a genuine passion to be a leader of people first, including demonstrable experience of success building, coaching, and turning around architecture teams.
• Proven background and experience of success moving from project- to product/capability-centric planning, with adaptive governance that accelerates rather than impedes delivery.
• Pragmatic application of architecture frameworks, knowing when to use them, when to adapt them, and when to set them aside in favour of outcomes.
• Commercial AI leadership: not just MLOps plumbing, but the judgment to identify where AI creates genuine business value, sequence investment accordingly, and govern it safely at scale.
• Financial and risk acumen: evidence of TCO reduction, licence optimisation, and cost avoidance enabled by standardisation, rationalisation, and reuse.
• Executive storytelling: crisp narratives linking architecture choices to business outcomes and capital allocation, built for CFO and Board consumption.
• Stakeholder influence across the full peer set: CISO, Head of Platforms, Head of Applications, I&O, Finance, HR/L&D, influence-led, not command-and-control.
• Comfort with ambiguity and organisational politics; ability to hold architecture positions under pressure from business stakeholders.

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In return for your commitment, you can expect

At Ricoh, work should feel meaningful, supportive and fulfilling. The Ricoh Promise shapes your experience through four pillars that bring our culture to life. Love to Connect

You become part of a global community built on openness, inclusion and genuine collaboration.

Across teams, countries and roles, you'll find people who listen, involve and encourage you - helping you feel valued and able to be yourself every day. Love to Grow

Your development truly matters to us. With access to learning pathways, mentoring and career opportunities across functions and countries, you'll be supported to stretch your skills, explore new directions and stay future-ready in a changing world. Love to Give Back

Purpose is part of how we work. You'll have opportunities to make a difference through volunteering, sustainability initiatives and community programmes that reflect our shared values and commitment to positive impact. Love to Succeed

Success at Ricoh is something we pursue together. You'll benefit from fair rewards, flexible working, wellbeing resources and real recognition - including programmes such as the Imagine. Change. Awards, where colleagues celebrate each other's achievements.

We are an equal opportunities employer

We believe that diverse perspectives make us stronger, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. Our hiring decisions are based on skills, experience and potential, and we are committed to creating a fair and inclusive recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment journey, please let us know and we will support you to bring your best self forward.

Ready to love what you do? Apply now and help us shape what comes next.

FUNCTION### IT

LOCATION### London

CONTRACT TYPE### Permanent

CLOSING DATE### 07-Jul-2026