Rohit Dhawan is Director and Group Head of AI at Lloyds Banking Group, where he leads the Group’s AI agenda with a focus on responsible, large-scale adoption across a 27-million-customer franchise.
His career has centred on moving AI from theory into practice within complex institutions. Rohit began in academia, completing a PhD in AI and forecasting, which instilled a rigorous approach to experimentation and a strong appreciation for uncertainty, data quality, and model limitations.
He spent more than a decade in consulting and software roles at IBM, Deloitte, SAS, and Accenture, where he built analytics capabilities and led cross-functional teams delivering AI-led transformation programmes across banking, retail, and telecommunications. During this period, he developed a practical ability to translate advanced models into outcomes that commercial, risk, and technology leaders could support, and to design operating models that allow AI solutions to endure beyond pilot phases.
Rohit later joined Amazon Web Services as Regional Head of Data and AI Strategy for Asia-Pacific. Working closely with executive teams, he helped organisations design and execute enterprise-wide data and AI strategies, often coordinating large, multi-country programmes. This experience reinforced his view that culture, platforms, and governance are as critical to success as algorithms.
At Lloyds Banking Group, Rohit leads the AI Centre of Excellence, bringing together data science, behavioural science, engineering, and AI ethics. His leadership philosophy emphasises integrating human judgement, robust governance and multidisciplinary teams to deliver trusted AI impact at scale.
As a data and AI leader, which traits and skills do you think matter most, and which of those have been most influential for you in your current position?
“The traits that matter most for effective data and AI leadership now are outcome obsession, the ability to build trust across the enterprise, comfort with ambiguity, and deep respect for responsible AI and people change. Technical literacy remains essential, but it is increasingly a hygiene factor rather than a differentiator.
“At Lloyds Banking Group, the most influential traits have been:
- Outcome and value focus: tying AI programmes, such as our £50m genAI value ambition, directly to customer, colleague, and financial outcomes has earned sponsorship and kept the portfolio disciplined.
- Trust-building and responsible AI mindset: working hand-in-hand with risk, legal, and regulators to put guardrails around AI has been essential in a highly regulated environment, enabling scale without eroding confidence.
- Enterprise storytelling and translation: being able to explain complex AI in plain language to the Board, regulators, and 60,000 colleagues has helped move AI from ‘interesting pilots’ to a core lever of the Group’s strategy.
“These traits matter because they turn AI from a technical initiative into an organisational change movement, ensuring that data and AI leadership is recognised as a strategic, enterprise role rather than a support function.”
Reflecting on your career, what is one non-traditional piece of advice (outside of technical skills) you would give to an aspiring data or AI leader aiming for the C-suite?
“Deliberately practise being the calmest person in the most ambiguous room. Treat ambiguity management as a core craft: seek out messy, cross‑functional problems where the data is incomplete, incentives clash, and there is no obvious answer, then take responsibility for making the problem smaller for everyone else.
“In the C‑suite, AI leaders are valued less for having the cleverest model and more for turning complexity into clear options, trade‑offs, and narratives that boards and executives can act on. That demands soft skills that do not decay as fast as technical stacks: listening deeply, framing issues in the language of risk and value, and holding your nerve when others are anxious.
“Leaders who build this ‘composed simplifier’ muscle become the ones colleagues turn to when AI moves from experiments to critical infrastructure, which is ultimately how you earn and keep a seat at the top table.”
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