Summary
Chris Ballard is a seasoned AI and data science leader with over 25 years of experience delivering applied machine learning, natural language processing systems, and AI strategy. He is currently the Fractional Head of AI in Norwich, UK, blending hands-on engineering excellence with strategic leadership to accelerate AI maturity for diverse organisations. His career spans advisory and leadership roles at Justified AI, Cookpad, StoreSpace and Tessian—building data science capabilities, scalable analytics platforms, and production-grade ML solutions—and includes a tenure as CTO of Climate Policy Radar. He has shipped end-to-end AI platforms for education, retail, and security, including predictive analytics, data warehousing frameworks, and retrieval-augmented systems. He holds an MSc in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (Distinction) from the University of East Anglia and a BSc in Physics from the University of Bristol, and is an active speaker and mentor in the AI community.
10 years of coding experience