Head of Privacy

We are building Essential, the intelligence layer of our OS. We believe AI should be useful, not creepy. While the industry often treats user data as a commodity to be hoarded, we view it as a liability to be minimized and protected. Our team sits at the intersection of product ambition and user rights. We are solving the hard problem of delivering personalized, context-aware experiences without compromising the privacy-by-design principles that define us. We don't hide behind legalese; we build systems that are open, honest, and secure by default.

• Map the entire data ecosystem across Essential and the OS to create a single source of truth for all signals, SDKs, cloud services, and storage configurations.

• Translate GDPR and regulatory frameworks into concrete technical specifications, ensuring consent, retention, and deletion logic are baked into the code base.

• Drive the engineering backlog to prioritise and fix critical security gaps, focusing on access hygiene, pipeline security, and encryption standards.

• Collaborate with Design and Brand to create transparent privacy controls and prompts that help users understand exactly how their data is used.

• Establish risk-based guardrails that allow product teams to ship features fast without skipping necessary security reviews.

• Manage relationships with external security specialists and auditors to validate our architecture against global standards and manage incident response protocols if needed.

• Define the long-term roadmap for a dedicated privacy engineering function, setting the strategy for future team growth and investment.

• A pragmatic mindset that prioritises shipping safe, functional products over theoretical perfection, understanding the necessary trade-offs in a fast-paced environment.

• Deep technical fluency in modern cloud stacks (AWS/GCP), API architectures, and identity management that allows you to separate real security risks from noise.

• High ownership of the privacy stack, with the drive to take projects from ambiguous requirements to full technical resolution without constant oversight.

• Proven experience applying privacy concepts to live consumer products, knowing exactly when to involve legal counsel and when to make an executive decision.

• Excellent communication skills to write clear, concise documentation that aligns engineers, lawyers, and leadership on how we handle data.

• A background in privacy engineering, security architecture, or technical product management within a data-rich consumer tech environment.

• A desire to challenge the industry status quo by building data practices that are designed to spark trust rather than maximize collection.

We build better tech by moving fast. That speed demands direct collaboration and shared creative energy. We believe the best work happens when we're together.

• Location: London (Kings Cross & Farringdon offices).

• Working Pattern: This is a full-time, in-office role (5 days a week). We move fast, and that means being physically present. We design flexibility around personal needs, but we focus on the magic that sparks when we’re all in the same room.

• Commute: We ask that you live within a 60-minute commute of your home office location.