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Lucent Search research | AI & Data Leadership Report 2025–2026
The skills AI and data teams need to deliver
Does your organisation have the combination of capabilities needed to turn technical work into business results?
AI and data delivery brings together technical expertise, business understanding and the ability to work across organisational boundaries.
Lucent’s research examined demand for technical, interpersonal and organisational skills within respondents’ teams. The findings highlight integration and deployment alongside strategic thinking, adaptability, communication and stakeholder management.
For leadership teams, the question is how those capabilities fit together across the function and which need to be strengthened for the work ahead.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
What the research found
The survey asked leaders about skills in demand within their teams. These findings provide context for capability planning; they are not a ranking of requirements for every AI or data executive.
Technical demand included integration, analytics and modelling
Integration was the highest of these reported technical categories. Its prominence is consistent with the scaling and integration difficulties described elsewhere in the research.
The finding highlights demand for the capability to connect AI with the systems and processes in which it will be used.
Strategic thinking and adaptability featured strongly
Within the interpersonal skills categories, approximately 62% rated strategic thinking as highly in demand and 60% selected adaptability and learning agility.
Communication was rated highly in demand by approximately 53%, with a further 40% rating it moderately in demand.
These responses show that leaders were seeking capabilities that help teams make choices, learn and explain their work as well as perform technical tasks.
Stakeholder and change management were prominent organisational skills
Approximately 52% rated stakeholder management as highly in demand, with another 40% rating it moderately in demand.
For change management, the corresponding figures were approximately 43% and 41%.
The findings give organisational delivery skills a clear place in the capability discussion. They do not establish that every team member needs the same proficiency or that demand necessarily represents an unfilled vacancy.
BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS
What this means for the business
A team may have strong technical expertise while finding it difficult to agree priorities, explain trade-offs or secure the operational changes required for delivery.
It may also have a clear understanding of business needs but lack the engineering capability to integrate and maintain a solution.
Capability planning needs to examine these connections. Which work requires deep specialist expertise? Who translates business requirements into delivery decisions? Who manages dependencies, develops others and supports adoption?
The answer should shape how responsibilities are distributed across the team. Expecting one appointment to cover every gap can produce an unrealistic brief and leave the wider function underdeveloped.
SKILLS
Rebecca’s perspective: assess capability against the work
I would start by defining what the team needs to achieve and the decisions it will face.
A list of desirable skills becomes useful when it is connected to responsibilities and observable evidence. “Commercial judgement”, for example, needs to mean something specific in the role: selecting priorities, assessing an investment, managing delivery trade-offs or challenging a proposed solution.
The same discipline should apply to technical and interpersonal requirements.
I would examine four areas.
Technical depth appropriate to the responsibility
Establish where the role requires direct specialist expertise and where it requires sufficient understanding to evaluate options, challenge assumptions and lead experts.
A senior leader may need to judge whether an architecture is appropriate, whether delivery estimates are credible and whether risks have been properly considered. Specialists within the team may need much deeper expertise in particular methods or systems.
Assessment should reflect those different responsibilities.
Strategic thinking demonstrated through choices
Ask how the person has connected their work to business priorities.
What did they choose to pursue? What did they defer or stop? Which constraints influenced the decision, and how did they judge whether the work was worthwhile?
These examples provide a clearer basis for assessment than broad claims about being strategic.
Communication that supports sound decisions
Examine whether the person can explain a complex issue accurately, make uncertainty visible and adapt the discussion to the audience.
Useful communication enables others to understand the choices, consequences and responsibilities involved. It also includes listening to operational concerns and recognising when the proposed approach needs to change.
A polished presentation is one piece of evidence. The quality of the judgement and discussion behind it matters too.
The ability to deliver through other people
Explore how the person has worked across functions, handled disagreement, developed colleagues and supported changes to working practices.
Ask what they owned personally and what depended on others. Understand how commitments were secured and how they responded when those commitments changed.
For a leadership appointment, these examples help establish whether the candidate can work effectively in the organisation’s particular circumstances.
LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS
Questions for your leadership team
Use these questions when reviewing capability gaps or persistent hiring and retention difficulties.
Which outcomes require additional capability?
Can we connect each requirement to work that must be delivered?
Where is specialist depth essential?
Which responsibilities require hands-on expertise, and which require informed oversight?
Who connects technical decisions to business priorities?
Is that responsibility clear and adequately supported?
How will we assess judgement and influence?
What evidence would demonstrate that a person can operate effectively in our environment?
Which capabilities can we develop internally?
Have we provided practical experience, coaching and time to learn?
Does the proposed appointment complement the team?
Are we addressing the most consequential gaps?
HIRING IMPLICATIONS
What this means for leadership appointments
A leadership brief should describe the capability needed to deliver the expected outcomes and work effectively within the organisation.
The survey provides useful context, but the assessment criteria need to be specific to the appointment. A leader establishing a function may need a different balance of expertise from one integrating established teams or improving delivery across several business units.
Evidence should therefore be tested against comparable challenges. Relevant examples include building capability, making difficult investment choices, resolving conflicting priorities and taking responsibility when results fell short.
Lucent’s Leadership Requirement Diagnostic defines those requirements before search begins. Candidates are then assessed against an agreed scorecard, distinguishing essential capabilities from additional strengths and examining the evidence behind each judgement.
EXPLORE RESEARCH
Explore related findings
Structuring AI and data teams for delivery
How responsibilities, capability and organisational relationships support the work required.
Hiring and retaining AI and data talent
The employer decisions behind attracting, developing and retaining capability.
Scaling AI from pilot to production
The integration and operational requirements involved in sustained use.
ABOUT
About this research
This page draws on the team structures section of Lucent Search’s AI & Data Leadership Survey Results 2025–2026, covering team size, geographic distribution and the discussion of team capabilities.
The findings describe the participating leaders’ circumstances at the time of the survey. They do not establish a preferred organisational structure or staffing ratio.
CONNECT
Defining what your next leader needs to bring?
The starting point is the work the business needs to deliver and the capability already available.
Speak to Rebecca about the outcomes, decisions and organisational challenges that should shape your next AI or data leadership appointment.
Lucent Search · AI & Data Leadership Report 2025–2026